Chairman's letter
On behalf of myself and the other committee members I would like to welcome you all to this our first newsletter.
Wild Geese GAA has a long and proud tradition of promoting Gaelic games in the Oldtown area. We took the decision a couple of years ago to be a Hurling only club and we currently have 2 Adult Hurling teams, 1 Camogie team, 4 Juvenile teams and 2 amalgamated teams. It is our commitment to increase player numbers, improve coaching expertise and strengthen our structure and governance. As a committee we are completing a series of development sessions and workshops to enable us to carry out our roles in a more structured, productive and efficient manner. For this to be successful however, we need greater involvement from you; the parents, players and members of the Wild Geese. If you or any individual you know feels they can make a contribution but are nervous about getting involved, please be assured that you/they will receive all the necessary support and encouragement to contribute and be part of our journey. Our AGM will be held in January 2022 and will be an opportunity for our members to meet and discuss the future of the Wild Geese. In these strange times I hope that we all remain safe and healthy. Yours in sport.
Secretaries Letter Hello all and welcome to our inaugural club newsletter. The Geese are entering a truly dynamic time as we grow our ranks and establish ourselves as the only dedicated Hurling / Camogie club in north county Dublin. We are building momentum as a community based club with recognition from all levels of the GAA. With continued support from members we are confident of a strong future.
Pitch Development Report As we approach the end of the year, the pitch development team are about to award the contract for the complete upgrade of the playing field. The works will commence in the first quarter of 2022 through to early 2023 and an alternative training venue is being prepared to cater for our needs during this time. The pitch development work is extensive and will include: • Complete replacement of existing playing surface with improved drainage • All new fencing and improved pitch access • New pitch lighting.
These works are the corner stone to the overall five-year plan for the club and will do much to improve and support our various teams in both training and game time. The new pitch will also ensure the long-term development and commitment within the club as we go from strength to strength. Understandably, this program of work is a big financial commitment for the Wild Geese and our players and members support is greatly appreciated. Social and Fundraising Events As the club pushes ahead towards the development of the new pitch, fundraising has never been so important. The current climate has stopped almost all of our fundraising events however we did hold the “The Great Easter Run”. This was our biggest fundraiser to date and as a club including our wider community, walked, ran and cycled 1888km to match the year the club was founded. We would like to thank everyone who supported the event and either sponsored participants or donated funds towards our new pitch. We have a few events coming up. Our Christmas draw on the 17th December has a significant amount of quality prizes and tickets are available from any committee member for 10€. We are also planning our Poker Classic and Golf Classic events in the new year. Our annual Duck Race was postponed last year (of course) but we are delighted to announce that it has been scheduled for the 2022 Easter bank holiday weekend! Lastly, we wish to thank all of you for your continued support through these hard times and hope to see you all in the new year. Coach Development Schedule We are planning Foundation, Level 1 and Level 2 Coach Development Sessions with our local GPO Paul Wilde. Paul is well qualified to develop and deliver these sessions and we are keen to have parents involved to build the coaching squad. If you are interested, please contact a committee member, existing coach or send a mail via the club email. We are also drafting a Coaching and Development Guide. We plan to post this to website however; our priority is to have this coaching resource in hard copy for the Development Sessions mentioned above.
Call for Sponsors Any club needs support and the Wild Geese is searching for sponsors to help us achieve our strategic and development goals. Please contact anyone from the committee if you can help. The Wild Geese need you to join our flock!
Wild Geese Communications The Wild Geese have evaluated our current communication strategy and will be introducing ‘Clubzap’ in 2022. This platform will enable coaches and committee members to quickly and easily update our members, replacing all WhatsApp groups and become the central hub for everything ‘Geese’. It will streamline our current communications and enable us to post match fixtures and results, issue news updates, pay membership, play Geese lotto and buy our awesome Geese merchandise. We will continue posting to social media and WhatsApp groups leading up to the launch with information, how-to instructions and links to download the app when available.
Adult Hurling Update This year has been a very trying year for us all but we were delighted to get back out on the hurling field. In 2021 we fielded 2 Adult teams; one in Junior 6 and another in Junior 9 and both teams did exceptionally well making it to the quarter final stage of the county championship. We have some really talented players who have come right through our juvenile ranks and going into 2022 we have many more young players that will join the adult teams for the coming season. During the year the adult hurling teams have helped at our ‘Geese Gaggle’ and also distributed our pitch development notice that helped inform the locality as to the plans for our club. We are excitingly awaiting the start of the 2022 season and are always looking for new players for both teams. If you are interested in taking up or returning to hurling please call Tom, we would love to see you. Wishing you all a happy Christmas and new year.
Camogie Update We can look back on an eventful year for our Ladies Camogie team with history made in reaching the Junior 5 Championship County Final and finishing the season with a 21 strong squad. A special thanks to Cian Fisher, Dára O’Brien and Luke Cullen who took up the role of coaches in June of this year, critically one week before League matches began. Since then, the team have gone from strength to strength, recording their first ever competitive win in July before going on a winning streak until luck was to run out in the hard fought September final. Bolstered this year by no less than eight new players, the team have their sights firmly set on silverware in 2022 and further raising the profile of camogie in the Wild Geese and in north west county Dublin. Whilst it is great to see so many young girls playing on juvenile teams, our priority in 2022 is to create a structure that will ensure girls can play for the club at all stages and creating a pipeline for the Ladies team. We are always looking for new players and volunteers to help mentor underage teams. Interested? Please contact Teresa.
Juvenile Hurling Update The season started late in April with training on Wednesday evenings gathering lots and lots of new people from Garristown, Rolestown, Ballyboughal and Oldtown. The car park was overflowing! Juvenile membership is growing immensely with Academy at over 56 kids with 20 girls, enough to start a dedicated camogie squad for the first time at this level. The u9s have over 30 squad members training and the u11s have grown their squad after overcoming some early player challenges. The u13s have a squad of 20 hurlers and played every second weekend through June to Dec. In total they played 8 league games and met the Wanderers winning the league by one point! Congratulations also to our amalgamated u16 Fingal Gaels. This Wild Geese and St Finian’s team won their Championship C Final in November following a shootout decider after extra time and a penalty shootout. The inaugural ‘Geese Gaggle’ was held at the end of August with 80 kids! It was a superb week of fun and games with Paul Wilde our super GPO with some help from our senior hurling and camogie players. We hope next years Gaggle will prove even more popular given the fun and feedback received. Please remember; the Geese are a community club and if your neighbours, friends or family are interested in keeping active and making friends the Wild Geese welcomes all.
