The underfunding of the Trinity Sports Union has become an increasingly pressing issue, hindering the potential of great athletes and even pushing some to transfer to rival universities. While our iconic city-centre location poses inherent space challenges, on a site built for a student body half the size; inadequate funding exacerbates the problems, affecting students, teams, and facilities across the university. There are several crucial questions that need to be addressed, among the most pressing is, is the current situation really sustainable?
The budget for each club is allocated based on a set of criteria: coaching costs, external facilities hire, affiliation/competition fees, competition travel, number of active users and accessibility for beginners. Once decided a set sum is offered to cover minimum essentials for the club to function. However, “the Union was only able to fund 40% of Clubs budget requests”, the Trinity Sports Union (TSU) told The University Times. Previously, there was Bank of Ireland funding, and the Pavillion bar (a sub committee of the TSU) was set up as a source of income. However, since Covid, the sponsorship has been lost, and the Pav has not been able to support the union due to “rising costs such as staffing and an ageing facility, as well as closures such as the Summer series”. Clubs cannot operate effectively, players are turning away – both due to choice and capacity – and there are not enough coaches to meet the demand, evident in the rowing clubs. Insurance has skyrocketed and it seems facilities, performance and support are in parallel decline.
Potentially Trinity’s most renowned team, the DUFC (Dublin University Football Club – Rugby) is feeling the strain as they struggle to retain players. Competition from nearby clubs, who manage to offer their players a far more competitive draw, such as team housing (for example at Terenure College RFC), is impossible to go up against in our current state. The underfunding of benefits such as sports scholarships limits competitiveness and causes talent to look elsewhere. Looking at Trinity’s rivals puts a harsh spotlight on our lack of resources. Of course offering team housing is out of the question, and comparison to the likes of the professional side Clontarf, is neither fair nor productive. However, teams such as UCD, also have to deal with the yearly graduation of their most experienced players, and yet Trinity faced relegation, while UCD sit comfortably at number nine in the league.
The state of Trinity Sports facilities highlights the problem even more. While College Green is meticulously looked after, overuse means only 1st, 2nd and under 20 As can use it. Most teams were forced to find their way to Santry, where poor pitch conditions caused numerous match cancellations last term. One of these cancellations, which took place after the players had arrived for the game, and fell during the December exam season when spare time is precious, prompted a few fed up players to quit altogether. In 2017, Trinity purchased Iveagh Grounds from the Guinness Cooperation for nearly €2 million, this included rugby, tennis, hockey and GAA pitches. They are some of the largest sports facilities near Trinity. The acquisition looked like an exciting signal starting the revamping of our sports facilities. However, a lack of upkeep has left them in disrepair, with pitches visible slanting and unusable (forcing students to look elsewhere or quit altogether).
Overstretched resources
The crux of the issue is the extreme underfunding of the Trinity Sports Union. With only €185,640 shared between over 150 clubs, resources are understandably stretched far too thin. No club receives the funding it truly needs, and there is little clear direction for the future with no short term solutions available. Students are left fighting for time slots, with deserving teams having to train during unsociable hours, inevitably discouraging new recruits.
The issues are also affecting our more extreme sports, like sailing, Trinity boats are in dire condition, requiring an estimated €30,000 in repairs – a miracle sum. Insurance spikes, caused by a plethora of issues, including an accident, have made matters worse, increasing costs and limiting coverage. The boats are now only insured for Trinity students, meaning UCD can no longer train with them, and boats must be rented for every race – surely this is not a feasible solution long term. The situation deteriorated to the point that all watersports events were cancelled in the first semester of last year. Moreover, sailors must often pay upwards of €100 per race, which does not include transport to the event, food, or accommodation. Costs of the rugby sub – now at a whopping €145, which provides minimal kit, and apparently only a club tie when a trophy is won, are similarly disparaging. (According to a player who has since quit and moved to a local Dublin club, where the sub of €90 covers a training top, shorts, socks, a club tie and often a contact top too.) A telling sign of the sailing club’s financial troubles is the cancellation of the long standing ‘Year of Grace’, which allowed alumni to return to club events within a year of graduation, now stopped by insurance.
Climbing has been no luckier to escape these issues. Unable to cover the costs themselves, the Sports Union has had to advise adventure sports students to get their own license for events, but the process is not cheap and can often take years to complete. As one Trinity climber put it, “It would definitely be helpful for committees to have the opportunity to be RCI trained but that’s realistically not on the cards with the budget we’re given”.
Growing Participation Gap
The concentration of the limited resources on the upper teams is not a sustainable way to support the sports culture. With fewer opportunities for new and social teams, a wider issue of participation, as well as underfunding, is festering. Matches are being lost, not due to a lack of skill, but because we are increasingly being overwhelmed by better-funded, better supported opponents. These issues all point back to the fundamental problem of resources. However, they also nod to a deeper cultural shift away from sports as being integral to university life. There is little campus-wide enthusiasm, no iconic matches that the study body waits all term for, and a declining intake of high class athletes, as they leave Trinity for improved facilities provided by our better funded rivals.
To answer our own question, this situation cannot be sustainable. Better funding is critical to allow the Sports Union to offer opportunities for all students; elite athletes as well as those simply looking to stay healthy, an aim supported by TCDSU, TSU, and acknowledged by the university too. A new budget group is working towards a “simplified and objective criteria” for the plan ahead. We hope to enjoy to a year of development if we are to preserve our sporting legacy. With Sports Chair and Vice Chair Marcus Boggan and Ciara Mulligan, their team, as well as eight club reps, we are in safe hands for the future. This is not to undermine the grit of our students, and is certainly not an attack of the players we do have. For generations, Trinity has produced athletes who have competed for national and international teams, and our students today do not mark the end of this trajectory. But in order to maintain this tradition, to encourage growth, and to continue fostering sporting excellence, significant changes to funding, management, and maintenance are urgently needed. Marcus is keen to encourage all readers to join a club, regardless of experience or ability, and of course to keep on funding those Pavilion pints!
