Prof Simon Shibli of Sheffield Hallam’s Sports Industry Research Group (SIRG) is emphatic. “It’s not just unusual. It’s unique. I’ve never come across anything like it in my time here.”
Speaking to The Irish Times about this week’s report on the economic and social value of Gaelic games, of which he was the lead researcher, he has been asked how unusual the GAA’s combination of mass spectator sports and high levels of volunteerism was.
SIRG is a global leader in the field of analysing social and economic impacts of sport, and was commissioned by the GAA, Cumann Peil na mBan and the Camogie association to conduct an independent study into Gaelic games. They were assisted by colleagues in Manchester Metropolitan University and Ulster University.
“It means considerable money,” he says, “is generated and available to be filtered down to the grassroots in a way that’s very unlike, say, professional football where people are earning 70,000,100,000, 200,000 a week. That money is leaving the sport.”
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There are comparisons with other sports. The English rugby union coincidentally published a similar study, valuing their voluntary inputs at £736 million (€885m) as opposed to Gaelic games’ €1.06 billion – despite the population imbalance.
There is no comparable data for soccer, a more popular sport in England than rugby but again, coincidentally, there have been recent numbers published for the League of Ireland, which represents its economic value at €103.8 million as opposed to Gaelic games’ figure of €710 million.
That figure would not, however, cover all soccer activity in Ireland.
Societal impact of Gaelic games is calculated by conducting a Social Return on Investment study which in this case estimates that for every euro invested in Gaelic games there is at national level a social value benefit of €2.30.
Prof Shibli focuses on two elements in particular. “To tell the story you need to look at two figures: the economic value of Gaelic games and the best figure for that is the gross value added of €710 million. That represents 8.7 per cent of the sports industry and is a measurable component, .13 per cent, of the entire Irish economy.
“That’s a big figure but when you look at the social value we’re looking at outcomes of €2.87 billion. That is four times the scale of Gaelic games’ contribution to the economy, which is to do with the social capital generated by people involved in Gaelic games, participants and volunteers.”
The figure of €2.87 billion is based on evaluation under the following headings:
– €31.06 million for Health;
– €556.48 million for subjective wellbeing;
– €1.224 billion for social capital; and
– €1.056 billion for the replacement cost of volunteering.
He also raises the example of New Zealand, a country of similar size with which Ireland has frequently been compared in terms of having high-profile sports and the countries’ respective Olympic experiences.
“We did a study in New Zealand a couple of years ago and we found that the entirety of their volunteering for sport and physical activity came to NZ$3.1 billion (€1.73m), which is in the same ballpark as what the GAA generates.”
The study concludes: “If our findings could be distilled into a strapline it would be: ‘Gaelic games: Good for the economy and good for society’.”
The value of provincial finals in venues outside of Dublin was also estimated: the Ulster football final at €1.6 million to the town of Clones and €2.1 million to Co Monaghan overall, whereas the Munster hurling final in Thurles generated €3.2 million for the town and €4.5 million for Co Tipperary.
These are location specific and are not viewed as adding to the national economy.
Is there anything in his work on Gaelic games that has fired further interest or something that he would like to pursue?
“The thing that I would really like to do is evaluate some of the major cultural and sporting events that take place in Croke Park because in my own experience of attending the All-Ireland hurling final is that you probably get a higher proportion of people who don’t treat it as a day trip and the economic impact of those events is in a different league to what happens in Thurles and Clones.
“Having said that we went to those smaller rural towns to test the concept. Now that we have I would love to have the opportunity to do it not just for Gaelic games events at Croke Park but an NFL match or a Springsteen or U2 concert.”
