belgium gaa newsletter - march 2011
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Volume 2, issue 1TRANSCRIPT
Pre-tournament season is upon us. An outside observer might be excused for
thinking that this is still a low-key time of year for Belgium GAA, but the
amount of administration, fundraising, training and invitational matches that
go on in these couple of months set the standard for the rest of the year.
Our 2011 AGM took place in the European Parliament on 25 January, with an
address from Sean Kelly, honorary President of Belgium GAA. A new
Committee was installed (more details on Committee members on the next
page), and plans for the year were put in place.
Training grounds
Since late January, mens and ladies football training has taken place on the
VUB campus on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 20h to 21h. For more information, see
the back page of this newsletter or contact Colin Byrne, Football Officer ([email protected])
or Jane Brennan, Ladies Football Officer ([email protected]).
Camogie and hurling training is currently on Saturdays, from 12h to 13h, in Parc du
Cinquantenaire, but the pitch will be available on weekday evenings from April onwards. Contact
Niamh Kennedy, Camogie Officer ([email protected]) or Shane Ryan, Hurling Officer
([email protected]) for further details.
Tournaments
Tournaments for all codes will begin in the coming weeks, with the first football tournament (Ladies
European and Mens Regional) in Luxembourg (9 April) and the first hurling/camogie tournament in Den
Haag (7 May). Like last year, Belgium will host 2 tournaments, but for the first time, we will host the
hurling/camogie finals on 23 July and a full pan-European tournament on 10 September.
Everyone is encouraged not to just turn up and play on the day, but to help out to make both
tournaments excellent showpieces for the club.
Fundraising
Of course, the funds are needed to sustain all these training sessions and tournaments. The now
annual Belgium GAA/FC Irlande St. Patrick’s Day festival was held on Sunday 13 March (see
inside for a review and photos). Aside from the customary bumps and breakages (whether on the pitch
or en route to the 1898), the event was a great success, raising almost €3,000 for both clubs and
many many thanks go to all who volunteered their services in the lead-up to and on the day itself.
In addition, this year, each code is asked to organise a fundraising activity to raise money for the club.
The ladies footballers took an extensive lead, by getting involved in a 10km race (in Dendermonde,
Belgium), and raising an astounding €2,291.50. The camogie ladies are in the process of organising a
silent auction (among other things), so the gentlemen of the club need to get cracking!
It’s easy to get bogged down in money and admin, but as the evenings get longer, let’s start looking
forward to a great season of sport and ensuring the continued success of the club. An Craobh Rua
abú! SMC
Welcome to 2011
March 2011
In this issue you can
read all about:
New Committee
St. Patrick’s Day
10km Race
Invitationals &
matches (Dublin, Coventry, Den Haag)
2011 Calendar
...and much more!
Volume 2, Issue 1
BELGIUM GAA NEWSLETTER
Updating members and non-members alike on the activities of one of the best and most
ambitious GAA clubs on the European Continent
Brought to you by Belgium GAA Publishing and
De Valera's Pub, Place Flagey
To receive this newsletter directly, email [email protected]
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March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
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AGM
www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends
Belgium GAA’s 2011 Committee First off, thanks to the outgoing committee for their hard work in 2010. The 2011 committee has a
mixture of old and new faces, with Adrian Hiel, Becky Mattes, Jim McGrath and Stephanie Dunn
stepping down from their positions of power.
The new committee is:
Chairman: Kevin Keary (Galway)
Secretary: Laura Whiskerd (England/Wales/Vienna/Brussels)
Treasurer: Conchur de Barra (Cork)
Assistant Secretary: Sinead Ní Mhaoilmhichíl (Tipperary)
Camogie Officer: Niamh Kennedy (Kilkenny)
Football Officer: Colin Byrne (Wicklow)
Hurling Officer: Shane Ryan (Limerick)
Ladies Football Officer: Jane Brennan (Dublin)
Public Relations Officer: Sylvia McCarthy (Cork)
Social Secretary: Clare Brennan (Cork)
Equipment/Gear Officers: Lorraine Baldwin (Monaghan) & Philip Cushen
(Kilkenny)
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19 February 2011 - It was in Dublin’s fair city where the first outing of 2011 for Belgium GAA took
place. A three team mini tournament was held in Coláiste Iosagain in Stillorgan on Saturday 19th
February. Belgium GAA was joined by the southside giants Kilmacud Crokes and Cuala. A somewhat
undersized touring party was bolstered by the return of former club members Philip Roche and Eoghan
Kelly for the day. Also playing were a number friends and relations including Shane Ryan’s friends Don
and Neil, Kevin Keary’s friend Chesty and Conan Mac Oscair’s cousins
Johnny and Ciaran.
