Göttsche has perfect profile for important Galway post

AS Mark Göttsche says, it has been an “unusual” first year in his new job as Galway GAA’s Operations and Finance Officer.

Taking up the role last September, the Oranmore/Maree clubman would have envisaged that he’d be dealing with a different set of challenges instead of those brought about by the viral pandemic that has gripped the globe.

Yet, while the sporting calendar was wiped out for four months, Göttsche put his time to good use, doing a deep dive on Galway GAA’s finances and analysing trends of income and expenditure. He notes that it was illuminating.

“On the finances, we were able to assess the creditors and we identified some creditor accounts where we queried the amount they had versus the amount we had on our system,” outlines the former London GAA Secretary and Treasurer.

“We actually managed to make a good bit of savings there, which was quite interesting. Sometimes, it may be a double entry for an invoice. When you have 25,000 to 30,000 transactions going through the system every year, sometimes you wouldn’t notice those things.”

This reflects what has been one of the biggest changes in the GAA in the past decade: the mushrooming of an amateur association into a multi-million euro business at both county and national levels. This has put huge pressure on county committees, in particular.

However, Göttsche, who studied Commerce in NUI Galway and a MA in Sport Management at the University of Ulster Jordanstown, believes that, regardless of the amounts, the same principles must apply when it comes to income and expenditure. First, there has to be “a cash flow” to meet the costs and, secondly, every expenditure should be about getting “value for money”.

“I think the key point about expenditure is always to get value for money and look at the value of what an expenditure will add, be it hosting games in the club championships or if it is preparing Galway teams for the Connacht football championship or the Leinster hurling championship.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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