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Return to squad training and competitive games in the Six Counties – COVID-19 guidance from Ulster GAA
22 April 2021, 6:49 pm__large.png)
Return to squad training and competitive games in the ‘Six Counties’ – COVID-19 guidance from Ulster GAA
The NI Executive at their meeting on 15th April 2021 confirmed that squad training and competitive outdoor sport could return on Friday 23rd April 2021.
This followed the first phase where 15 people (including coaches), could resume in the ’Six Counties’ on Monday 12th April 2021.
As a result of the announcement Ulster GAA, following consultation with the GAA COVID Advisory Group and the Department for Communities/Sport NI, is providing the following guidance to our clubs in the ‘Six Counties;’
- From 23rd April 2021 full squad training can resume for youth and adult teams in preparation for a return to the playing of our games.
- From 1st May 2021 challenge matches are permitted subject to County Committee and Provincial Councils being informed in advance through the proper channels. Such challenge games must be played in the ‘Six Counties’ and can only involve teams from the ‘Six Counties’ and at club level only.
- From 7th May 2021 competitive games under the control of County Committees can re-commence for youth and adult teams.
The following regulations apply in relation to the playing of games and training sessions in the ‘Six Counties’:
- The maximum number of personnel involved at games/training must not exceed 100 persons under any circumstances. This includes players, team managers, officials, support personnel, medical etc. and media personnel, if appropriate.
- The attendance of spectators is strictly forbidden including parents/designated persons at youth games/training. If a parent/designated person wishes to remain on-site for the duration of the game/activity, they may do so in close proximity to the event (e.g. in their cars) and must also have completed the GAA online health questionnaire prior to leaving home. It is important again to emphasise that the attendance of spectators is strictly forbidden.
- These arrangements apply to both GAA controlled venues and non-GAA controlled venues, such as local authority pitches.
It is both a great privilege and a great responsibility that our GAA units have been permitted to resume training and competition at this time and visible compliance from all of us is required.
It is anticipated that we will not be in a position to report on the potential dates for return of adult activity in Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan for a further 7-10 days. This, of course, is dependent on future announcements from the Irish Government/NPHET. Underage activity, under strict conditions, can resume from 26th April.
It is essential that both Executive and GAA protocols are observed at all times. In particular clubs should ensure that they;
- Refresh risk assessments/action plans
- Promote HANDS-FACE-SPACE messaging via signs.
- Keep records for contract tracing.
- Enforce rules on no spectators (including parents/designated persons dropping children off) should be present during training or games. As referred to earlier parents/designated persons may remain in close proximity should they wish to do so.
- Keeping all indoor facilities (except toilet/medical) closed at all times.
- Ensure that each person attending training has completed the GAA online health questionnaire prior to attending – this must be done for every session. This includes a person/designated person accompanying a child and who intends to remain in close proximity to the event.
- As per previous guidance, 2020 GAA Injury Benefit Fund cover has been extended to May 31 2021 and cover falls in line with the training and games activity permitted. No loss of wages cover is in place since January 1 2021.
- All playing members must be registered on the GAA membership system Foireann in advance of returning to play/train.
For more detailed guidance on the GAA’s Covid-19 roles and responsibilities see https://learning.gaa.ie/covid19roles
In addition to the above please note the following for units in ‘Six Counties:’
- Dressing Rooms remain closed.
- All ancillary indoor facilities remain closed except toilet use.
- Walking tracks (outside) remain open.
- Outdoor Handball facilities only are permitted to open. Indoor handball facilities remain closed.
- Gyms remain closed except where existing commercial contracts are in place. In such instances the Executive guidance must be strictly adhered to.
- Astro turf facilities hired outside of the GAA use can take place in accordance with Executive guidelines.
- All Club fundraisers on GAA property should not proceed until restrictions on mass gatherings for other events are amended.
- Social Clubs/Bars serving both alcohol and food are permitted to open (serving outdoors only) from 30th April 2021, in line with Executive protocols.
