After hearing last week of the loss that the Galway hurling board expect to have to deal with on the disposal of the land purchased for the development of their training facilities and centre of excellence, it was interesting to note that 2010 All-Ireland champions, and beaten finalists this year, Tipperary are also having financial issues.
Outgoing chairman Barry O’Brien admitted on Monday night that their 2011 financial accounts make grim reading. Their accounts revealed a deficit of €220,000, while spending on the preparation of inter-county teams in the county exceeded the €1 million mark for the fourth successive year.
Mr O’Brien warned that more severe austerity measures were needed in the county as not even a 13 per cent cut in expenditure this year had stopped the deficit arising.
A major problem for the Premier county this season was that gate receipts for local games were down a massive 18 per cent and, despite a lucrative sponsorship deal with Skoda, overall income had dropped by 15 per-cent.
The county spend €1,171,876 last year preparing its inter-county teams and a plan is to be put in place in the coming months to try and stop a similar deficit occurring in 2012.
