Éire Óg Greystones
GAA Club

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Weekly Notes - 20th December 2006

Arguably, the most important event in the club's sporting calendar takes place on St. Stephen's Day in the Éire Óg grounds. The club's finest, male and female, young and not so young, will, as has become the custom, brave alimentary retribution and mid-winter cold to participate in our annual cobwebs-dispersing football game. In previous years these games had an air of subterfuge about them - lest proceedings scare the horses! - but this year's game will have the Goal Mile for company. The match begins at 11.30am and you are cordially invited to participate.

The Christmas draw takes place this evening in the Carrig Orchard at 9.00pm - or thereabouts. Call over and enjoy a night of conviviality and excitement. The range of prizes is so extensive that it borders on there being one for every participant.

In the Development Draw, the first draw for the main prizes takes place on December 29th while the local element of the draw for prizes to the value of 2000euro is scheduled for New Year's Eve in the clubhouse. The social committee, never ones to pass up an opportunity for a little "divarsion" have arranged that the draw be incorporated into a welcome-in-the-New-Year bit of ceol and craic. Ticket holders are cordially invited along to enjoy the occasion.

Hurling is a delicate flower which needs careful nurturing for it to thrive, and hurling people must be very conscious of the effect their actions have on the future of their game. While children love the challenges it presents, they often baulk at the patience and dedication the mastering of its many skills demands and they drift away to less demanding sports. It also suffers from the disadvantage that many parents mistakenly see it as dangerous. In fact, especially since the arrival of the helmet, hurlers are exposed to less injury-generating incidents than in most football games and suffer less structural injuries. But perception is everything so it is incumbent on referees and mentors to ensure that hurling is, at all times, played in a truly sporting manner - this does not exclude the cut and thrust which is part and parcel of the game. Referees must also make sure that their reports reflect the gravity of the incident so that the board's punishment may fit the crime. These thoughts had their origin in a totally unacceptable incident during the u-16 B hurling final - the perpetrator was instantly dismissed by the referee. The damage done to the game by such events is inestimable

AGM bulletin (details next edition): The club has a new cathaoirleach. Oliver Leonard, after 5 years in the chair - his tenure was twice extended to allow him carry his clubhouse dream to completion - has stepped aside and the leas-cathaoirleach, Gerry Walsh, was elected unopposed to the position. The debt the club owes to Oliver will never be fully appreciated - go raibh míle, míle maith agat Oliver.

Felicity Keane was elected leas-cathaoirleach - is a precedent in the offing, is it possible that Éire Óg may soon have a female cathaoirleach? Carmel Deeney held on to her post as rúnaí and Éoin O'Neill has agreed to continue as cisteoir pro tem.

The death during the week of Dolores Fitzpatrick reminded us, if indeed reminding was necessary, that sorrow knows no season and that it has an added poignancy at this time of year. At the agm, the out-going Chairman Oliver Leonard extended , on behalf of Éire Óg, sincere sympathy to Dolores' husband Paddy and to the Fitzpatrick family.