13 December 2010
At tonight’s Antrim County Convention, outgoing chairman Dr John McSparran brought an end to his 5 year tenure with a speech reflecting mainly on the past year’s accomplishments and those areas where improvement is still required. He handed over the top position to outgoing vice-chairman Jim Murray who was elected unopposed.
Joe Edwards takes over the vice-chairman’s role while Paddy McIlvanney was also unopposed as assistant secretary. The outgoing treasurer and assistant treasurer Tyrone Eastwood and Brendan Wilson were returned to their respective positions without any challengers. Philip Christie continues as Development Officer and Tony McCollum as Youth officer for the incoming year.
In an election for Culture Officer, Gloria McLaughlin defeated incumbent Gearoid Robinson. Frank Smyth and Danny McLernon were elected as delegates to Ulster Council while Gerry McClory withdrew his nomination for PRO allowing Brendan Mulgrew to join the Antrim Management committee for the first time in this role. The position for Coaching and Games Development Officer was left vacant due to the withdrawal of former North Antrim chairman Niall Kearney from this nomination.
3 of the 5 motions before Convention were passed. The first from Cushendun Emmet’s will defer any proposed changes to league structures for one year, unless any such proposal receives the backing of over 2/3 of those present.
Another motion from O’Donovan Rossa will permit a divisional board treasurer to remain in position provided he/she is elected to that position beyond the normal 5 year restriction as provided for in Rule 3.11 of the Official Guide.
Armoy Glen Rovers’ motion to formalise the creation of a Development Subcommittee was also passed. St Patrick’s, Lisburn withdrew their motion regarding the structure of the Junior Football championship while the St John’s motion regarding juvenile transfers was amended to become a recommendation that Juvenile transfer requests are dealt with in accordance Rule 1.13. This was passed pending further clarification of the current bye-law that controls these transfers.
St John’s also had their recommendation that the County Board explore the possibility of having one designated person, in a paid capacity, manage all fixtures within the County passed and St Gall’s recommendation regarding the installation of lifts in Croke Park will be brought to the GAA’s annual Congress in 2011.
Chairman’s Address 2010-12-13
For the fifth and final time, it is my privilege to address you at our Annual Convention and I unquestionably have mixed emotions that the torch is passing to a new administration. However, I have no doubt that they will come with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm. When I asked for your support 5 years ago I did so at a time when I was full of energy and with an ambition to make a real difference for the Association in this county. Whether I achieved anything is only for you to judge and I certainly do not intend this address to be a review of the past 5 years, nor my synopsis of it.
I know that many gaels question the wisdom of having the terms for various officers limited. At times I have also felt that there is a lot of unfinished business that I would still want to address. Nonetheless, I can honestly tell you that I do not now have that same energy or ambition when I embarked on this journey. Part of that of course, is that the position of County Chairman is fiercely demanding and not one day passes without some involvement in the GAA. We all grow a little older and for some of us, we hope we might also get a bit wiser. Circumstances change personally and professionally and there is a definite need to ensure that none of us get “parked in the same spot” rusting away until we fall apart.
We should not be frightened of change. Rather, we should see this as an opportunity to be hopeful and to inspire us to the challenge to make things even better. We now have an opportunity to renew ourselves, to reset our goals and strive to attain new levels of success in all facets of our Association. Change will be a good thing for Antrim GAA and it will be a good thing for me.
County Teams
Perhaps we could use the example of some of the steps taken by both our senior hurlers and footballers this year. Gaining a second successive promotion to Division 2 of the National league is a significant step forward for football in Antrim. For decades we have had to listen to alleged experts expressing bewilderment about the status of Antrim football. Those same experts described this season as “the second year syndrome” as if nothing was gained. This completely ignored the achievement of getting a second promotion and was based solely on our championship performance against Tyrone. All of this was done against the background of the unprecedented achievement of St Gall’s winning the All Ireland club football title. Yet, because we lost to Tyrone (eventual Ulster champions) and then lost to Kildare in the play-off (All Ireland semi-finalists) Antrim football was in reportedly in some kind of doldrums.
It continuously amazed me to read newspapers columns and listen to media experts summarising our season in this way. Of course we did not scale the same heights in the championship as in 2009 but championship alone should not be the sole measure of the standard or progress of football in any county. The more revealing facts are that we are now a Division 2 football team and we still have the All Ireland club champions among us.
I firmly believe that Antrim football can further consolidate their league status and can make a significant impact on the championship next year. Let’s consider this. We lost to Kildare who were eventually semi-finalists and we probably should have won the first game in Newbridge. Just the week before that we played Down in a challenge match and won that by significant margin. You won’t need reminded where their season ended.
