Support the club volunteers

Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:08

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This weekend the county GAA club scene kicks off in earnest with the first round of the Mayo senior leagues. The county soccer season will also start in the next few weeks. But now more than ever the clubs in both codes need plenty of support in order to be able to maintain their high level involvement in all county competitions.
Sometimes the clubs - or rather the officials, managers, trainers and committees of these clubs give outstanding work, time and effort that is taken for granted. Thousands upon thousands give up most of their spare time to help keep their club afloat and coach and train the many teams they have involved in huge number of competitions.
Today, most clubs will have teams playing in Under 8, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, minor, Under 21 and senior in both county leagues and championships. To field and prepare these teams takes a lot of very hard work and time. Only for the involvement by so many people in these clubs, this would not be possible.
The other side of the coin is that while you have a manager and two or three people looking after each team, they still have to be funded. It is only when the expense of fielding teams in the many different competitions is totted up, the enormity of the cost of running a club is realised.

All players have to be affiliated and then there is insurance, gear, football balls and of course the enormous cost of travel. For example the Belmullet club could have a few teams playing away in the likes of Shrule/Glencorrib or Charlestown, one or two times on any given week. The cost of this alone is colossal.
We must not forget that club facilities and playing grounds must be maintained. This is another huge cost which clubs have to meet.
Lining the playing fields for games, washing jerseys, providing refreshments for visiting teams, and on big match days having team sheets for everyone are other things clubs must do.
But to put it all in a nutshell, running a sports club today is really a business. And it is a business which has to be run on a voluntary basis.

It takes a huge amount of money to run these clubs, which takes a huge amount of fundraising.
The local lotto is a club's savour. But in order for it to be successfull club members have to be out on Friday and Saturday nights selling tickets. This is done while everyone else is out socialising. The commitment by the club members for this alone is really fantastic.
But, again, all of this work is simply taken for granted by those not directly involved.
It is hard to imagine what the towns and villages would be like if suddenly the club volunteers decided to call a halt. No one to take charge of teams, no trainers, no games and, as we enter the long evenings and fine Saturday and Sunday mornings, no outlet for the youth... there would almost be an outcry.

Maybe it is time for those who are not involved in clubs and especially parents to realise that the huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes by club members is brilliant and maybe they should be getting a little more help and support.
Many times these club volunteers only receive abuse. How often do managers have to listen to people, especially mums and dads, wonder aloud why their son or daughter is not playing or why they were taken off?
Now is the time to recognise the wonderful work of all these volunteers. The best way to recognise this is by helping out and supporting the clubs in whatever way possible.
I have only taken an example of the kind of work is involved with GAA and soccer clubs but the same is true for any other sporting organisation, be it rugby clubs, athletics clubs, swimming clubs, golf clubs, tennis clubs or any of the other many sporting clubs.

The message for all is support the clubs in your area and help in whatever way you can.
For example, an application by Swinford GAA Club for a lottery licence prompted Judge Mary Devins to state how amazed she was to learn from a club official in her home area how expensive it is to run a team for a year.
She expressed further amazement that clubs have to do so much fundraising in order to keep things going given the wealth of the organisation at a national level.
Mr. Paul Cunney, solicitor, who is involved with the Swinford club, said the money doesn't come down to the clubs.
(By the way, the application, made by Ms. Elizabeth Gallagher, secretary of Swinford GAA Club, and also a solicitor, was successful.)