Social and economic value of GAA Presentation to Club Development Conference, 20 October 2007

1. Social and economic value of GAA Presentation to Club Development Conference, 20 October 2007

2. Introduction: Bowling Alone • “No-one is left from the Glenn Valley, Pennsylvannia Bridge Club who can tell us precisely when or why the group broke up, even though its 40 odd members were playing as recently as 1990, just as they had done for more than half a century. The shock in Little Rock Arkansas, Sertoma club is still painful: in the mid-1980s, nearly 50 people had attended the weekly luncheon to plan activities to help the hearing impaired, but a decade later only seven active members continued to show up”

3. Measuring Progress • “The Gross National Product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulance to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them. GNP includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads... And if GNP includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, or the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials... GNP measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile” Robert Kennedy, US Senator

4. Types of Social Capital Derived From Sport • Individual. • Sport may provide a basis for an individual to form a friendship base, provide goals and foster well being. • Sport utilises the talents of diverse individuals. • Local/community. • Sport may provide a basis for the building of local networks. • Through interacting with children’s sports, parents networks may form which have potentially beneficial effects. • Sport may provide a basis for bringing different sections of communities together. • National. • Sport may provide a basis for common shared norms and conversational points as well as providing a basis for collective memory. • Sport can act to transmit pro-social values such as fairness and rule following. • Sport may act as a vehicle for citizens to engage with other countries.

5. ESRI/Sports Council Study • Examine social aspects of sport: • Volunteering • Membership • Attendance • Socialising & playing of sport • Estimate economic value of these aspects • Policy implications: • For sports policy • For policy on social capital and volunteering • Based on Survey of Sport and Physical Exercise (2003)

6. Volunteering

7. How many adults volunteered in past year? % who volunteer compared to percent who play regularly • for every four adults who play sport regularly, there are three who volunteer

8. Volunteers and regular players by age-group

9. What sports did people volunteer for?% of volunteers

10. Male Female All Mentor 10 3 7 Coach 18 12 15 Referee 4 3 4 Providing transport 22 34 26 Activity organiser 13 14 13 Kit maintenance 6 16 10 Selector 10 4 8 Club official 15 9 13 Other 3 6 4 What did volunteers do?% of volunteers

11. Membership of sports clubs

12. How many are members?

13. Membership by sport

14. How many attend? % who attended sports fixture in Ireland in past 12 months

15. How important is attendance at children’s events? % of attendees who went to events for under-18’s

16. What sports did people attend?

17. Economic value

18. Context • Previous valuations: • Sport worth about 1.5% of GDP (c. €1.7 billion), about 2% of employment • Boundaries can be defined in different ways (e.g. re share of media activity and advertising to be attributed to sport; should gambling be included?; should health benefits be valued?) • Present approach: focus on economic value of social dimensions: • Volunteering • Membership • Attendances

19. Key results • Value of volunteering: €267 million per annum • Weekly labour input equivalent to 14,200 full-time workers • Assumptions for valuation: one hour of volunteering per session, 40 weeks of activity per year, labour valued at €7 per hour, no allowance made for other voluntary contributions e.g. use of car for transport) • Value of club memberships (total annual subscriptions): €200 million • Value of attendances at sports events: €525 million • Ticket purchases plus cost of transport, food, etc. • Total value of these social dimensions c. €1 billion • Other items could be included (e.g. sports tourism: c. €350 million) • Cf. government expenditure on sport: €120 million

20. Conclusions • Sport is not just about what happens on the field of play. Social interactions off the field of play just as important • Strengthens communities, enhances social capital (especially for men) • A major arena for volunteering and organisational membership • Sports policy should pay explicit attention to social dimension • Much is implicit at present • Recognise and support volunteering • Recognise value of other social aspects, esp. club membership & attendance at events • Implications for funding of club houses, stadia, etc. • Emerging policy on social capital and volunteering should recognise the importance of sport • Importance of non-social service volunteering • Other social capital aspects of sport • More dialogue/coordination with sports policy • Other issues • Gender and life cycle features of social aspects of sport need to be appreciated • Social aspects of sport weaker among the less well off, unemployed • Special social value of the GAA should be acknowledged & supported • Some concern about the link between social aspects of sport and alcohol