Now what I am going to say might surprise many of you but I firmly believe that this county is now much nearer to achieving the ultimate success in football than it is in hurling. That might sound like heresy in some quarters, but there is little doubt that the gap between the more successful football teams and those at the next level is a lot easier to bridge than the same chasm that currently exists in hurling.
This is not a criticism of our hurlers in any way and should not be viewed with glee by the “burn the sticks” brigade as some kind of signpost to abandon our much cherished dual status. Rather, it should serve as motivation for all our footballers and coaches both in club and county, to cast off the inhibitions like St Gall’s have done and aim to achieve the highest goal. Let’s get over this cancer that is rife in our county where we are content to be gallant losers or runners-up. I wish Liam Bradley, his backroom team and our players every success next year.
Whilst league success was certainly not something we can claim for our senior hurlers, on the contrary their run to the quarter-finals in the championship certainly did give us something to shout about. Put into proper perspective, the last time an Antrim hurling team won a match of the status of the defeat of Dublin in Croke Park, was 1989. It may not have got us to a final but it is a long time since we even contested at this level. In hindsight the extra-time loss to Offaly was probably as good a result as we could have got. As a consequence we avoided Galway in the Leinster semi-final but importantly it filled is with belief and confidence which was something we demonstrated in bucket-loads when we turned a nine point deficit against Carlow into a character building victory that set up the Dublin game.
Despite this, Antrim hurling must produce more consistency in the league if we want to develop from this. There is little doubt that we are hampered in a significant way by the almost annual involvement of one of our club teams in the latter stages of the All Ireland series. While this is always welcome, it certainly has serious impact in the county team’s ability to challenge for promotion. I have repeatedly argued that there is absolutely no need to delay the latter stages of the club competitions until February and March. The long gap that exists between the provincial final and the semi-finals is unnecessarily protracted and it is cost prohibitive to those clubs preparing for these games. The big attraction for the clubs and the players involved is not so much playing on the 17th of March; it is playing in Croke Park that is more important. The Junior and Intermediate clubs have no difficulty with this, nor I believe would most of the senior participants either.
If we could be afforded a more level playing field in this regard, I do believe that we are as good as any other team in our division and getting into a league play-off would do wonders for confidence before the forthcoming championship. Nonetheless, the gulf in standards which is now between Tipperary, Kilkenny and the rest is considerable. It is a steeper hill to climb but the reality is that Tipperary has done it and it is up to rest of us to follow. Dinny has changed his backroom team, some of it enforced and some of it to freshen things up. The possible addition of Ollie Baker to this team can only bring a winners mentality to Antrim hurling and whilst hurdles remain to be overcome, we would dearly love a repeat and possibly even better than last year.
We must also recognise the nomination of Liam Watson for an All Star and for Michael McCann in gaining a replacement this year. It is a long time since 2 Antrim players featured in this annual awards process and we can only hope that this will become a more frequent experience in the future. Congratulations to both of them.
At other levels, our teams have not made any major breakthrough. While this is disappointing, we have taken a couple of steps to address this. I believe that the introduction of All County leagues at minor level is a significant step to improving the frequency of games and the standard of competition. The consequent rationalisation of juvenile fixtures under supervision from Bord na nOg will also allow for better preparation of development squads. With greater application and commitment from clubs, this is bound to reap reward for the county teams but also for your club teams too.
The inclusion on the Minor hurlers in the reconstituted Leinster league next year also represents a significant platform for these players to get a consistent and higher standard of competition that ought to give these players a better chance of achieving success come championship time.
Coaching & Games Development
We are fortunate to have now had Ciara Ferry and the rest of her coaching and games development team in position for their first full year. The activity within schools coaching, courses for clubs and mentors, development squads, summer camps etc is quietly ongoing, it is proving tremendously popular and ultimately beneficial for the county, clubs and schools. With the creation of the new Coaching & Games Development website, communication is vastly improved and this represents a new platform to access details of the frenetic amount of activity in this area. I have often been bamboozled about the number and variety of courses that are ongoing and undoubtedly much of this information has not been dissipated efficiently through the established channels. This new website is innovative, comprehensive and will rectify much of those difficulties that have arisen
Their work has been particularly difficult given that for a good part of the year we have not had a Coaching & Games Development Officer in place to oversee and supervise their roles and responsibilities. It is disappointing that repeated requests for a volunteer to step forward to fulfil this role fell on deaf ears. We are indebted to our county secretary Frankie Quinn and Youth Officer Tony McCollum for deputising when they could. It is a vital and extremely demanding role.
Club Competitions
This is clearly the single most important matter for clubs that is raised ad infinitum at various meetings within clubs and counties and even within the higher echelons of the Association. Lack of organisation of games on a regular basis has been raised in every club and county that Christy Cooney and Paraic Duffy have visited as part of Ag Eisteacht initiative.