Covid-19 Roles & Responsibilities | GAA DOES
Inter-county senior training re-commenced on Monday 19th April, while outdoor non-contact training at underage level (again in pods of 15 people or less) is scheduled to re-commence in the ‘26 Counties’ on Monday 26th April.
At this time the GAA awaits guidance from the Irish Government and NPHET in respect of our U17 and U20 Inter County activity. Meanwhile collective training at these grades is not permitted across all 32 counties. It is hoped that we may be in a position to provide a further update to counties in the next 7-10 days on this issue.
Having GAA training and games return to our fields is a positive and most welcome development, but we remain in a pandemic and there is an onus on everyone to minimise risk and to play their part in ensuring that all protocols are observed. By doing this we will ensure that there is not further delay in our desire to ensure a full return to GAA activity at the earliest possible opportunity.
I wish you well as you return to our playing fields in the weeks ahead and should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Is mise, le meas,
Brian Mac Fhíobhuí
Rúnaí/Chief Executive Officer
CLG Comhairle Uladh
__thumb.png "Return to squad training and competitive games in the Six Counties – COVID-19 guidance from Ulster GAA")
Return to squad training and competitive games in the Six Counties – COVID-19 guidance from Ulster GAA
Thursday 22nd April 2021
Return to squad training and competitive games in the ‘Six Counties’ – COVID-19 guidance from Ulster GAA The NI Executive at their Read More...
Loughed away from the world: Hurling in Ards
17 April 2021, 11:58 pm
By Kevin Egan
If you grew up with an older sibling, perhaps with just a year or two in between you both in age, this scene might sound familiar.
Constant arguments over toys, games, treats, presents, clothes and pretty much everything else were the soundtrack to your childhood. If you depended on warm, kind words for nourishment, there were a lot of nights that you would have gone to bed hungry. You might look up to your older brother or sister, but at times it felt like they barely looked at you at all, and if they did, it was in the same way that they might look at a fly buzzing around the room and distracting them from whatever they were doing.
Then that day came when you got in some trouble in the schoolyard, and it looked like you might be in for a rough afternoon. Suddenly that sibling came roaring onto the scene, making it clear that if one hair on your head was touched, then there would be hell to pay.
From then on, that memory tightened the bond between you. Even if you knew you’d never be forgiven for verbalising these thoughts, it was always there, long after you both reached adulthood and the older/younger dynamic ceased to be as relevant to your relationship.
The relationship between the three hurling clubs on the Ards peninsula has a lot of the same energy. By virtue of their unique location, isolated on the opposite side of Strangford Lough and connected only to North Down by a long, circuitous drive up through Newtownards and to the south by the Strangford Ferry, they’ve grown up more connected than most neighbouring GAA clubs.
When it comes to the Down hurling family, they’re not part of the oldest generation. Clann na Boirce (Bryansford) and Faugh-a-Ballagh of Newry were the most successful clubs in the early days of hurling in the Mourne County, but gradually the balance of power shifted to the east and to Kilclief, a picturesque rural club on the coast of Strangford Lough that has had a disproportionately significant influence on both of the main gaelic games sports in the county.
However while Kilclief were reaping a rich harvest on the field, winning 23 county senior hurling titles in 44 years from 1912 to 1956, the seeds of success were being planted on the far side of the Lough.
Proximity to Kilclief and the spill over of some hurling people onto the Ards peninsula, combined with the absence of a strong presence from any other sporting culture, had led to a burgeoning interest in hurling in Ards, but it took a chance happening of fate to accelerate that process.
Between 1912 and 1917, the work of an agricultural inspector from Tipperary called Ned Purcell saw him take up residence in Portaferry, and he was to be the evangelist that changed the hurling landscape in this part of the world forever. Purcell quickly set about teaching the sport to an enthusiastic group of locals, and while the practical matters such as sourcing hurls were a minor impediment, that was easily overcome.
Colum Conlan is the chairman of Portaferry GAA club today, and he explained how the club took to wearing the Tipperary colours, but because of their location and the difficulty in travelling for frequent games, Portaferry developed what could be described as its own ecosystem in order to keep developing the sport.
