Belgium GAA Newsletter September 2011

Months have passed without a Belgium

GAA newsletter, but that barren period

is now over. Welcome to the

September issue!

The club has had an exciting and

active few months since last

p u b l i c a t i o n , f r o m a t t e n d i n g

tournaments, organising tournaments,

and everything else that goes on in

between, including two of the most

successful fundraising events in club

history.

Since the rough beginnings as a well-

rounded GAA club back in 2008,

Belgium GAA has made huge efforts at

laying down solid foundations. A time

will come when the Nouvelle Vague will be old school, and the Old School will just be old, so we

welcome each new social development, be it a returning face, a new or extended contract, or the

production of new little future club members.

On that note, congratulations to Steph and Des, Lisa and Emmet, and Matti and Elizabeth on their

recent arrivals. Watch this space for the European Ladies Football and Camogie Champions in

approximately 2031.

As always, the club would not be thriving along these lines without the hard work put in by all those

associated with the club. Take the home tournaments as an example: this year, in addition to

dedicated club members, who were at the grounds from the dawn, constructing tents and goalposts,

we had visiting parents and other family members, friends, flatmates and colleagues, who went above

and beyond the call of duty and without whom the day would have been even more chaotic than it

already was.

This issue of the newsletter will detail the various activities that the club has been working on at home,

with the Race Night at the start of the summer, the European Hurling and Camogie Finals in the

middle, and the Belgian-based Pan-European Football Tournament at the end of the summer.

Next month’s issue will be more international, with highlights from trips to Dublin for the All-Ireland

Football Sevens, the Pan-European Football tournament in Guernsey, and the Belgian camogie trip to

New York.

If you would like to get involved in creating the newsletter, by contributing articles, photographs or any

further suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact Sylvia McCarthy on [email protected].

An Craobh Rua abú!

The Home Issue

September 2011 Volume 2, Issue 2

BELGIUM GAA NEWSLETTER

Updating members and non-members alike on the activities of one of the best and most

ambitious GAA clubs on the European Continent

Brought to you by Belgium GAA Publishing and

De Valera's Pub, Place Flagey

To receive this newsletter directly, email [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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Fundraising

www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends

Belgium GAA Race Night The menfolk of Belgium GAA pulled out all the stops on the night of 13 July, when they hosted a race night to

end all others, earning approximately €2,500 for the club. Some said it would be impossible to organise at such short notice. Some said that no-one in their right

minds would come to a race night on a midweek evening.

They were wrong, reckoning without the unstoppable driving force that is Colin Byrne. While the night itself

would turn out to be an immense social and financial success, the back was broken in the pre-Race

preparation.

All the horses had been sold and all the races had been sponsored, with outstanding support from club members, old and new, and friends and family of the

club. Prizes came from De Valera’s, Six Nations, O Reillys, Aspria, KTL Power and Telecoms, Kinsale

Equestrian Centre, Sean Kelly MEP, and Delish café. VIP tables were purchased by Coca-Cola, Toyota, the Perm. Rep., and FC Irlande, to name

but a few. There was also generous sponsorship on the night from a number of Irish MEPs, including Honorary Club President Sean Kelly, Liam Aylward and Pat The Cope Gallagher, as

well as from European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.

As a result, the club went into the night with a ready-made profit, so all efforts on the night were over and above all expectations. With Colin running the show and Ross on the mic, it

was fairly smooth sailing (from the point of view of the attendees in any case). The men in charge of the money had a few opening hiccups but once it was understood that the house always wins, they were back on track.

There were eight official races, but the ninth was a surprise to most: the Belgium GAA

Champion Chase was a pre-recorded piggy-back race, of which horses and jockeys were played by club members Conor Mulvihill and Catherina Horan (eventual winners), Shane Ryan and Sinead Fitzsimons, Tim Donovan and Elaine Kennedy, Ross Church and Niamh

Kennedy, and Fergal Mythen and Christine O’ Gorman. For full comedic value, you are required to click/copy and paste the following link and watch the video on Youtube. Your

day will be all the better for it.

http://youtu.be/

pOLhgFVz0XI

http://www.belgiumgaa.com

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=34838146698&ref=ts

http://youtu.be/pOLhgFVz0XI

http://youtu.be/pOLhgFVz0XI

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Belgium GAA Race Night


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Fundraising


“Never

has losing

so much

money

been so

much fun” Anonymous


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4 www.belgiumgaa.com / Find us on Facebook at Belgium GAA and Friends

Underage GAA



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Merchandise

Shameless T-Shirt Hawking


Always wanted to be a member

of Belgium GAA but you:

A) Never had the time?

