The coach of one of the crews travelling to the World Championships in Cologne has launched a broadside at the Irish Amateur Rowing Union on the funding of the Irish team only days before the championships begin this weekend.
Members of the team, who received over £10,000 from the Government under the carding system for elite athletes announced last month, were asked to contribute £200 to the funding of the team, and all eight agreed. But Mick Desmond, coach of the quadruple scull, which is one of our best hopes of bringing home medals, feels the move is unwarranted and unfair and said: "I'm livid about it." He felt such measures were the equivalent of the union using a "begging hat" for funding.
Desmond feels it is particularly anomalous to request money from athletes who have a real chance of taking a medal in Cologne for other athletes who are being sent for "development" purposes.
"It is a crazy situation - you wouldn't have that situation if the Competitive Rowing Committee (of the IARU) hadn't selected the slower crews," he said. The £200 donation is in addition to the £200 levy on the athletes.
However, last night Dermot Henihan, the chairman of the Competitive Rowing Committee and the manager of the Irish World Championship team, said that the criticism was exactly the wrong note to hit as the team heads for Cologne.
He feels that the request, made through the athletes' representative on the committee, was not wrong. "I asked people to give £200 towards the World Championships. I didn't put any pressure on them," he said. "I only asked people who were getting £10,000 tax free. These sportsmen had received long-term support over the years from the Irish Amateur Rowing Union," he added. Henihan also pointed out that the eight-carded rowers who have donated money join a list of 14 other patrons who will be contributing. Eight other sponsors, including Government agencies, are supporting the team financially.
Two of the top Irish rowers, Tony O'Connor and Neville Maxwell, who both received £15,000 in the carding scheme, said that they had no difficulty with the request. Both were also generally supportive of the plan to send development crews to Cologne, pointing out that their own success - they have twice been silver medallists in World Championships - came after participating in regattas where reaching the B finals were the limit of their abilities. "The B final situation gives you experience," added O'Connor. "The thought that I was nearly as good as these fellows (at the elite level) spurred me on."
The closing date for entries for the National Sprint Championships and the Munster Championships is next Wednesday. The events will be held on the 19th and 20th at Fermoy and are sponsored by Dairygold Milk. Contact Jim Hackett, Greenhill, Fermoy at 025 32079.
