By John Harrington – www.gaa.ie
The GAA’s 72-man National Panel of Gaelic Football and hurling referees will run a cumulative total of 810 kilometres on Saturday to raise money for the suicide prevention and bereavement charity Pieta House.
They’ve already received such a strong response from the public that they’ve raised their fundraising goal from €5,000 to €10,000.
“A couple of us were chatting away about setting ourselves a little challenge and it just expanded from there,” explains Dublin-based referee Chris Mooney.
“We thought we should do something for charity and there were lots of different ideas about what we could do.
“It was actually John Keenan who then said, ‘Why don’t we match something that’s happening on what should have been the first weekend of the Championship’. From there we realised that coincided with the darkness into light run that was cancelled, so it just made perfect sense.
“Pieta House is a brilliant charity that, unfortunately, too many families in Ireland have to contact, so it’s a great cause to support.”
The 810KM distance isn’t just a figure plucked from the sky. It’s the distance of a run around Ireland from one iconic GAA stadium to another, and is also the cumulative distance the 72 referees would likely run were they all officiating matches this weekend.
“What we did was we tried to base the maths on doing a bit of a map of Ireland but also similar to the distances that we cover in a match,” explains Mooney.
“Our GPS stats from last year that Aidan Brady would have compiled through DCU would say that in a senior championship match you run around 11.2 kilometres per game.
“So if we took the 72 referees that 11.2 would equate to 810 kilometres. So that’s the distance of travelling from Wexford Park to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh to MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey and then back down to Croke Park.
“It’s a bit of a lap of the county grounds of Ireland and we’re averaging out our match distance while we’re at it.”
If you were to ever visit the GAA’s National Games Development Centre in Abbottstown on a night the GAA’s National Panel of referees convene to train together, two things would quickly become apparently.
Firstly, that as a collective they have a natural camaraderie much like a football or hurling team does, but also that there’s no shortage of good-natured rivalry when it comes to the fitness testing.
Saturday’s charity run is proving to be no different with screen-shots of training times whizzing around the group to up the ante ahead of the weekend.
“Yeah, of course,” says Mooney. “When I first floated the idea the first 20 or 30 texts back were all thumbs up but it didn’t take long for someone, I think it was Colm Lyons in Cork, to mention a football-hurling rivalry.
“Fergal Kelly is the football marathon runner and Sean Cleere is the hurling marathon runner, so if you were to put money anywhere it would be on one of those two. Look, it’ll be friendly competition.”
Much like the inter-county players, the national panel of referees are doing all they can to maintain their fitness during the current enforced break from collective training.
DCU’s Aidan Brady oversees the fitness training of the referees and has given them programmes to work on during the lockdown.
“Aidan sends out stuff to us all the time,” says Mooney. “As he and Donal Smyth (The GAA’s National Match Officials Manager) have been telling us, the big thing at the minute is that it’s maintenance over elite improvement.
“Certainly with the 11k coming up and the weather getting that bit warmer, Aidan has sent us out some stuff for training sessions this week to keep the body loose and nutrition advice as well to fuel up for the run.
“Aidan keeps in contact with us as does Donal Smyth about different things we can be doing.”
Absence marks the heart grow fonder. Just like every footballer and hurler in the country, the referees are just as keen to get back onto a pitch as soon as the health authorities deem it safe to do so.
“100 per cent,” says Mooney. “Look, we’re all more than willing to abide by our guidelines and I think the GAA have been brilliant in that regard in terms of observing the measures that the Government are putting in place and stuff.
“Absolutely, we’re looking forward to getting back to the pitch when it’s safe to do so.”
You can donate to the GAA’s National Panel of Referees Pieta House fundraiser HERE.
7 Cork Referee’s will be taking part in the run. Colm Lyons, Nathan Wall, James Birmingham, Conor Lane, John Ryan, David Murnane, Cathal McAllister.
GAA referees to run for Pieta House
By John Harrington – www.gaa.ie
The GAA’s 72-man National Panel of Gaelic Football and hurling referees will run a cumulative total of 810 kilometres on Saturday to raise money for the suicide prevention and bereavement charity Pieta House.
They’ve already received such a strong response from the public that they’ve raised their fundraising goal from €5,000 to €10,000.
“A couple of us were chatting away about setting ourselves a little challenge and it just expanded from there,” explains Dublin-based referee Chris Mooney.
