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Westmeath Football thread

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Replying To Temple56:  "There are several reasons why public support for the draw has been lacking:

The marketing effort has been extremely poor. Despite hiring an external marketing firm at a high cost, the campaign appears unprofessional and amateurish. An example of this is the County Board Chairman flying to Spain just to record a one-minute video, which many saw as wasteful.

There is a deep lack of trust in the current County Board due to previous failed projects and questionable financial management. With the rising cost of materials, people are asking why construction hasn't already begun. Visible progress would go a long way in building confidence and encouraging investment.

Many clubs also share this distrust and feel disconnected from the leadership.

Additionally, the location chosen for the Centre of Excellence (north of Mullingar) is controversial. While Mullingar is the county town, a significant portion of the population is based in the Athlone area. A more central location between the two, such as Dalystown, Tyrrellspass, or Rochfortbridge, would have been more suitable and cost-effective. The amount spent on the current site is seen by many as excessive and poorly justified.

Yes I have my ticket brought before you come for me. I am just giving you some of the reasons I feel the draw hasn't been a success."
Strong words there Temple and sounds like you are talking from experience.
Are you a bit bitter over the location ?
Seems there was a preference to be near the astro at Lomans and I guess the COE will be sandwiched between Lomans and Shamrocks (big development in pipeline) with other sports facilities to follow further along the ring road.
The land purchase cost is in the region of 1 million for 48 acres - 6 pitches I believe.

Agree about the promo video - I thought Conor Moore was lined up for that gig.
Have the current executive presided over previous failed projects and performed pool financial management ?
Is the current fundraiser just to help with land purchase and planning, design etc. ?
It would be foolish to start anything without some cash in the bank and I don't believe a planning application has been lodged yet.

When announced in Feb '24 there was talk of a 10 year plan costing 10m plus.

Interesting in Offaly that Ladies Football and Camogie are doing their own thing and developing facilities of their own.

BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1184 - 14/05/2025 16:14:40    2609619

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how much land did the county buy and how much did they pay for it for centre of excellence anyone know?

PowellJohn3 (Westmeath) - Posts: 80 - 14/05/2025 16:33:55    2609626

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Replying To BigSur:  "Strong words there Temple and sounds like you are talking from experience.
Are you a bit bitter over the location ?
Seems there was a preference to be near the astro at Lomans and I guess the COE will be sandwiched between Lomans and Shamrocks (big development in pipeline) with other sports facilities to follow further along the ring road.
The land purchase cost is in the region of 1 million for 48 acres - 6 pitches I believe.

Agree about the promo video - I thought Conor Moore was lined up for that gig.
Have the current executive presided over previous failed projects and performed pool financial management ?
Is the current fundraiser just to help with land purchase and planning, design etc. ?
It would be foolish to start anything without some cash in the bank and I don't believe a planning application has been lodged yet.

When announced in Feb '24 there was talk of a 10 year plan costing 10m plus.

Interesting in Offaly that Ladies Football and Camogie are doing their own thing and developing facilities of their own."
48 acres at that price is not bad considering where it is and what clubs had to fork out in the past for 5-10acres. 6 Pitches ? what are they going to do with the other 25 acres ? pitch is only over 3 acres take space around it and clearance maybe 3.5acres x 6 = 21 acres roughly. I presume handball will be covered under this aswell. Temple is probably not wrong though on location, Loughnavalley prime spot for it all, Athlone clubs will have less and less involvement at county and will be at a disadvantage, decline will get bigger.

PowellJohn3 (Westmeath) - Posts: 80 - 14/05/2025 16:47:10    2609629

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What is the county board sales strategy exactly? Give the clubs X amount of tickets and get them to sell? €100 is crazy; a lot of people who may not be big Westmeath supporters aren't going to purchase at that price. I know for a fact it'd be easier sell 10 tickets at €20 than one at €100.

OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 70 - 14/05/2025 17:41:08    2609639

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Sell it and buy more sensible site in Tyrrellspass or Loughnavalley. More financial sense.

jfd (Westmeath) - Posts: 256 - 14/05/2025 17:49:21    2609643

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "It's a good question, a lot of talk by people but don't see it translating into actions or support. We are significantly outnumbered at virtually every home game in both codes at any grade, last Sunday was an exception with Antrim not travelling in numbers but Antrim support definitely outnumbered what we'd have brought to Corrigan Park. People seem to find excuses or complaints, posters here complain that COE should have been built years ago but that's a pointless argument. The coordinators of various county teams like Annette Bennett, Marius Gavin, Derek Smyth and others encounter huge difficulties in sourcing pitches for training, clubs have ladies and men's teams to cater for and underage so it's understandable but a centre for our county teams is a must to progress and yet support levels are low. No one can argue €100 is steep today, €2 a week over a year, Louth and others benefitting from theirs."
Just in relation to clubs supplying pitches to county teams to train, I know of situations where clubs agreed fees per session to supply pitches, floodlights, hot showers etc for county teams to train on and at the end of the year no money arrived and the clubs in question were left to foot the bill for pitch repairs dressing rooms maintenance and electricity bills. You can imagine the power showers and floodlighting consumes. Maybe this is a reason why they encounter so many road blocks.