Our first game was against Cuala, where we ran out relatively comfortable
winners. This was aided by some strong mid-field performances from
Shane Ryan and Johnny O’ Riordan, with nicely taken
scores from Eoin Sheanon and Paddy Cassidy.
The second and final game was against Crokes, who
mustered a massive squad for the short trip. We
started well, with the backline snuffing out a number
of Crokes attacks. Kevin Keary and Philip Roche were
crucial in keeping the Crokes’ forwards at bay. The
bigger Kilmacud squad and their rolling substitutes,
along with some lapses in concentration on our part
let Crokes back into the game, and those ten minutes
or so cost us dearly. Belgium rallied in the second half after some strong half time
words and pulled the game back to within a point. Unfortunately, the game was to
finish that way. One win and one loss was a respectable return for a small squad
travelling early in the season. Many lessons were taken back to the training pitch but it was heartening
to see that it was fitness and rustiness that cost us, rather than lack of skill.
The touring party enjoyed the Croke Park football and hurling double-header later that evening and
reacquainted themselves with some of the finer Dublin establishments.
Dublin Mini Tournament
March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
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Football
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Reportage by Ross Church
Editor’s note: We are somewhat lacking in photos at the moment, but thankfully there are trillions
of options to be taken from St. Patrick’s Day...hence the bibs. Thank you, photographers. Keep it up!
Touring Party
Brendan Lynch
Kevin Keary
Ross Church
Philip Roche
Shane Ryan
Johnny O’ Riordan
Eoin Sheanon
Paddy Cassidy
Conan Mac Oscair
Eoghan Kelly
Conan’s cousins Johnny & Ciaran
Shane’s friends Don & Neil
Kev’s friend “Chesty”
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4 www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends
Den Haag Invitational
12 March 2011 - The Belgium Ladies made their usual escape from the preparations for the annual
St. Patrick’s Day festival for a few hours on Saturday. Their destination was Den Haag.
It almost didn’t come to pass, as car issues in Schuman went from bad to worse, and Jane and
Sylvia learned how little gear one needs to travel to a tournament.
The end result was a game of three thirds. In the first third, we found our feet and got a few nice
scores. In the second third, we held on to this lead but started to suffer from a lack of
communication, a problem which continued into the third third, when the Holland Ladies began to
take advantage of our weaknesses. They went on to win the game, beating us for the first time since
2009. This defeat gave Holland great confidence for the coming season, and showed Belgium that
nothing can be taken for granted at this time of year. Onwards and upwards!
Tri-Nations Tournament Ladies Football
5 March 2011 - The ladies made
the long trek to Coventry,
mainly by car (unlike the
plane/car/boat journey to Clare
Island last year). They were
joined by European Football
Officer Monica Duran, in the Tri-
Nations tournament against
Clare Island and Roger
Casements Coventry. This is all
we know, except that they lost
one match to Coventry, won
against Clare Island and went
on to win the final against
Coventry against. 2012 for the
treble! (l-r): Aisling Fenton, Caoimhe Ní Shúilleabháin, Barbara Wynne,
Clare Appleby, Monica Duran, Marian O’ Malley, Gráinne Ní
Fhlatharta, Anay Rios
(Back row, l-r): Caragh O’
C o n n o r , M í d e N í
Shúilleabháin, Anay Rios,
Jane Brennan, Mar ia
Brosnan, Barbara Wynne,
Amy-Louise Dent, Elaine
Kennedy, Grá inne Ní
Fhlatharta
(Front row, l-r): Jess O’
Flynn, Sylvia McCarthy,
Christine O’ Gorman, Marian
O’ Malley, Aisling Fenton
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March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
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Football
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Tri-Nations Tournament
5 March 2011 - 11 lads travelled from Brussels to Coventry for the third 'Tri Nations' tournament against Roger Casements and Clare Island. The first game against home side
Casements showed evidence of serious ring-rustiness. A disjointed performance saw Belgium go well behind in the first half, but stirring half-time shouting by captain-for-the-day Oliver "Cromwell" O'Callaghan ensured a revival in the second half, though Casements still ran out
convincing winners.