B) Live in another country?

C) Other reason: ____________

NOW IS YOUR CHANCE

You too can look like a member of Belgium GAA

with your own stylish t-shirt.

Don’t miss this

once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity!

To order, contact Club Chairman Kevin Keary

([email protected]) for more details.



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European Hurling and Camogie

Finals

Hurling/Camogie

The last round of the European Hurling and Camogie

Championships was also the first round of European tournaments to be hosted by Belgium GAA, a practice run, if

you will, for the big Pan-European football tournament in September. It was a day when we realised how much the club depends on the help of non-players and family members.

Clare Brennan (Social Secretary) was Ms. Clipboard for the day, an essential role in ensuring that all matches were

played on time, as well as registering teams for the tournament, lunches and the dinner in De Valera’s bar. Visitors on the day, Maria O’ Neill and Clare’s mother Eleanor

Brennan were also on hand, looking after the shop and

keeping everyone fed and watered.

Tournament-wise, this was the big one for both Belgium hurlers and camogiers. The hurlers were out of the running for the European Championship, but an outstanding

performance by the lads meant that they won their home tournament for the third year in a row. Congratulations to Darragh Cotter for being

recognised as Player of the Tournament by the referees.

I’ll leave the rest to Mr. D. Barrett: “It’s hard to explain to people at home how winning one tournament can be so satisfying. This was especially so as if we ended the season empty

handed it would have been a massive blow to hurling in the club. Instead, we beat the two top teams in this year’s championship and proved to ourselves that when we have most of

our players, we can compete...The victory was the daylight at the end of the tunnel which

we wondered if we would see this year.”

(To read more, visit http://footballingjourneymen.blogspot.com/2011/07/chasing-

daylight.html)


http://footballingjourneymen.blogspot.com/2011/07/chasing-daylight.html

http://footballingjourneymen.blogspot.com/2011/07/chasing-daylight.html



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Leuven, Belgium - 23 July 2011

Hurling/Camogie


How much has changed in one year for Belgian camogie? Before the home camogie

tournament in 2010, the Belgium camogie team had never won a tournament. And yet here we were in 2011, going into the finals already confirmed as European Camogie

Champions for the second year in a row. Not only that, but for the second tournament this year, we had two solid teams to bulk up the competition. European camogie is not half as prolific as ladies football, so each new team is welcomed with open arms. The

strength of both teams is a credit to Niamh Kennedy (officer/trainer), Irene Kirwan

(trainer) and Laura Whiskerd (captain).


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Just after 7am, lacking sleep but sparing emotions, I was inside a van, full of hundreds of waterbottles,

nets, tables and tents, bouncing along on the way to the University of Leuven.

The reason for such a personal effort, waking up

before the sun rise!!, couldn't be other than to

participate to the Belgium Football Tournament, the

so far most numerous one in the history of the

European Championship, and, consequently, it

needed a real collective work. Of course the main

organisational part was already done during the

previous weeks by the Committee (Kev, Laura,

Colin, Jane, Clare B, Sylvia, Sinead M), great job

guys!!, but I was just amazed by how every single

member or friend of the Belgium GAA Club was

helping that day to make it a success. Actually,

even the weather was generous enough and offered us a warm and sunny day in the dawn of autumn.

A warm, in many senses, day that already in the early morning you could feel, along with the quietness

of the empty grass fields, that soon would be looking up to us. Quietness that very shortly died since

the Belgium fellows started to arrive and, with short and efficient instructions, in less than an hour,

goalposts, tents, lunches, changing rooms and hearts were ready to welcome the participants.

The glads playing in the Shield were really strong and showed really beautiful

football, loosing for only one point to the final winner of the day: Amsterdam

A. And here it comes my only sad moment of the day. I had seen the glads

playing for the Championship in their match against Luxembourg and they

were terrific, strong defenders running along the wings, solid and accurate

midfielders, dangerous forwards, Brendan in goal...all looking so well, that i

really couldn't believe when, at the end of the daylight, I ran, with the few

stripes of energy left, to watch the final and I didn't see them there. Really

sad. Apparently, in a very tight game, they had lost the semi-final against The

Hague, who finally brought The Cup home. But I'm sure that sadness will turn

over, because Guernsey and Limerick are there just waiting for us!