In 2022 the population of Westmeath was 96000. We are a commuter county with many people from the likes of Meath, Kildare and Dublin living in Kinnegad, Mullingar, Killucan, Delvin Roshfordbridge, Tyrellspass etc. Many of those people feel no affiliation to Westmeath GAA and would only be involved with their kids at local GAA clubs and not be bothered about county setup.

Approx 11% of population of Westmeath in 2022 Census was made of non-national people according to the CSO which we can assume has grown since. Many of those also would have no affiliation with GAA or the county setup. We have a small pool to try and tap into.

As for 'no one can argue €100 is steep today' I have never heard such bull. Maybe you are on good money or don't have kids to school or put through college but I can tell you €100 up front in one lump is a lot for many people to swallow. In 2024 the average wage was €44,000 pre tax. Take away tax, and then the median mortgage repayment in Ireland last year was €1100 per month thats €13000 per year. Mortgage, electricity, food, clothing, fuel, insurance etc etc etc. Try tell that to those people. Maybe you have your mortgage paid or are in a situation where you are comfortable but not everyone is in that place.

Good day sir

Chops (Westmeath) - Posts: 807 - 14/05/2025 17:59:37    2609647

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So you obviously refuse to buy a lotto ticket weekly from your club? I mentioned €2 per week, the draw was launched 28 weeks ago, another 6 weeks left, that's plenty of time to save €100, there are obviously families that struggle financially but they're not a target audience here, on your basis no one could afford to go to a club or county match, I'm selling tickets for club, have had refusals but not in any of those cases was it financially based. Same people can join gyms, golf clubs, etc but in three cases simply said no. That's fine but don't try to conflate that with an inability to buy.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2155 - 14/05/2025 18:41:56    2609665

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "So you obviously refuse to buy a lotto ticket weekly from your club? I mentioned €2 per week, the draw was launched 28 weeks ago, another 6 weeks left, that's plenty of time to save €100, there are obviously families that struggle financially but they're not a target audience here, on your basis no one could afford to go to a club or county match, I'm selling tickets for club, have had refusals but not in any of those cases was it financially based. Same people can join gyms, golf clubs, etc but in three cases simply said no. That's fine but don't try to conflate that with an inability to buy."
So you are saying families who struggle don't support their county?
I struggle, but I still support my club and my county. I have my ticket but I can see why many would not and I wouldn't go on a forum and ridicule them for it or make out 100 quid was nothing like you are chief.

Tell me when you knock on somebodys front door how do you decide if they are in your 'target audience'?? Actually please define what you believe is the 'target audience' ??
Also, as other posters have pointed out there are serious trust issues with previous pie in the sky projects that never got off the ground.

Chops (Westmeath) - Posts: 807 - 14/05/2025 20:19:22    2609687

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "So you obviously refuse to buy a lotto ticket weekly from your club? I mentioned €2 per week, the draw was launched 28 weeks ago, another 6 weeks left, that's plenty of time to save €100, there are obviously families that struggle financially but they're not a target audience here, on your basis no one could afford to go to a club or county match, I'm selling tickets for club, have had refusals but not in any of those cases was it financially based. Same people can join gyms, golf clubs, etc but in three cases simply said no. That's fine but don't try to conflate that with an inability to buy."
Why would they so so Claretand blue ?

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 697 - 14/05/2025 20:26:44    2609693

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "So you obviously refuse to buy a lotto ticket weekly from your club? I mentioned €2 per week, the draw was launched 28 weeks ago, another 6 weeks left, that's plenty of time to save €100, there are obviously families that struggle financially but they're not a target audience here, on your basis no one could afford to go to a club or county match, I'm selling tickets for club, have had refusals but not in any of those cases was it financially based. Same people can join gyms, golf clubs, etc but in three cases simply said no. That's fine but don't try to conflate that with an inability to buy."
Outside of financial thats sad . Why saying no any insights of some other reasons.

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 697 - 14/05/2025 20:28:28    2609694

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "So you obviously refuse to buy a lotto ticket weekly from your club? I mentioned €2 per week, the draw was launched 28 weeks ago, another 6 weeks left, that's plenty of time to save €100, there are obviously families that struggle financially but they're not a target audience here, on your basis no one could afford to go to a club or county match, I'm selling tickets for club, have had refusals but not in any of those cases was it financially based. Same people can join gyms, golf clubs, etc but in three cases simply said no. That's fine but don't try to conflate that with an inability to buy."
Where do you get the energy to constantly fight these things; there's a huge disconnect between county and supporters. Reasons were outlined before and agreed with by many. If these reasons weren't there I'm sure there'd be better support. The sales strategy seems to be lump it on the clubs; clubs who already are trying to sell lotto and memberships to their parishes to keep themselves going. The county board then decide we'll get the clubs to sell approximately 100 tickets at €100 to their members and if they don't we will charge them the shortfall. How can you not see how bad that looks? I can guarantee if tickets were €20 or so they'd have met the target already.

OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 70 - 14/05/2025 22:11:17    2609713

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