This article is from page 86 of the 2009-02-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
UNDERAGE football development in Clare took a significant step last Thursday with the official announce- ment of the appointment of two new full-time football coaches in the county. This forward-thinking plan was initiated by the Clare Football Supporters Club, and in conjunc- tion with the Clare county board and Bord na nOg, the project proposes to divide the county into three regions, West Clare, North Clare and Mid- East Clare, each having their own full-time coach. Currently the Clare County board employ one full-time coach, former Kilkee and county player, “Baby’ John Enright but through an interview process, head- ed by Munster Council’s coaching and games development officer and former Kerry senior football manag- er, Pat O’Shea, it is hoped that three full-time coaches will be in place in the coming months.
Details of this scheme were an- nounced at a press conference held in Murty Browne’s Pub in Tullycrine last Thursday, with representation from all three parties as well as vari- ous media outlets in attendence. Pat Cotter, John O’Brien, Paudie Neylon and Martin Keogh of The Clare Foot- ball Supporters Club, county chair- man Michael O’Neill and Michael O’Connor of the county board and Anne Hayes and Liam Woulfe from Bord na nOg Peil were all present on the night as the meeting chairman, Pat Cotter outlined the evolution of the significant underage project for clubs and schools.
“We decided at the beginning of the year that the standard in Clare foot- ball had reached an all-time low and it was time to do something to address the issue. So under the efforts of the Clare Football Supporters Club, we
decided to redirect whatever monies we had collected towards underage football and in a lot of discussion with the county board and lots of other people, we decided the best ap- proach would be to divide the county into three — West Clare, North Clare and Mid-East Clare. “Baby’ John En- right is in place in West Clare coach- ing so the idea then would be to put a full-time coach into the other two regions as well. The Football Sup- porters Club would finance one, the County Board would finance the oth- er and Baby John 1s already in place so then we would have three full- time coaches looking after the game at a very young level, from eight up at club and schools level. That is the best way we feel we can make a con- tribution to the standard of football in Clare” |
Bord na nOg Peil’s Liam Woulfe pledged their total support to the initiative, revealing plans to com- mit €5,000 to the enterprise while County Chairman Michael O’Neill also endorsed the project but stressed the need for clubs to play a more ac- tive part to aid the coaches’ work.
“We have sat down with the lads over the last number of months in a way as to how we can help out and it’s really about everybody working together to up the standard of foot- ball in the schools and clubs. There are massive restraints on schools and clubs at the moment but we can’t be concentrating on the nega- tives, we have to look at the positives and I suppose football needs a bit of a lift, starting at the bottom re- ally in conjunction with Bord na nOg and putting in the coaching officers where we feel they are necessary, and in conjunction with the clubs. So the schools play a vital part but the most important thing as well in this is that they are not a substitute
for the clubs and we always keep say- ing that. The coaches are a back-up to anything that the clubs themselves might do and that’s probably some- thing that hasn’t happened over the last couple of years. In the past, if a coach entered a school, some clubs took it for granted that the kids were being coached sufficiently. However, one or two people would only scratch the surface at the end of the day, it’s up to the clubs to get someone in there with them. Two or three people if possible are necessary, in conjunc- tion with the school obviously and bring that back to the club afterwards or the clubs if the schools cover more than one club.”
To provide further information to the clubs, three additional regional meetings will be held in the coming week, with Pat O’Shea, also address- ing each meeting.