September 2006
Recruitment at Freshers week
First Ever Training Session
November 2006
First ever Match Vs St. Barnabas
February 2007
Entry in BUSA British Nationals, London. Reached quarter finals
March 2007
AU Awards Nomination - Best New Society
September 2007
Team Kit Arrives
October 2007
First Ever League Game
February 2008
British Nationals, Birmingham
Myself (Paul MacMahon) and James O'Hara quickly realised the potential for a team after spending the first few months of our university life here. From time to time one of us would bump into a fellow Irishman while out in town, and conversation would often follow onto the topic of Gaelic Football.
And, from time to time, one of us would bring up the frustrating truth about the absence of a Gaelic Club in
.
We quickly gathered a list of phone numbers from people who said if we were to get something going, they would be willing to join. It's funny looking back now, because those people who encourage us to get the ball rolling with their enthusiasm for the prospect, have never been seen since. It was probably the drink talking at the time that got us their numbers, but we pursued the idea anyway.
After realising that the potential was there, we then prepared ourselves to take on all the challenges of establishing and running a new society, and decided to go for it.
Fresher Fare
The plan was to get to the fare early and set up a table to sign up players. We managed to get a spot in the upstairs of the Engine Shed's main hall, in the corner beside the only plug socket we could find (we had a laptop to show clips from Gaelic football matches). The place was already packed with every other club and society, leaving us with little choice of location. We ended up in a corner behind two other stands! I suppose it was an adequate punishment for the overly relaxed attitude towards to fare.
James had printed of the letters G A E L I C onto A4 pages, and after laying out his Warwickshire and
We had previously contacted a popular student bar in
Out of that, around 50 turned up to the very first meeting (photos from this can be seen in the gallery) where we all enjoyed a nice (free!) feed and James gave an ionformative talk about Gaelic football itself (most people hadn't heard of it before!) and our intentions for the club.
[A good turnout, over 50 people]
[James giving the presentation in Scream]
There are many challenges that face someone trying to set up a new club. Especially in an area that has very little history of the sport being played before. One of the major challenges was the fact that because we were new, the university was unable to allocate any funds towards us, as we had only declared ourselves in September of 2006, however we had drawn up plans and prepared ourselves for what we faced before this.
James and I ended up purchasing various pieces of equipment ourselves. James picked up a whistle on his way to the first session, and I bought a few bottles of water for the lads.
We were relying on two players to bring Gaelic Footballs over from
We got some cones that cost a bloody fortune. Although they were an essential piece of equipment and were always used.
We train at the common on West Parade....its not as glamorous as it sounds. If the place isn't covered in hoof marks and stampeding horses, then the (sometimes impressive) mounds of horse excrement were the problem. However no one ever complained, the lads just got on with training.
Because we have no bibs, the players go shirts and skins for games at the end of training. This demonstrated the players commitment, when you take into account the fact it was the middle of December.
Tyrone man Enda Clarke, who plays for Greencastle, a club who have just finished an exceptionally good season winning their final match in Croke Park, would often take training sessions. He was particularly good with the inexperienced players, taking them through all the basics and trying to push lads who he thought had potential.
[Some of the lads during the pub crawl]
It was this sort of good will from others that helped to develop the club. With the footballs donated by the lads' parents, and Enda volunteering his time, we were starting to look like a club. We relied upon such generosity.
[Initiation Night, they wern't all smiling for long!!]
Our First Game
Another draw back of being such a new and raw club, was the fact we had no league to play in. We weren’t registered, and the lads were picking the game up from scratch...so the team was very inexperienced. James' connection with his home club in Nottingham, St. Barnabas, paid off when he managed to arrange a friendly between us.
Gav Sumner, the Athletic Union president, realised we would greatly benefit from this, and allocated us some funds for a bus. It was a landmark for the club, as its first ever game played, as a team, and for a lot of our players. Gav's faith in our ability as sportsmen, and organisation as a club, made a massive difference to the team. Some players found themselves in front of real Gaelic posts for the first time in their lives. No matter how hard or how often you train, there’s nothing like match practice, and thankfully Gav was well aware of this.
[St. Barnabas V Lincoln, Nottingham]
We lost the game, however, we did win on points in the second half. There were a lot of positives from the match, some of the new players really proved themselves, and we saw some good phases of play as a team.
James and I tried contacting a number of Universities to organise the odd friendly, however break downs in communication, and university deadlines, seemed to hinder the chances of getting another match any time soon.
Its madness to think that we then went to London in February 2007 and ended up in the quarter-finals of a cup with just one games practice, but we did! The report on London’s matches and the general banter of the trip can be found on this site.
The Club was nominated for Best New society at the AU awards dinner, which was held on the 30th of March, and pesented by John Virgo.
