SMITH O’Brien’s GAA club has scored a major goal for community development thanks to the provision of a new state-of-the-art sports arena costing in excess of €500,000. The new club aims to make the new sports arena a social hub for the community, providing a much needed social outlet for year round activities.
This is in addition to planning approval for the construction of a new outdoor Multi-use Games Area (MUGA), associated side fencing and netting, artificial grass surface, floodlighting and all associated ancillary and incidental works at an estimated cost of €100,000.
Following the provision of a covered stand years ago, the new sports complex is substantially completed, apart from some interior work to fully complete dressing rooms and meeting rooms.
Once these rooms are fully kitted out, the club hopes to hire one of the rooms to a physiotherapist or personal trainer in their “mini University of Limerick arena”.
They include four dressing rooms, ladies, gents and accessible toilets for people with disabilities, referee’s room, gym, kitchen, community/meeting room, which could be used for social functions in the future.
Plans for this major development were initially launched in March 2010 by GAA Club President, Christy Cooney, and there has been numerous people involved over the last decade bringing it to fruition.
Describing the new indoor complex as a very “ambitious” development, club secretary, Frank Tucker explained the club is sowing the seeds with a massive emphasis on underage under a new coach and player sub committee led by Brendan Foley.
The club is trying to follow what Kildangan in Tipperary and Limerick GAA did with their respective youth academies and the dividend this achieved in terms of success on the playing fields.
Councillor Tony O’Brien recalled back in 2010 the club conducted a thorough review of its existing facilities, membership and what it had to offer young people, which was outdated.
“We sat down and drew up a ten-year plan. We are behind in terms of the scheduling due to the downturn in the economy and in fund raising.
“Our gates were closed when the last team exited the championship in September or October. We didn’t come back again unless someone decides to call a training session on St Patrick’s Day, the following March or for the U-21 hurling championship.
“We also looked at community facilities in Killaloe. We felt it would be nice to develop a community centre where we could bring people in for a cup of tea or a bowl of soup after a social event.
“I think the new sports arena is something we can be very proud of in the club and community.
“There are huge costs associated with running a community centre. We don’t want to make huge money but the facility has to be maintained to a high standard and ‘wash its face” by earning money.”
He acknowledged the addition of new officers and women to the club executive in recent years had brought new ideas and energy to the club, while numerous people in the current and previous executive committees have helped make their dream become a reality.
Other clubs and organisations will be welcome to rent it for their own use in the future.
The indoor training gym facility is being used by club and there are plans to lease it for use to non-members.
The jewel in the crown of the new sports complex is the multi-purpose 600 square metre indoor arena with astro-turf surface.
Bridgetown, Killaloe Boys and Killaloe Girls National School have all signed shared licence agreements to have unrestricted free access of the astro-turf facility during school hours.
A new club app has been developed in partnership with Clubspot, which will be used by members to communicate with each other and to publicise activities.
David Gough has completed a lot of work on developing new club merchandise.
The club caters for about 200 children and 100 girls, who previously had no where to go for five or six months. Next autumn, there are plans to roll out a training programme from under six to under twelve, honing their skills on a Saturday or Sunday morning throughout the year.
The club has agreed to go ahead with the GAA’s “One Club” model.
It is now called Smith O’Brien GAA and Camogie Club. Technically, each GAA and camogie club is a separate body under the GAA and Camogie Board rules, but both organisations and the Ladies’ Football Association have endorsed this initiative at national level.
Club chairman, Patrick Aherne confirmed the GAA club and camogie club executive have agreed to adopt the national “One Club” model to work together in a more co-ordinated fashion in terms of fund raising, coaching and a sharing of resources.
“It is new for Smith O’Brien’s but it is not unique and has been around for a few years. It is all about spreading the message of equality now with shared resources. A GAA club can be much stronger with its works together with a camogie club.
He said the camogie club is viewed as an equal partner with its GAA counterpart and will work together on all aspects of development and day-to-day affairs.
Mr Tucker said working as the one club turns the two units into a bigger club who can leverage fundraising activities together while socially it is much better to share resources.
“It is not just about providing new facilities, it is about finance, infrastructure, coaches and development.”
As OneClub, Smith O’Brien’s GAA and Camogie club will strive to offer the best possible facilities, coaching and development for their players by working hand in hand.
Members of the camogie executive are now part of the GAA executive and are part of the decision making process.
The new guidelines were endorsed by the GAA’s Central Council on Saturday June 17 and by the LGFA and the Camogie Association advocate best practice under the following headings: structure and governance, coaching and games development, finance and fundraising and our games our code.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, a spokesperson for the camogie club said, “With a record number of registrations in 2021 and continued growth in the championship space at U-13 to U-16s level, the camogie club believes it an opportune time to join with the GAA club under the OneClub umbrella.
“We feel we have a lot to bring to table, but also have much to gain through strong collaboration and the sharing of resources. Entering into a cohesive working relationship with the hurling club partners will help us to provide better playing conditions and development opportunities for our players and facilitates progressive initiatives such as joint girls and boys training at U-6/U-7 level.
“It won’t be without its challenges, but we believe that there is strong will to succeed in the newly appointed GAA Executive and the addition of two female camogie members to this committee will certainly add a healthy gender balance.
“We look forward to working together to deliver this joined up model for the benefit of all Smith O’Brien players and members,” the spokesperson concluded.

by Dan Danaher