Finn Harps hold AGM

Harps chairman Sean Quinn addressed the AGM on Sunday last and spoke of the great privilege of having been chairman of the club through years when so much progress had been made.  He thanked the directors and volunteers who keep the club going, in particular those who help run the match night.  He also expressed gratitude to McGettigan’s and the many other businesses who partner with and support the club.  He expressed a belief that the team would stay up, but pointed to a difficult summer period for the club in which there are only a few home games and in which a concerted effort of everyone at the club would be required to get the club through and allow the manager the potential to add to the squad.  He welcomed Paul McLoone to the board as director with responsibility for the stadium project.
In terms of financial results, the club was close to break even in 2016 with a small loss of under €500, with both income and expenditure growing rapidly as the club transitioned to the premier division.  It was noted that security and policing match night costs had increased, which is part of the cost of being in the top flight.  Expenditure on ground maintenance had also increased markedly to over €43,000 in part due to serious flooding in early 2016.  This was partly offset by a grant from the government of €20,000 as part of their support for those affected by the flooding.
The current board of the club were re-elected, with the addition of Paul McLoone.  These are: Sean Quinn (chair), Lorna McHugh (treasurer), John Campbell (secretary / community officer), James Rodgers (youth development), Aidan Campbell (Commercial and marketing) and board members Louis Fields, Derek Wilkinson and Seamus Gallagher.
Aidan Campbell spoke about the football side of the club, noting that the managers of the various teams at the club are “always massively committed and professional in their approach and have recruited capable and experienced coaching staff to their management teams”. He also said that the club is attracting the best underage talent in the area and is acknowledged within Irish football as having an excellent youth programme.  He noted the huge demands on the club on a day to day basis and that these as well as costs would on increase as U15 and later U13 leagues come on stream.  He heaped praise on club treasurer Lorna McHugh saying she had the most difficult job at the club but had performed it brilliantly.  He noted that annual subscriptions to the club lotto provided one avenue through which the club could get over the difficult summer period.  He further noted that many clubs around the league now had financial benefactors which meant Harps needed supporters to row in to help keep us competitive.
Director Seamus Gallagher pointed out that 3 of the board were cumulatively over 200 years old and there was a need for younger people to get involved with the club.  He also emphasised that support for the club is vital, especially in terms of getting people through the gates at Finn Park.  Fellow director Derek Wilkinson echoed these points and asked that if anyone was interested in joining the board that they get in touch with any current director as it is possible to co-opt board members during the year.
A discussion took place regarding the structure of the club, with a suggestion from the floor that the club might look at an annual membership model with a lower fee in place of the current one off share purchase.  The idea would be that this would encourage more engagement from supporters and make it easier for them to become part owners, while also provided a small annual income for the club.  It was noted that while careful consideration would be required around the treatment of current shareholders that there was no constitutional obstacle to such a change, as confirmed by engagement with the UCC Sports Law Clinic.  Club volunteer Aidan McNelis undertook to work on a proposal to put to the board and supporters for consideration in the coming months.
Club treasurer Lorna McHugh said the 500 club was being revamped having seen membership decline in recent years and that the club was in the process of writing to all past members to ask them to return.  She said the steady income from the 500 club was massively helpful in keeping club finances stable.
There was also a discussion of marketing at the club, with a shareholder suggesting that the club should create more awareness regarding the tremendous work Finn Harps volunteers do working alongside community organizations, schools, local charities and in Finn Harps Academy.  A member of the media team undertook to attempt to improve this but asked for support in terms of getting material together on these areas.