“Locals such as John Emerson, John McCullough, John and Eddie Dumigan and Fr. Toal carried on where Ned left off”, he explains.
“Such was the interest that four teams from Portaferry competed in the Ards Gaelic Association during the early Twenties. This was rewarded with Carraig Uladh's first S.H.C. title in 1926 and their winning of the Antrim League title in 1929."
The club’s outlook continued to broaden and the tradition of success was sustained in both Antrim and Down leagues in the Thirties.
However the war years, with travel curtailed, saw the Ards thrown once more back on its own resources, leading to the formation of clubs in Ballycran and Ballygalget with wholehearted assistance from Portaferry.
Marguerite Fowler’s mother and uncle, Theresa and Hugh Gilmore, both have central parts in the story of hurling in Ballycran – Hugh as one of the instigators, and Theresa as the woman who put a huge amount of work into compiling the history of the club for the “50 years in Black and Amber” book that tells their tale.
“In 1939 Hugh and his friend Pat Hamilton approached the headmaster of Ballycran School, Master FJ McKenna, about the possibility of starting a hurling team in the parish” Marguerite explained.
“The colours of Black and Amber were chosen in tribute to Master McKenna’s long-time friend – Kilkenny’s Lory Meagher. Lory Meaghar was up here several times to help as the club got going, while around five players from Portaferry came down as well to make sure that the early enthusiasm and drive was given an extra helping hand.
“My daddy (Pat Gilmore) and uncle Tony were also on the early teams, and the sport became a very popular hobby for young men and boys here, since there really was nothing else going on. I remember Hugh talking about cycling up to Belfast to get sticks, and he and others were happy to do that if that’s what it took to keep playing the game.
“The committee back then was small, but they were hugely committed. There’s incredible respect in the club for what those men did, and that’s why compiling the club history was so important to us, to recognise that. Today we’ve incredible new facilities, a 3G pitch and gym here at the club grounds (named McKenna Park in honour of Frank McKenna) and they are the product of a huge community effort, albeit we haven’t had the chance to open it properly due to Covid-19, and that all stems from the work that was put in to get things started."
Six miles down the road in Ballygalget, the same story was happening. Initially known as Newcastle John Mitchels, Portaferry also reached out to what is now the Ballygalget club and they too took their place in the Ards hurling league and slowly began to build.
(More details on the growth of hurling in Ballygalget can be found in Oral History series here on GAA.ie - https://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/oral-history/members-ballygalget-gac/)
By the time the Ards league fell away at the end of the war, Ballycran were now the leading power on the peninsula, and they added their name to the county championship roll of honour for the first time in 1949. Ten years after that, Ballygalget took their place on top of the tree locally, and since then, the three clubs have shared every Down championship title between them.
“There’s a huge social aspect to the GAA out here in Ards, it would be very important to us to get everyone involved in some way or another, but ultimately that all feeds into winning the Jeremiah McVeagh cup”, said Fowler.
“We’ve lost a lot of players to emigration and for other reasons, but playing 'hurley' is still the main activity here on Ards, for all three clubs.
However, while there is a recognition that the history of the three clubs are intertwined, and also that the presence of three clubs that are all striving to raise standards to new levels helps to maintain their stranglehold on the local championship, there is still a long history of playing games in Antrim to try and broaden their hurling experience, for underage and adult players alike.
Colum Conlan was heavily involved in the underage scene in Portaferry before taking up the role of chairperson, and he feels that their co-existence with Antrim is essential in giving a full season to their players.
“We do have players that play football with a couple of other local clubs here, depending on where they go to secondary school, and that’s great if it happens, the main thing is that young teenagers and children are active in some form” said Colum.
“But there are lots more who don’t really play anything else, so playing in Antrim is vital to make sure that everyone has 15 or 20 games in a year. If you were trying to do that with just the teams here in Down it would get very repetitive.
“It’s only 45 minutes up the road to Belfast, where we’d play a lot of underage games in the South Antrim league, and then if one of the adult teams had a game up in the glens against Dunloy, Loughgiel or someone like that, we might try and arrange an underage challenge game as well to make a day out of it.