“We thought we should do something for charity and there were lots of different ideas about what we could do.
“It was actually John Keenan who then said, ‘Why don’t we match something that’s happening on what should have been the first weekend of the Championship’. From there we realised that coincided with the darkness into light run that was cancelled, so it just made perfect sense.
“Pieta House is a brilliant charity that, unfortunately, too many families in Ireland have to contact, so it’s a great cause to support.”
The 810KM distance isn’t just a figure plucked from the sky. It’s the distance of a run around Ireland from one iconic GAA stadium to another, and is also the cumulative distance the 72 referees would likely run were they all officiating matches this weekend.
“What we did was we tried to base the maths on doing a bit of a map of Ireland but also similar to the distances that we cover in a match,” explains Mooney.
“Our GPS stats from last year that Aidan Brady would have compiled through DCU would say that in a senior championship match you run around 11.2 kilometres per game.
“So if we took the 72 referees that 11.2 would equate to 810 kilometres. So that’s the distance of travelling from Wexford Park to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh to MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey and then back down to Croke Park.
“It’s a bit of a lap of the county grounds of Ireland and we’re averaging out our match distance while we’re at it.”
If you were to ever visit the GAA’s National Games Development Centre in Abbottstown on a night the GAA’s National Panel of referees convene to train together, two things would quickly become apparently.
Firstly, that as a collective they have a natural camaraderie much like a football or hurling team does, but also that there’s no shortage of good-natured rivalry when it comes to the fitness testing.
Saturday’s charity run is proving to be no different with screen-shots of training times whizzing around the group to up the ante ahead of the weekend.
“Yeah, of course,” says Mooney. “When I first floated the idea the first 20 or 30 texts back were all thumbs up but it didn’t take long for someone, I think it was Colm Lyons in Cork, to mention a football-hurling rivalry.
“Fergal Kelly is the football marathon runner and Sean Cleere is the hurling marathon runner, so if you were to put money anywhere it would be on one of those two. Look, it’ll be friendly competition.”
Much like the inter-county players, the national panel of referees are doing all they can to maintain their fitness during the current enforced break from collective training.
DCU’s Aidan Brady oversees the fitness training of the referees and has given them programmes to work on during the lockdown.
“Aidan sends out stuff to us all the time,” says Mooney. “As he and Donal Smyth (The GAA’s National Match Officials Manager) have been telling us, the big thing at the minute is that it’s maintenance over elite improvement.
“Certainly with the 11k coming up and the weather getting that bit warmer, Aidan has sent us out some stuff for training sessions this week to keep the body loose and nutrition advice as well to fuel up for the run.
“Aidan keeps in contact with us as does Donal Smyth about different things we can be doing.”
Absence marks the heart grow fonder. Just like every footballer and hurler in the country, the referees are just as keen to get back onto a pitch as soon as the health authorities deem it safe to do so.
“100 per cent,” says Mooney. “Look, we’re all more than willing to abide by our guidelines and I think the GAA have been brilliant in that regard in terms of observing the measures that the Government are putting in place and stuff.
“Absolutely, we’re looking forward to getting back to the pitch when it’s safe to do so.”
You can donate to the GAA’s National Panel of Referees Pieta House fundraiser HERE.
7 Cork Referee’s will be taking part in the run. Colm Lyons, Nathan Wall, James Birmingham, Conor Lane, John Ryan, David Murnane, Cathal McAllister.
GAA Media Statement – Covid 19 update
The GAA notes and welcomes the plans published by the government last Friday and some of the dates included relating to the possible return of sporting activity, including Gaelic games.
The Association will attempt to seek clarity around some of the issues that have arisen in internal discussions since last Friday including the challenge of social distancing in contact sport.
GAA facilities are to remain closed as part of efforts to prevent gatherings which breach the restrictions.
We are instructing our clubs and counties to continue to adhere to the restrictions and to refrain from organising on-field activity. These measures are expected to remain in place until July 20.
We will continue to monitor the dates and timelines as revealed by the Government and our arrangements will remain under constant review.
Our units are reminded that the Player Injury scheme is suspended and will remain so until an official return to action protocol is confirmed.
The GAA still firmly hopes to be able to play county and club competitions this year, subject of course to public health guidance. We can confirm however that no inter-county games are expected to take place before October.
Counties are asked, in the interest of players, to suspend all inter-county training until further notice. There will be a phased resumption of training at both club and county level to allow players to prepare appropriately for playing games.