In the meantime, a few pitches ahead, 35 gladies (on three Belgium teams)

were fighting to find their way to the final. The B and C teams, with their

dedicated captains Amy and Gráinne D, played their socks off in their

matches against very strong teams. Both formations showed talent and

ambition and finally the Bs were rewarded with a beautiful win against

Prague, although, without doubt, the most important win was the respect

that the rest of the teams had for our gladies because they did need to work

really hard to defeat them.

One of those responsible for the performance of both teams was our coach

Aonghus, who under the irritating sun, took care of us for the whole

day. When he could, he also supported Gráinne, the captain of the As, the

best footballer I ever met, who couldn't play this time, but to have her managing the team was almost

like having her in the pitch. She used all her talent to read the game and give us all the instructions

and tips that we needed at every given moment. And even if we had lost another great player, my

dearest friend Caragh, we were very lucky to have her on the sideline; she was not only helping to

schedule the pitches for all 54 of the day’s matches, but one of our best supports of the day. And it was

a long day, and finally the A team, captained by Fitz, really deserved a place in the final.


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Football


Pan European

Football Tournament Reportage by Anay Rios



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Leuven, Belgium - 10 September 2011

9 To receive this newsletter directly, email [email protected]

Football

And so it arrived, the moment of truth, with the sunset over our heads,

together with a mix of tiredness, excitement and joy. Some, or all, of us,

were a bit, or a lot, nervous, but mainly delighted to play with such a panel

of players. The match started very tight, Paris had made a few clever

changes and scores were being delayed. As expected, it was tough, and at

half time we were ahead by just some points. Our encouraging captains

asked us to empty our tanks, and so we did. Every single player left their

skin in the pitch, and smoothly and increasingly Belgium was imposing its

game. Despite the exhaustion, I have to say I enjoyed every single minute

of the match, in the forward line and in the mids, where I hadn't played

since that November rain day in 2008. It was great to see how every player

was giving everything and playing like a real team. No names, ALL NAMES,

everybody played brilliantly. So when I heard the final whistle, I started

hugging all the gladies, all teams, one team, for such collective effort.

Some people say, yet another victory of Belgium A, but the victory is of the whole team, because

during months all players have been training, travelling and supporting each other. A victory of the

whole club and managers that generously give their time to make this happen.

Anyways, let’s then go to the my highlight of the day, but just

before that, I would like to explain that only a few months ago

I had heard for the very first time the name of Mícheál Ó

Muircheartaigh (you don't want to make me to pronounce it).

Kevin had told me that the popular MoM was the voice of the

Sundays. All Irish families could dream about football whilst

drinking Barrys tea, thanks to him. His passion would carry

them through the green fields and made them feel they were

in Croke Park. And I can say, I could somehow experience

that. I'm afraid I couldn't hear anything in the ladies final, but

in the men's one, I looked at him, sat in a camping chair with

his son, squatting next to him. It was twilight and for a while you could hear anything but his voice,

not the shouts of the supporters, nor the screams of the players, nor the whistles of the referee, just

his voice, floating in the space, and the game completely changed. The players looked stronger,

faster...the game smoother, braver.

What passion, what generosity, and not just for his comments through the speakers, during the whole

day, this man that for many years has seen the best football players in the world, he was supporting

and encouraging all the teams, having a nice word for all the players and making everybody feel very

special. So when at the end of the day, with the moon as

the only witness, he shook my hands and told me “You are

a very good footballer, you really must love this sport”, he

completely overwhelmed my heart. For all the participants,

he definitely made that this tournament was the best that

Europe has ever had.

Just after 7am, home from Le Manneken, Six Nations and

Celtica, I was lying my head in my pillow, some tears

sliding my cheeks, and part of me thinking- was this just a

dream? ....... a dream of 24 hours.

Congratulations to all the participants and special thanks,

once again and never enough, to MoM, Aonghus, Gráinne,

Caragh, the Committee, and, for me, of course, Kev.

