'It was something cultural, religious almost, bordering on spiritual.'

One of the authors of the Sheffield Hallam University study that found the GAA is worth €2.87 million per annum in Social Value to Irish Society, believes the timing of the report is perfect for the Association.

With government formation ongoing and a big push towards integration, the GAA now have the evidence of their worth to the country.

Invariably this means seeking out funding, in particular for the infrastructure that will be required to make full integration a reality.

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The report, which examined the accounts of 500 clubs and was delivered last month, also found that for every €1 invested in Gaelic Games the value returned to individuals, wider communities and society is €2.30 - and could be as high as €3.96.

Professor Simon Shibli - one of the main authors - had his first big encounters with Gaelic Games came through a former client and then PhD student, Paul Donnelly, from the St. Paul’s club in Belfast.

Those experiences came first at St. Paul’s and also while attending Kilkenny’s 2015 All-Ireland hurling final victory over Galway at Croke Park.

“I am obviously an outsider looking in but what I have seen and what I have experienced and lived is something quite different to any other sport in which I have worked,” said Professor Shibli.

“I can’t imagine the culture in swimming clubs being like GAA clubs.

“Paul (Donnelly) brought me to the 2015 All-Ireland Final. All I can remember is that Kilkenny won. I can’t remember who they were playing or what the score was.

“Just being in Dublin (and the stadium), it transcended sport. It was something you could feel.

“It was something cultural, religious almost, bordering on spiritual. I wouldn’t get that feeling when I went to Twickenhan. I enjoyed being there.

“London doesn’t feel like Dublin felt. The venue didn’t feel like Croke Park felt. There was something kind of extraordinary about it.

“Then later that year he (Donnelly) and I happened to be in Melbourne, Australia, randomly walking down the street on the other side of the world, and Paul just shouts out, ‘Hi ya,’ so and so.

“It was, ‘Did you know so and so and so and so - they are here.’

“We ended up meeting them on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. It was the St. Paul’s boys meeting some of their colleagues, a random bloke in me and going for a big night out and the only thing they had in common was St. Paul’s and a GAA background.

“I felt very, very welcomed, as I always have done when I’ve been to St. Paul’s in a way that you might not be if you went to your average golf club in Surrey for example.”

Sheffield Hallam’s expertise in the area of calculating the value of sport to society goes all the way back to the 1996 European Championships, staged in England.

Since then they’ve worked across a variety of sports, including golf, rugby and soccer.

Effectively they place figures on the value of a particular sport, club or event to society and the economy.

The timing could be perfect for the GAA with integration a massive issue for the Assocation, the LGFA and Camogie Association - and with no-one quite sure who will foot the bill for facilities in particular.

“Hopefully we will catch a wave with coverage, that people will be sensitised to this,” said Shibli.

“In the early stages of a new government they want to make decisions that are popular. They want to make decisions that show that they have made their mark.

“With the combination of that and downstream in 2027, the proposed integration, and with Mary McAleese driving the integration, there probably couldn’t be a better time to be getting this sort of data on the table.”

Shibil imagines the main tenant of the conversation going along the lines of something like the following:

‘This might come as some kind of surprise to you (government), but we (the GAA) are net contributors in terms of tax income revenues relative to what you give us.

‘Plus we do all of this for Irish society and for the Irish economy - let’s have a sensible conversation that enables us collectively to drive integration.’

He continued: “For the LFGA and Camogie Associaton, this could be the biggest thing that’s happened to women’s sport in some years.

“I can’t think of anything that has the potential to do more than what integration will do. I saw it with golf.

“The Ladies Golf Association emerged with the RNA (Royal and Ancient) and it did wonders for the salaries of the women who worked in the Ladies Golf Associaton.

“And if you saw the women’s open at St. Andrew’s in August this year and compared it with the last time it was there in 2013, it was poles apart because the RNA were investing in it.

“It looked and felt like a major event. Whereas in 2013, it looked like the smallest show on earth.”

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