17 July 2009
Iúil 2009
GAA VHI Cúl Camps
This month’s communications theme focuses on our GAA VHI Cúl Camps, as our younger members both at home and abroad embrace our games on their summer holidays at camps taking place at hundreds of clubs.
The camps have experienced huge growth since 2006, and it is hoped that as many as 85,000 children will attend the camps nationwide this year enjoying football, hurling, camogie, handball and rounders.
Every participant gets a chance to win a training slot at Croke Park and many of the camps will be visited by top inter-county players over the course of the summer.
Our summer camps are hugely important in introducing young players to our games for the first time and helping to fire interest in others in a setting where the emphasis is placed on fun and enjoyment.
Lisa Clancy
GAA Director of Communications
IT
Our new e-mail system, powered by Google technology, is now operating across the Association. All key Provincial and County Officer roles have been given their new email details. Every club in our Association has also been given their new email details via the GAA Email Helpdesk and/or your county IT officer who has been fully briefed on the new email system.
The system is now live since April 4 and it is encouraging to note that over 54% of all clubs in the country are now using the system. Notable achievements to date include 100% club login for seven counties; Tipperary, Limerick, Tyrone, Wexford, Offaly, Cavan and Fermanagh.
If you have any questions or wish to register your club, which is requirement to ensure that your club receives up to date information, please contact your county IT officer or the GAA email helpdesk at:
• Antrim IT Officer: Martin McCarry - itofficer.antrim@gaa.ie
• mail.support@gaamail.ie
• Telephone helpdesk on: (+353) (0)76 6154932 and (01) 6384821
Club Focus - De La Salle, Waterford/Munster
The success of Waterford’s De La Salle that yielded county and provincial hurling titles at senior level last year is not restricted to the field of play, and the development of fine new club facilities underlines the point.
Work at the club’s new €3.5m complex, including a new clubhouse and playing pitches, has placed the club’s future on a secure footing and the club has also managed to hold on to its existing field after selling its city based social centre.
The are further plans for a hurling wall as part of the emerging complex but even at this stage it’s obvious that the club and their development committee have helped establish a base that should allow them to capitalise fully on the superb season that was 2008.
Ag Éisteacht Update
A total of seven clubs have been visited across the country as part of the Ag Éisteacht Programme announced at GAA Congress back in April and more visits are planned for the coming weeks and months.
The sessions have already proved to be extremely useful informing the GAA President and Ard Stiúrthóir and the staff at Croke Park of the challenges and obstacles facing the Association and the excellent work being overseen by our units throughout the country.
If you think your club would benefit from or would be interested in what is essentially a two hour question and answer session, feel free to make a request by email to: alan.milton@gaa.ie.
Hurling Helmets
As of January 1 2010 ALL players at ALL levels will be obliged to wear a hurling helmet complete with face guard for both competitive matches and training. Players without the necessary equipment will not be able to participate after this date.
Posters aimed at raising awareness of this rule change have been distributed to counties which will be distributed to clubs.
Pitch Invasions
Supporters and the wider membership have been informed this month, of the dangers associated with post-match pitch invasions by celebrating fans as this year’s championships move towards their respective All-Ireland series.
Supporters are urged to consider the risks posed by crowd incursions onto pitches and in particular the danger to players and fellow supporters by large-scale pitch invasions.
The practice also jeopardises the health of small children, the elderly, disabled patrons and pregnant women. Please respect this request to refrain form invading the pitch.
Ticket Packages for 2009 All-Ireland Series
A whole new range of ticket offers will be available from the GAA for the quarter-final and semi-final games of this year’s football and hurling championships.
A total of six new packages are on sale combining the knock out games in the latter stages of both the football and hurling championships.
The Hurling Heaven package priced at €90 includes tickets for one hurling quarter-final and two semi-finals.
The Football Feast deal offers supporters tickets for two football quarter-final days and both semi-finals and costs €99 - meaning matches cost less than €25 each.
On last year’s ticket prices these packages offer savings of €35 and €60 respectively.
Other offers include a quarter and semi-final package covering one quarter-final and semi-final costing €65 and a Dual Deal for the quarter-final and semi-final stages of both the football and hurling championships priced at €175.
There are also Club Pass and Group Pass offers.
Check out the Ticketing section of www.gaa.ie for further information.
The GAA’s new Ticket Shop has opened at 53 Lower Dorset St and match tickets can be purchased through this outlet between 10am and 5pm daily.
Museum
New in the Museum this summer is the Croke Park Timeline. Starting in 1864, the timeline takes museum visitors on a visual journey through the significant events and milestones of the stadium’s rich history.
There are some fascinating documents that remind us all of the huge social, cultural and sporting history behind the iconic stadium starting with a sepia-toned map of “Butterly’s Field”. This 21 acre area of land “on the south side of Clonliffe Road in the parish of Saint George and County of Dublin” that Alderman Maurice Butterly purchased back on April 16 1864 is the current site of Croke Park Stadium.
Other early significant dates featuring on the timeline include March 15 1896, which marked the first All-Ireland Football and Hurling Finals to be played at Jones’ Road, and the purchase of the site by the GAA in 1913, renaming it Croke Memorial Park.
Non-GAA events also feature, with images showing the huge hype and publicity around the July 19 1972 meeting of Muhammad Ali and Al ‘Blue’ Lewis, as well as mention of the first historic first Rugby and Soccer matches in 2007, the Special Olympics in 2003 and U2’s numerous sell-out shows since 1985.
The GAA Museum is offering all GAA Clubs a saving of 25% on published list prices, between July 1 and December 31, 2009. Booking is essential, and this offer must be quoted at time of booking.
Code of Best Practice in Youth Sport
The GAA will launch its new Code of Best Practice for Youth Sport and Code of Behaviour later this month in the company of Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Mr Barry Andrews TD and representatives from the wider GAA family.
These publications will provide guidance for all of our clubs in our work with children and young people and will be distributed to all units in the weeks and months ahead. Congratulations to the Dublin County Board who became the first county to complete the full distribution of Garda Vetting Forms to all clubs in the county.
Further information on the codes is available at nationalchildrensoffice@gaa.ie
Games Development – GAA VHI Cúl Camps
It’s that time of the year again when school is out and clubs across the country entertain their younger members through the medium of Gaelic Games and the GAA VHI Cúl Camps. A total of 962 camps, 928 of them in the 32 counties, will be held to cater for an expected 85,000 children – an increase of 20,000 on 2006 figures.
The logistics are knitted together by 42 county or unit supervisors, eight provincial games managers and a national Cúl Camps coordinator. To date almost €800,000, generated through the camps, has been re-invested through the provincial councils in our Coaching and Games Development.
The important cogs in the wheel however come in the shape of the local clubs who promote the camps in various ways, particularly through their links with local schools. Booking for upcoming camps, and other further information, is available through a recently re-vamped website, which can be accessed through www.gaa.ie.