The second match was a closer-run affair, with Belgium leading at half-time thanks to some nice moves and well-taken scores. It seemed to be in the bag when Conor Mulvihill rattled the net after a sumptuous goal-to-goal move, but Clare Island responded and finished out 2-5 to 2-
4 winners. Special thanks to Oliver "Fresh Prince" O'Callaghan for making the trip from London, and to Paul Rowan (brother of Al) and Emilio Rios (brother of Anay) for togging out for the day'.
Reportage from Olof Gill
(Back row, l-r):
Johnny Phelan,
Alan Rowan, Cian
Kinsella, Olof Gill,
Conor Mulvihill,
John Harkin, Paul
Rowan, Ricky
Collins
(Front row, l-r):
Kevin Keary,
O l i v e r O ’
Callaghan, Phil
Cushen, Emilio
Rios, Conchubhar
Ó Meisceal
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March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
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St. Patrick’s Day Festival Event/Fundraising
With a flurry of tombola tickets, a waft of barbeque, a gush of
Guinness and a gale of organisation emails, the annual
Belgium GAA/FC Irlande St. Patrick’s Day festival was upon us.
Storm clouds were on the menu in the week leading up to the event, but thankfully the rain held off and we welcomed patches of weak sun and blue sky throughout the day. Also
extremely welcome were the hoards of people who came streaming in the gate of the military pitch, tempted by the
sights, smells, sounds and other sensory delights on display.
For the lack of a wrench, the bar took some time to get started, but once it did, and once the Irish coffees started
f l o w i n g , g e n e r a l merriment was the order
of the day. From the drinks stand, one moved on to the fantastic Jack
O’ Shea barbeque stand and its customary queue, followed by the sandwich stand, and the tea/coffee/cake stand. This last turned out to be
one of the most lucrative of the day, as club members provided the delicious fare and manned the stand for the day and brought in almost €1,000 for the fundraising pot. Club
jerseys and other gear were also on sale.
The crowds standing behind the goal-posts seemed at times unaware of the danger that was lurking near their heads. At
the busiest point of the afternoon, when hundreds were enjoying their cider and a burger, displays of football and hurling were going on. Although the hurling match remained
mixed, a decision was made to split the mens and ladies football matches, in the interests of avoiding injury. While this made for a more competitive display of both games, safety
measures were uncontrollable, as David Burke broke a tooth and Clare Appleby a finger. We wish them both well on their recovery. Sporting demonstrations also came from two underage GAA teams (consisting of about 2,000 children of differing age, height, ability and
interest), and a mixed game from FC Irlande, co-organisers of the festival. More distractions came in the form of kids games
and races on the track.
Leaving a busy team of tidy-uppers behind in the Parc, both clubs and spectators re-assembled in Brasserie 1898 for music,
dancing, kids games and more Guinness and cider. Rumour has it that some hardcore club members were reluctant to let the
evening end there, and continued on into the early hours of the morning downtown, but it was one of those “What happens in
Celtica, stays in Celtica” cases, so we may never know. All-in-all, another successful St. Patrick’s Day festival, thanks to the hardworking members of both clubs, without whom this
important fundraiser would never come about. With a total of approximately €3,000 going to each club, this festival really
defines the rest of the year. Well done to all involved!
www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends
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March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
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Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels—Sunday 13 March 2011
Event/Fundraising
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On Sunday 20 March, three cars and eleven runners set off to Dendermonde to run a sponsored 10 km
to raise funds for Belgium GAA. Following quite a number of toilet-stops, u-turns, and diversions, we all
arrived safe and sound to run what for many would be their first proper race. Not knowing what to
expect, we all bustled up to the start line clad in our fetching Belgium GAA red ensembles, with Anay
going all out, even sporting red football socks hiked up to her knees! After two "false-starts" we all set
off, at varying paces, with Kevin “I no longer shave” Keary taking up the lead, with Dermot “I do not
like shorts” Bergin tagging closely behind. Of the ladies, it has to be said that Sinead “the rocket”
Fitzsimons blew us all away with a fierce start, with Gráinne “casual but fast” Ní Fhlatharta close
behind. This is not to say that the rest of the running crew were lagging behind, in the end we all came
within thirteen minutes of one another with times varying from 41 minutes to 64 minutes, in fact Kevin
was quite nearly pipped to the post by Sinead, only for fear of being trounced by a girl did he
accelerate over the finish line! With the sun beaming, and not a cloud in the sky we all celebrated with
a nice bottle of champers, supplied by Cuba, and a rare television appearance from Fergal, on behalf of
the Department of Foreign Affairs.