While not categorically ruling out the possible staging of games behind closed doors later in the year, there appears to be a lack of appetite for this type of fixture-scheduling at the current time across the wider Association.
The GAA can also confirm the appointment of a dedicated Covid-19 Advisory Group which will advise the Association on matters relating to return to play protocols and other similar issues. The members of this group are as follows:
Shay Bannon (Chairman) – existing Chairman of Health and Safety group
Dick Clerkin (existing Chairman of Medical Scientific and Welfare Committee)
Dr Pat O’Neill (Dublin)
Dr Kevin Moran (Donegal)
Dr Jim O’Donovan (Limerick)
Dr Seán Moffatt (Chair of Gaelic Medical Association and Mayo team doctor)
Paul Flynn (CEO Gaelic Players Association)
Stephen Mc Geehan (Head of Operations, Ulster GAA)
Tony Mc Guinness (Events and Safety Manager, Croke Park)
Sinéad McNulty (CEO An Cumann Camógaíochta)
Helen O’Rourke (CEO Ladies Gaelic Football Association)
John Horan (Uachtarán CLG)
Tom Ryan (Ard Stiúrthóir CLG)
Feargal Mc Gill (Director of Player, Club and Games Administration)
The outcome of this group’s work will be a graduated approach, informed and guided by the recently published Government Roadmap and by Government policy from Stormont.
Our units have played an important role in the community effort against the pandemic and we thank all of our members for their role in this to date.
We also underline the importance of continuing to adhere to the guidelines to ensure that the country as a whole meets its targets in the coming weeks allowing us to make progress and facilitate a return to games when it is safe to do so.
Wednesday Webinar – Brian Cuthbert
Club Strategic Planning Webinar
Recently a Webinar on Club Strategic Planning was held.
Attached a link here to access the recorded webinar – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUCuqriDvA4
Also added below attachments each of the presentations that were discussed last night.
Finally all material related to Club Planning can be accessed through our Learning Portal here – https://learning.gaa.ie/clubplanning
Strategic Planning Webinar1
CPP – Club Planning (Case Study Conahy Shamrocks)_
Edenderry Club Planning Webinar Apr_2020_
GDA Paudie O’ Brien speaks about his work so far in 2020
This week Cork GAA took some time to chat with GDA Paudie O Brien about his work so far in 2020
Paudie O Brien GDA : Cork City Northside
The year 2020 is not working out as anyone really planned for but since January can you give us an overview of the work you have been involved in.
Development Squads: Prior to the current crisis I have been working with Cork City Hurling squads at u14 and u15 and with the u14 Football squad. At u14 we have 2 squads in both codes with over 150 players having attended trial games and training sessions. This is of huge benefit to these young lads and their clubs as it helps to improve the playing standards throughout the city and surrounding areas. My role with the u15 Hurlers is an Administrative and advisory one. These lads are training under the guidance of Clive O’ Donovan and his team with Paudie Murray overseeing the whole county.
Post Primary: As part of the GAA Future Leader programme I ran TY Coaching courses in SMGS Blarney and CBC. This involved over 125 students all receiving Coaching in Fundamental Movement, GO Games Referee, Hurling and Football. These students put the knowledge they learnt to use by coaching young children from their local primary school and organising a Blitz for these schools in both hurling and football
Primary Schools: Local club school coaches are doing great work in their local schools in the Northside region. Since January I have been working with these coaches on a weekly basis to up skill them on new ideas, methods and increase the use of games-based coaching which will help them in their role.
Club Development: In my role as a GDA I have put a lot of work into improving the structures and coaching standards within the clubs in my region. I have done this by organising Coaching Workshops within these clubs and by making sure that my clubs are reaching the Club Benchmarking standards set by Cork GAA.
Online Activity: Since March 13th, a lot of my work has been through Social Media. I am responsible for the weekly Rebel Og Coaching Skills test videos which to date have received over 15,000 views.
I along with fellow GDA James McCarthy and Carbery GPO Paudie Crowley ran an Easter Camp for children aged 9-12 years of age. This provide 40 mins of activities in Hurling and Football for 4 days over Easter. We had over 11000 views of this camp.
I also gave a Webinar on the Difficulties of working with teenage players.
I am currently working with Sciath Na Scol Chorcai putting together an online skills test for primary students throughout Cork