Dick Clerkin says Monaghan intermediate club pays €1,000 weekly

An intermediate Monaghan GAA club is paying its coaching ticket €250 a night for three or four nights a week, totaling up to €1,000 weekly for coaching alone, according to former county player Dick Clerkin speaking on the Indo GAA podcast.

While manager and coach payments, along with expenses, have long been part of the GAA to account for seasonal time commitments, massive pay packages are increasingly reaching lower levels of the sport. Clerkin stated that he was told the figure over a weekend and “nearly dropped,” expressing disbelief at the costs before noting that such rates are becoming standard and not unusual across the board.

Large Financial Offers Incentivize Coaches to Stay

The heavy financial outlay by an intermediate side highlights how substantial sums have seeped down from senior ranks in larger counties. Clerkin emphasized that the presence of large financial offers serves as a massive driver and incentive for coaches, noting that accepting such compensation makes it difficult for individuals to walk away or turn down offers when they are brought to the door.

The Future of Club Compensation

Clerkin warned that the “big dollar sign element” will continue to grow and become more regularized, creating a lifestyle where people move between counties and clubs due to the attractive level of compensation. With intermediate teams operating at the lower end of the scale facing weekly bills of up to €1,000, teams up and down the country find themselves in similar situations, risking being left behind by rivals if they refuse to pay outside coaches in what has been described as a race to the bottom that the GAA will need to examine.