I chose this picture because it really shows what football is

to me: dedication, passion, teamwork and love.


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Pan European Football Tournament


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Football




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A Special Guest

11 To receive this newsletter directly, email [email protected]

Football

On the day of the Belgium tournament, the name that was on everyone’s lips was

that of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh. The man was everywhere, going out of his way to

watch as many matches as possible and to talk to each person he met. As Anay

said, the highlight of the day was listening to his commentary on the finals, a once-

in-a-lifetime experience for all present. From dusk til dawn, he talked and posed for

photos, and to mark the excitement he created wherever he went, here is a

selection (thanks to Mary Brennan and Irene Kirwan):


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Tournament Schedule

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Other news

Exiles Cup

(Brussels)

29 November

Limerick 5 November

Ladies Football

Guernsey (pan-European) 8 October

Limerick (pan-European) 5 November

Football

Club and Charity Fundraising

A lot has already been said on the Belgian football tournament. The final word is on fundraising.

Mark McGovern Fundraiser: The after-party for the tournament was hosted by the Six Nations bar, which generously donated

50 cent from each pint to the Mark McGovern Fund.

Mark McGovern is an intercounty Fermanagh footballer, who travelled to the US in 2011. He

sustained a severe brain injury in an off-the-ball incident during his first Gaelic football match in

San Francisco. He is now in recovery, but medical expenses have already exceeded $1,100,000

USD. The evening event in Six Nations saw over 500€ has been donated to the Mark McGovern

Fund. For more information, and to submit a donation, visit: www.support4markmcgovern.com.

Jersey auction: Niamh Kennedy, Belgium Camogie Officer, spent a number

of months harassing and badgering her network of contacts

in order to rustle up three signed country jerseys - a

Wicklow football jersey, a Dublin hurling jersey and a

Kilkenny hurley jersey. The question of how to auction

them off efficiently was solved on the night of the

tournament. It is safe to say that if Mícheál Ó

Muircheartaigh hadn’t chosen to become the voice of Gaelic

games, he would have established a lucrative career as an

auctioneer, as he talked the talk to the point that the jersey

auction became an astoundingly successful fundraiser, with

competing bids of upwards on €500 per jersey. Official

figures will be available soon, but well done to all involved!


http://www.support4markmcgovern.com



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Training and Membership Training Venue (October-November 2011) Hurling and camogie are finished already,

and there are only 2 tournaments left in

football. Our 2011 training grounds in VUB

and Parc 50e are being dug up so Belgium

GAA training (men and ladies) is back out

where it began: the British School of

Brussels, in Tervuren.

If travelling by car, the address is:

The British School of Brussels,

Leuvensesteenweg 19

3080 Tervuren

Belgium

We are 200 metres beyond the Royal

Museum for Central Africa, on the same

side of the road.

If travelling by public transport from

Brussels:

From Montgomery metro station take Tram 44 (direction Tervuren)

Get off at the last stop (terminus)

Cross the road and walk up the Leuvensesteenweg past the Royal Museum for Central Africa

Walk into school following the signs for pedestrians

Training times:

Tuesdays - 19h30-20h45/21h - Hockey Pitch*

Friday - 19h30-20h45/21h - Rugby Pitch*

*All pitches are Astroturf, so Astroturf runners are best, but definitely no metal studs!

Membership details If you are planning to play in either of the last tournaments of the year, you must be a registered

member of the club. Please contact Laura Whiskerd, Club Secretary -

[email protected]. Fees are:

Please pay your fees directly into the club account. The details are the following:

Belgium GAA asbl, rue Frans Binje 7, 1030 Bruxelles

Bank a/c: 363-0292739-33

IBAN: BE79 3630 2927 3933 BIC: BBRUBEBB

Gaelic Football

Colin Byrne [email protected] GSM: +32 476 073 079

Camogie

Niamh Kennedy [email protected] GSM:+32 471 525 273

Ladies Football

Jane Brennan [email protected] GSM: +32 484 162 140

Hurling

Shane Ryan [email protected] GSM: +32 477 936 708

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Contacts

Training and Membership

1st time members: €75 (including shorts/socks) Re-joining members: €60

1st time joining students/stagiaires: €45

(including shorts/socks)

Re-joining students/stagiaires: €30


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Belgium GAA Newsletter September 2011