However, the point of the run was not all about getting good times, or television ops but to raise
money for the club, and that we did, by the end of yesterday we had gathered over 2K*, with hopefully
more to come, so it looks like the Belgium GAA Sponsored Run may become something of a feature in
years to come!
10k Sponsored Run
March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
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Fundraising
www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends
Reportage by Jess O’ Flynn
Dendermonde, where is it? We are not really sure. How do you get there?
With a lot of hassle. Was it worth it? Yes, it was.
*Final amount, at time of publishing: €2,291.50
Running Party
(Back Row, l-r): JP
Mulherin, Dermot
Be rg i n , Fe rga l
My then , Kev i n
Kea r y , S i nead
Fitzsimons, Laura
Whiskerd, Anay
Rios, Gráinne Ní
Fhlatharta
(Front Row, l-r):
Marian O’ Malley,
Jess O’ Flynn, Jane
Brennan
Missing from photo:
C a o i m h e N í
Shúilleabháin
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March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
Tournament Calendar 2011
9 To receive this newsletter directly, email [email protected]
Calendar
Den Haag 7 May
Budapest 28 May
Zurich 25 June
Belgium 23 July
Hurling and Camogie
Luxembourg 9 April
Barcelona 11 June
Munich 9 July
Maastricht 13 August
Belgium 10 September
All-Ireland 7s 24 September
Guernsey 8 October
Limerick 5 November
Ladies Football
Luxembourg (regional) 9 April
Amsterdam (regional) 14 May
Frankfurt (regional) 11 June
TBC (regional) 9 July
Maastricht 7s 13 August
Belgium (pan-European) 10 September
All-Ireland 7s 17 September
Guernsey (pan-European) 8 October
Limerick (pan-European) 5 November
Football
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March 2011 Volume 2, Issue 1
Training and Membership 2011 Training Venues
The Belgium GAA (mens and ladies) football training grounds are currently located in the VUB
University Campus, with use of the floodlit rugby
pitch, changing rooms and showers. Training is on
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 20h to 21h.
Click here for a map of the campus - the rugby pitch
is no. 6 with the athletic track going around it. The
building with changing rooms is building L.
The campus is located just of Rue General Jacques.
To get there, public transport is by far the easiest
way. The Petillon metro stop on the Hermann
Debroux line is a 5 minute walk away. Trams 23 and
24 also stop nearby. Click here for a public transport
map showing clearly each of the options.
For those of you who drive, to gain access to the
university you have to send your name, address
phone number, and car registration number to Colin
Byrne ([email protected]) so that he can
forward it to the VUB.
Belgium GAA camogie and hurling training is
currently on Saturdays in Parc 50e, from 12h
to 13h. From April onwards, we will have access to
the pitch during the weekday evenings. More details
will be available in the next weeks.
Membership details
We have submitted our list of members to Croke
Park. If you have just joined and want to play in
any of the tournaments this year, you must be registered. If you haven't registered yet, please contact
Laura Whiskerd, Club Secretary - [email protected]. Fees are:
Please pay your fees directly into the club account. The details are the following:
Belgium GAA asbl, rue Frans Binje 7, 1030 Bruxelles
Bank a/c: 363-0292739-33
IBAN: BE79 3630 2927 3933 BIC: BBRUBEBB
Gaelic Football
Colin Byrne [email protected] GSM: +32 476 073 079
Camogie
Niamh Kennedy [email protected] GSM:+32 471 525 273
Ladies Football
Jane Brennan [email protected] GSM: +32 484 162 140
Hurling
Shane Ryan [email protected] GSM: +32 477 936 708
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Contacts
Training and Membership
1st time members: €75 (including shorts/socks) Re-joining members: €60
1st time joining students/stagiaires: €45
(including shorts/socks)
Re-joining students/stagiaires: €30
www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends