LAST UPDATE | 13 May

GAA PRESIDENT JARLATH BURNS has hit back at recent comments made by Taoiseach Simon Harris when he said that the GAA have “gotten this wrong” in relation to streaming service GAAGO.

Harris levelled a number of criticisms at the sporting body when on duty in Cork, ahead of attending Saturday night’s Munster hurling round robin game between Cork and Limerick in Supervalu Pairc Ui Chaoimh, which was not broadcast on RTÉ, but on GAAGO, a subscription service.

“I think the grassroots are really, really, really angry and really disappointed and really frustrated that matches that the kids want to watch, that the family want to watch, are being put behind a paywall,” said Harris.

“The GAA really need to revisit this, they really need to listen to their grassroots members.”

Speaking on Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio, Burns expressed surprise at the reaction and questioned why such claims were being made at this particular time.

“I’m very surprised to hear the Taoiseach speaking about this, considering that last year we actually sat in front of an Oireachtas committee. We were asked to do so, we did so,” he stated.

“There were no issues at the end of it, they accepted every argument that we had, all of our rationale, the fact that we only have one broadcast partner, that is RTÉ. They had 35 matches.

“If you tried to imagine a world without GAAGO, the rest of these games just would not be broadcast, because we only have one broadcast partner.”

He continued, “Myself and Tom Ryan, the Ard Stiúrthóir last Wednesday actually had a meeting with the Sports Minister Thomas Byrne and all his officials.

“We actually put that on the agenda – GAAGO – we asked them were there any residual issues coming up regarding it. He said, ‘No, we accept that GAAGO is an outstanding service, particularly for our exiles abroad, people who wouldn’t be able to watch any of the games.’

“Thomas Byrne actually said those words. And the previous week I actually had a meeting with Pascal Donohue in my office in Croke Park. It was a great meeting, he has a great passion and understanding of the GAA. GAAGO didn’t even come up.

“So, very surprised and disappointed that the Taoiseach, and then the Tánaiste would speak about something that we have already been in front of an Oireachtas committee for.”

Byrne then asked Burns if the GAA were feeling any pressure given the falling numbers watching RTÉ broadcasts, to which Burns answered, “Well, I think that GAAGO is a brilliant solution for us and for RTÉ. And remember the evolution of GAAGO, it came in initially to service the needs to global GAA.

“But during Covid, it became something different, because we had an obligation to show as many games as possible to stop people climbing over walls and going to them.

“And we showed hundreds of matches. Suddenly then, GAAGO became very agile, it had a lot of equipment and we decided that in the absence of other broadcast partners, that GAAGO could go fill that void.”

Asked if GAAGO could have the potential to make the levels of money Sky TV was paying for broadcast rights — €4 million per annum — Burns said, “Yes, we do. That’s what we would hope.

“We certainly want to grow it, because we have an obligation to grow it. We have an obligation to get as much commercial revenue as we possibly can from our games.

“That’s something that is shared by all of our counties. That’s why you don’t hear any of our counties complaining about this, they do exactly the same.

“Now, if you wanted to watch that match yesterday as part of the early bird package, €69 for the full package Claire, this is an important point. It was €1.76 to watch that match.

“If you wanted to go, it was €30. That’s the ultimate paywall, to go and watch.”

Burns also answered the rather bizarre claim made by former Tyrone player Sean Cavanagh on The Saturday Game over the weekend when he stated that the GAA was “one of the richest organisations in the world”.

“That’s superficial, emotional comment that doesn’t take into consideration the complexity of the logistics that we have to deal with in a real world,” said Burns.

“Sean Cavanagh on Saturday night, on live TV, and he is an accountant with an accountancy practice said, ‘The GAA is one of the richest organisations in the world.’

“We have €140 million of a turnover, of which we give back 83% to our own members and to our own counties and clubs.

“For somebody to actually make that comment live on The Saturday Game, and considering the business he is in, is just absolutely crazy.”

“We publish our accounts every year, a 176-page document, Google the GAA accounts every year and you will see what they are. Every part of our accounts will tell us that we have to invest more money.”

Cavanagh responded to Burns’ criticism when he appeared on the RTÉ GAA Podcast later on Monday.

“I maybe left out the word ‘amateur’,” he clarified.

“I haven’t pulled down the recent accounts but I remember seeing a couple of years ago €40 million, €50 million, €60 million of cash reserves in the bank with a balance sheet of a couple of hundred million euro. I’m an accountant, I know this stuff.

“For an amateur organisation owned by the members, owned by the people that are lining pitches, owned by the people in every club up and down the country, for me that looks like a very healthy position.”

He added: “There’s definitely a strong suspicion that there has been tactical picking of the games to generate revenue and profit.

“Why does it have to turn a profit? Why can’t those games, whether it’s subsidised or whatnot by the Government, maybe you just take the hit on the bigger games and show them free-to-air to the Irish public.

“For me, there’s a bigger picture here of trying to promote our games and trying to not punish the people that run our games, and I think that’s where a lot of the anger lies.”