Clubbing together for the future of Tyrone GAA

WOULD Tyrone have emerged as a latter-day Gaelic footballing superpower without the backing of a meticulously run fund-raising body?

It can hardly be coincidence that Tyrone surged to a batch of minor, u-20 and senior All-Ireland titles in the years preceding and following the new millenium.

The concept of ‘Club Tyrone’ – a fundraising body for the Tyrone County Board – was formally instituted in 2001. It was a successor to the Millennium Fund group began in the mid-nineties, with the aim of raising £250,000 for the GAA in Tyrone by the time of the Millennium, and it proved so successful that there was really no reason not to continue.

Current chairperson Martin Haughey, has detailed the rationale behind the new Red Hand Business Club – which is an addition to Club Tyrone, not a replacement, he’s keen to stress.

He also discusses with journalist Niall Gartland the implications of the recent news that the Revenue Commission, the Republic’s tax body, is currently investigating issues regarding County Board spending.

NIALL GARTLAND: For the uninitiated, what exactly is Club Tyrone

MARTIN HAUGHEY: Club Tyrone is almost 30 years old and is a fundraising initiative to help
Tyrone GAA.  There were a number of founders and I’m always a wee bit hesitant to name names in case I miss one or two. It was the idea of Jimmy Treacy, our former chair and honorary president and an absolutely visionary character as far as I’m concerned.

He saw the need for additional fundraising and he surrounded himself with Shay McKeown, Francis Martin and Gerard Bradley and was quickly joined by some very committed and skilled people in Hugh McAleer, Mark Conway, Adrian Colton, Patrick Harte, Jackie Duffy, John Mulgrew, Patsy Forbes and Eamon Laverty of McAleer and Rushe, all these people who would have been involved in its formative years and for some time thereafter.

The idea at the start was could we get 250 people each year to give 500 pounds, it started off in slowly and then grew from that.

There’s no guarantee of success when you invest a lot of money but I don’t think it’s by accident that Tyrone’s success, certainly over the last 25 years, has also come around at the same time roughly as the formation of Club Tyrone.

Club Tyrone can do nothing on the field of play but we try to put the capital in place to allow our teams to be as best prepared as they can be.

NG: Club Tyrone was also strongly involved in the development of the Tyrone Centre at Garvaghey, as I understand it?

MH: Historically, Tyrone GAA, had a small office on John Street in Omagh and that was their administrative headquarters.

They quickly outgrew it in terms of admin and coaching staff, but the really significant thing was that Tyrone GAA didn’t have any pitches to call their own and we were very reliant on the good will of clubs.

It was recognised that there was a need for a hub, a number of different locations were scoped out and the Garvaghey scheme was planned.  Land was purchased and planning permission was sought and got, and then there was the fundraising side of it.

I don’t mean for it to come across as simple as this, but there was an initial plan of could Tyrone GAA get 50 individuals and 50 odd clubs to give them one thousand pounds per year over five years.

There was a brilliant fundraising committee at the time and a number of those citizens have now unfortunately gone to their eternal reward, people like Patrick Harte and John Mulgrew.

They far exceeded expectations, it finished up with something like 280 or 300 private individuals and 48 clubs lending their backing to Garvaghey. That really exemplified the generosity and support of the Tyrone GAA family

One thing I’d like to add is that there’s a number of myths that exist in the GAA, and one of those is that all these premises or facilities are made up of grant money.

The truth of the Garvaghey Scheme is that Garvaghey received grants of approximately a million pounds from Croke Park and a loan of two million which was paid off in 10 years and ahead of schedule. 80 percent of the funding for Garvaghey was raised by the gaels of Tyrone, 20 per cent of it was grant aid. That remains something that we are incredibly proud off.

NG: This year was the latest initiative of Club Tyrone come into being, the Red Hand Business Club – can you tell me about it?

MH: We’ve had the Red Hand Business Club in the pipeline for quite some time. We probably looked on with a wee bit of envy at other initiatives like the Saffron Business Forum in Antrim, which we knew were very successful.

At its most simple the club seeks to bring together local businesses to network and learn each other under the banner of Tyrone GAA.

The link between the county and business community is critical as we continue to investment in our inter-county teams and academy squads, support our clubs and develop our facilities.

We know that everything needs continual re-energisation, if you don’t change you’ll not move forward so we developed this new concept and the initial reaction from businesses has been hugely positive. We’re at the start of something that we think will be really special not only for Tyrone GAA but for the people who invest in us.

NG: How important were the recent Red Hand Business Club events in Dungannon and Garvaghey?

MH: They’re absolutely central to what we’re trying to do. It’s our hope to have between three and five networking events a year.

It gives business owners not only in Tyrone but outside Tyrone, opportunities to meet up, build relationships and hopefully create a network where those relationships can grow and bring value to all the parties involved.

We’re planning almost a year ahead of ourselves, we’re hoping to have quality speakers and attendees at all our upcoming events, and different workshops and seminars.

NG: The spending on Tyrone GAA’s intercounty teams crossed the £1 million barrier for the first time in 2024. Does that make Club Tyrone’s work even more imperative?

MH: That’s the task we’re charged with, preparation of intercounty teams is on an upward curve and that’s not just in Tyrone.

We’ve heard figures of over £2 million in Galway, obviously a dual county, and the likes of Dublin, and the reality is that there are increasing costs in the preparation of our inter-county teams.

There are three pillars to the Red Hand Business Club and we say it publicly – the additional finance needed to prepare our county teams at all levels.  Then the coaching at club level, and then finally, and this one is fairly simple – if and when a capital project needs support or finance we want to be in a position to say we can help with that.

If you look at the Omagh and Dungannon lighting schemes, they were supported by Tyrone GAA but that requires finance, and that’s where it’s important that we’re able to come in and offer our support.

NG: I’m sure you’re paying close attention to what’s happening in the Republic with the increased scrutiny of county board spending – what’s your take on that?

MH: The inland revenue in the 26 counties are certainly paying close attention.

I’m eternally grateful that in my role, Tyrone GAA historically has run a very prudent and well administered financial model. We have very, very little debt and that’s down to the prudence of our financial officers. We’re been hugely fortunate in terms of our volunteerism.

Again, every penny that Club Tyrone raises goes to the officers of Tyrone GAA to decide how it’s best spent. At every stage all our money is accounted for by Tyrone GAA and signed off on, and that’s something that gives me a great level of contentment.

Society in general is moving away from a cash economy and again I’m really glad we have a huge amount of experience dealing with financial matters, and that we continue to do so with our current treasurer Niall McKenna and Sean McGuigan.

They’re over all the detail of our liabilities and our commitments and as an example, Club Tyrone has been for many years registered with the charity commission. That comes with a fair degree of requirements on our side and we wear it as a badge of honour that we can go to businesses and say your money is fully audited by the charity commission.

There are some tax benefits for businesses when making charitable donations but you have to bear in mind that you only gain charity status whenever you run a well-maintained and well-controlled financial model, and that’s shown for example by the fact we paid back the Garvaghey loan ahead of schedule.

NG: Is there anything else you’d like to add Martin?

MH: The only message I’d like to put out there because there’s a question that’s got back to me this year. We’ve heavily publicised the Red Hand Business club and it’s been asked of me whether it replaces Club Tyrone.

It absolutely does not – the Club Tyrone model remains absolutely unchanged – the Red Hand Business Club is just an additional model to what we’re doing that is slightly more business focused.

If anyone wants to join either Club Tyrone or the Red Hand Business Club they can reach out to me or visit the Club Tyrone page on the Tyrone GAA website.