However, analysis of club activity in Antrim over the past few years has demonstrated that our CCC is leading the way in this regard. The frequency and regularity of fixtures has improved year on year and any discussions and feedback from clubs has indicated that this year was certainly another improvement, even to the extent that many established critics now openly acknowledge this. In fact, analysis of club competitions across Ulster has been published and the results clearly endorse this feedback. No other county is even in the same league when the total number of games organised and played in both codes is analysed.
That is a fitting tribute to CCC chairman Joe Edwards, secretary Danny McLernon and the other members of the busiest committee in the county. That they have continued to improve things year after year, to the extent that many of you are now prepared to openly acknowledge this, is truly remarkable.
I know that at times many of you have had difficulties with some of the decisions taken and possibly the manner in which those decisions have been communicated. It is disappointing then, that some have felt the need to contest those decisions at Ulster and Central Council and even at the DRA; usually at inordinate expense to their own clubs. I am firmly of the opinion that the basis of many of these appeals is egotistical and more to do with personality differences rather than objective analysis. The adjudication of these appeal bodies has not resulted in any contradiction of the CCC’s original decision and I would urge those predisposed to engaging in such recourse, to try to look more objectively rather than engaging in futile, costly and divisive folly.
It is clear that the “zero tolerance” approach works and any deviation from this will only encourage a decline in standards. I want to put on record my thanks to CCC for going a long way towards addressing the thing that matters most for you.
The long overdue establishment of Bord na nOg did occur, albeit in an embryonic form. As I have already stated, this will allow for greater communication and co-operation to occur with juvenile activity. The All County Minor leagues were a significant improvement from the previous year but it would be foolish to believe that they are anything like the finished article. Of course there have been teething problems and certainly the rump of resistance to these leagues hasn’t “gone away” but I have no doubt, that with proper commitment and buy-in it will become very evident that this is the right way forward.
Centre of Excellence/Casement Park/Ballygrooby/Club Infrastructure
Progress continues at Dunsilly. 3 pitches have now been constructed with floodlighting bases, access routes and further preparatory work for the next phases also completed. The vast majority of you have not witnessed any of this development and it is therefore difficult to get you enthused about it. Nonetheless I am certain that if you were afforded the opportunity to look over the site, you could not be anything but impressed with what has occurred there. At times I and others on the sub-committee overseeing the project have become very frustrated with the pace of progress. Additionally, if we had known then what we have learned now, there is little doubt that things would have been done differently, but of course hindsight is a wonderful thing.
That said, I have little doubt that this will be acknowledged as one of the most important milestones reached for this county by future generations. I am reliably informed by those with much greater expertise in these matters, that in reality we have made remarkable progress in what is a relatively short space of time. In fact, it is fair to say that if anyone had suggested that Antrim GAA would have spent over £3.5 million on any project 5 years ago, they would have probably have been locked up. In that sense, we ought to recognise that this county is capable of achieving any target it sets itself. This should therefore embolden us to ensure that we continue to move onto completing the next phase.
The 3 pitches should become available for use in about 18 months. Therefore there is an obvious need to ensure we have facilities to allow players to change, shower etc. The project steering group are currently engaged in assessing how we can move this on given the current financial climate and with a lack of public funding now available through grants etc. I believe that as a county we must now commit to obtaining the funds through whatever channels are necessary. Last year I asked us to commit to raising £1 million. If we set ourselves this target over a few years, then we will achieve our goal but we must ensure that every unit of our Association is prepared to put their shoulder to the wheel in this task. We cannot have a situation where some elements are shouldering the burden for others as has occurred with previous fundraising initiatives.
It is likely that the final phase of the development of these facilities will be the construction of the Astro-turf pitches. Initially we had hoped to complete these at a much earlier stage. Unfortunately, the withdrawal of Sport NI funding for this type of facility has necessitated a change in priorities. It is still unclear whether this withdrawal of funding is a temporary or permanent measure and given these times of austerity it is entirely unpredictable what is going to become available in the future.
What is clear though, is that much funding that was available in previous years is now being diverted to support the London Olympics.
It is outrageous that government is pandering to the requirements of an elite few to the detriment of real communities wanting to engage in healthy, sporting and cultural activity. It is increasingly obvious too, that the London Olympics is not going to bring any benefit to our communities, businesses or various organisations in this part of the world – apart possibly from a big bath tub in Bangor. Yet “National Lotto” tickets will continue to be sold, taxes collected and National Insurance contributions paid. It is incumbent on our politicians and community leaders to insist on an end to this siphoning off of funds to support a “super-circus” in London in 2012. There is a mountain of evidence and analysis that incontrovertibly demonstrates the positive role that local community-based sport contributes to society. I don’t need to regurgitate all of that for you but suffice it to say, we have provided for and contributed to our societies and we will continue to do so, long after the London Olympics is a distant memory. It is time we fought to get back what we rightfully deserve.