“The tradition of playing in the Antrim leagues goes back nearly 100 years now, it’s a big part of what we do here and it seems to be working. On Tuesday there we had club training for all our adult players, and because the county team can’t start back yet, we had 45 out on the field. Lots of those will be training with Down after this week, but we’ve kept our numbers up, and the sport is as popular as it ever was out here."
That final sentence is true largely because of the incredible work of some fantastic trailblazers and evangelists a lifetime ago, and it has created a unique sub-community of the GAA where there is a ferocious rivalry, but behind it all an incredible sense of togetherness.
These three clubs may have grown up together and matured into successful entities, but the sibling rivalry never goes away.
Loughed away from the world: Hurling in Ards
Saturday 17th April 2021
Friday 16 April 2021 - Article taken from GAA.ie By Kevin Egan If you grew up with an older sibling, perhaps with just a year or two Read More...
Community Heart Program in association with Stryker
19 March 2021, 1:24 pm
Community Heart Program in association with Stryker.
In the last number of years, 42 lives across Ireland have been saved by defibrillators located in GAA facilities being used on members of their communities. This was only possible due to operational, accessible and correctly maintained defibrillators being in place.
The GAA is marking this by encouraging every Club in the Country to ensure that they have an operational Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in place. AEDs, like all medical equipment, need to be maintained and, eventually, replaced over time. The life expectancy of an AED is between 8 and 10 years. If your AED is older than 8 Years, you should consider replacing it.
It is hoped that Clubs will “A.C.T.” now and ensure that they have AEDs in place and that they are ACCESSIBLE, CHARGED and that there are enough TRAINED rescuers within your Club who have the ability to operate the device(s).
To support this initiative, the GAA is launching the Community Heart Program, in conjunction with Stryker, a world leader in defibrillator manufacturing who employ 3,000 people on the island of Ireland.
What is the Community Heart Program?
- The Community Heart Program is a partnership between the GAA and Stryker which allows GAA Clubs to fundraise for life-saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) via a bespoke fundraising platform.
- The Program allows clubs to fundraise for new Lifepak® CR2 AEDs, which is connected to the internet via the mobile phone network. This means the AED will check itself and notify designated club members via email if there is an issue with the device.
- In addition to having a bespoke fundraising platform, Clubs will be able to avail of a significant reduction of €995 saving per unit if they register and secure their AED(s) via the Community Hearts Program.
- Once the fundraising target of €2,150 has been reached, the AED unit(s) will also be delivered directly to the Club. Program partners Heart Safety Solutions will supply the unit to the club.
How does the Community Heart Program work?
- Register your Club via the link below:
- During the registration process you will be asked to select how many AEDs you wish to raise funds for. This will determine the fundraising target.
- Once your Club has been registered and the fundraising page has been set up, simply share the link to the fundraising page with Club Members, Club Supporters and anyone who may wish to donate.
- The fundraising page will remain active for 3 months. If the fundraising target is reached before this, the page will no longer accept donations.
- Once the fundraising target has been hit, you do not need to complete any further steps. The funds will be automatically transferred to Heart Safety Solutions, who will deliver and install your AED(s).
- There is an extensive FAQ section contained on the Community Heart Program website to assist with any queries you might have.
If your query cannot be answered by the FAQ section, please contact the GAA regarding the Community Heart Program at GAA@hearts.ie.
If you have any questions about your Club's fundraising page during or after registration, please contact JustGiving at help@justgiving.com.
Community Heart Program in association with Stryker
Friday 19th March 2021
Community Heart Program in association with Stryker. In the last number of years, 42 lives across Ireland have been saved by defibrilla Read More...
Upcoming Fixtures
Round 1
All County Hurling Div1
Saturday 8th May 2021 (4 00 PM) at Ballygalget
Ballygalget GAC
VS
Ballycran
Round 2
All County Hurling Div1
Wednesday 12th May 2021 (7 00 PM) at Ballycran
Ballycran
VS
St.Patrick's GAC, Portaferry