On that theme, I am also aware that many of you are concerned and frustrated that no formal announcement has been made on the potential development of Casement Park. That includes the worry that unless a decision is forthcoming soon, the funds that were ring-fenced for this might well be assimilated back into government coffers in London. Unfortunately this is a matter that is beyond our control and dependent on many other extraneous factors. We are still hopeful that a positive announcement will be made soon and any further speculation or comment in the meantime serves no useful purpose. That said, if there was any possibility that this funding might be lost it could only be considered as an act of unbelievable incompetence and negligence.
Before leaving this theme on Infrastructure it is important to advise you that we have undertaken preliminary work to secure the planning permission on the land purchased a number of years ago at Ballygrooby. This was due to expire this month and it was essential that this planning permission was kept alive. Various options for this land are now being considered but maintaining the planning permission potentially raises the value of this asset.
I also want to commend those clubs that have undertaken various projects over the past year. Some clubs have now got second pitches, others have developed their facilities in different ways including installing a wind turbine and unquestionably the indoor arena in Dunloy will be the envy of many throughout the country. Our Development Officer Philip Christie who has assisted these clubs has detailed all of these projects in his report. Congratulations to you all.
Finance/Sponsorship
Again we are indebted to Creagh and the McKeague family for the continuing sponsorship of our adult teams. You will be aware of the considerable expense incurred in preparing our teams for their various competitions from the Treasurer’s report this evening. In comparative terms, this is quite a frugal amount but we should be cognisant that this figure is only likely to increase in the future. Sponsorship for all our teams is greatly appreciated and they are all acknowledged in the Convention booklet.
I would encourage you to support all our various sponsors as their contribution certainly alleviates the fund-raising burden on us all. We can do better and we need to explore other areas where sponsorship can further assist our revenue-generating responsibilities.
Club Aontroma
Club Aontroma continues to provide a valuable service for the GAA in Antrim. This year there has been some changes in personnel on their management committee and they have brought a fresh impetus to the organisation. Their contribution in funding terms is vital particularly with our Centre of Excellence. The recent evening at the greyhound racing was successful and not just in financial terms. Good relationships have been established that will serve us well in the future.
I know more events are planned for 2011 and we must make every effort to ensure these initiatives receive our full support. It is also worth reminding you that this is the only county fundraising organisation that has charitable trust status and therefore every penny raised can attract more revenue from “her majesty’s government”; something I am sure we all have no qualms about.
Conclusion
As usual I have probably kept you longer than many of you would have expected. I have endeavoured to address as many issues as was reasonably possible without keeping you here all evening. I know there are other areas that I have not touched upon such as culture, language, referees and youth development but time constraints make it simply impossible to focus on everything so please accept my apologies for this.
It is now time for me to leave the stage after 5 eventful and hopefully constructive years as your chairman. I will cherish this time for the rest of my days and I am genuinely honoured that you have given me this wonderful opportunity. When I reflect over that time I inevitably recall many great gaels who were with us when I was elected 5 years ago. Arthur Forsythe, Jimmy Fennell, Pat Connolly, Frank McCann, Sean McGettigan and a predecessor Oliver Kelly have all gone to their eternal reward. Of course, there are many more that I have not mentioned who have contributed to your clubs and our county who we must remember as well. Ar dheis lamh De go raibh a anam uasal.
Being your chairman has provided me with great challenges and it has taught me valuable lessons that I would never have otherwise had the opportunity to experience. I have had the privilege of working with great men and women who have all made wonderful contributions in various ways. In particular I want to express my gratitude to county secretary Frankie Quinn, treasurer Tyrone Eastwood and his predecessor Gerald McGarry for their support and guidance. The hours given by Frankie and Tyrone to Antrim GAA are far beyond what anyone could reasonably expect. Jim Murray has been a magnificent support in the various roles he has worked alongside me and I am confident that he will lead you well with ambition, fairness and enthusiasm. I want to thank all the outgoing members of our Management Committee for their support and diligence and hope the rejuvenated committee will lead our Association to bigger and better things.
I have been asked many times what I am going to do now that I will have so much time on my hands. However, I know that definitely will not be the case. 5 years ago I was single and at that time there certainly wasn’t any indication that this situation might change. It had been suggested to me many times that I was heading for the shelf and getting a bit long in the tooth for settling down. Fortunately a young lady from Glenariffe changed all that and she took the courageous step of marching with me up to an altar in Rome last year. Obviously my priorities have now changed and I have no doubt that Donna is already drawing up a new timetable for me. In fact, I can tell you that all being well things are going to change significantly for us in the coming months.
I am sure though that my lifelong association with the GAA will continue albeit in different ways. I wish you all every happiness and success in the future.
Aontroim abu
Go raibh mile maith agaibh
