RANELAGH GAELS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Thursday, December 3rd 2020 Microsoft Teams

Agenda

Chairperson’s Address

Adoption of 2019 AGM minutes

Secretary’s Report

Treasurer’s Report

Juvenile Secretary’s Report

Children’s Officer’s Report

Registrar’s Report

Tuarisc an Treoraí Gaeilge agus Cultúr

Fundraising Committee Report

Diversity & Inclusion Report

Facilities Report

Election of Officers for 2021

Any Other Business

1 Chairperson’s Address

Tonight’s AGM is due to be my last act as Ranelagh Gaels Chairperson as the reins are handed over to my successor, who I have no doubt will bring fresh eyes, new ideas and additional enthusiasm to a role that it has been my absolute pleasure and honour to have held for the past two years.

It was my intention to serve another year in the chair, if elected, but a change in my personal circumstances during the year has forced a rethink and now is the right time for me to step away after more than ten years involved with the club committee and make way for somebody else.

A GAA club, like much else in life, is a constantly evolving work in progress and is never the finished article. Over the past 12 months we have made incredible strides forward, though we can never stand still and the new committee for 2021 will no doubt do everything they can ensure progress.

It goes without saying that 2020 was a trying year on and off the pitch for the club, with games and training shut down for months on end, venues locked up and near-constant logistical headaches. The club rose to meet these challenges magnificently and I am in awe of the work put in by so many to ensure that training sessions could take be run, camps held and games played involving players from four to 40-plus. I would particularly like to pay tribute to our Juvenile Committee of Chair Joe Davitt and Secretary Paul Walsh, without whom the whole thing would have fallen apart. Joe and Paul - thank you.

I would like to pay special tribute too to my great friend Louise Donohoe, who is stepping down as Secretary following two years of tireless work in the role. Louise started out as a player, and she may be one again next year, and she has held a variety of roles on the committee. Your break is well earned as there will hardly ever be anyone involved with Ranelagh Gaels who will do as much for the club as you have. Your friendship and constant support have been a huge source of strength to me.

I have served on the committee with literally dozens of people over the years and to every one of you, sincere thanks. Whilst we didn’t all of us always see eye to eye, your commitment to building a better club, a club rooted in its community, was never in question and will always be appreciated. To all of you, thank you too.

Along with myself and Louise, our Registrar John O’Callaghan and our Cub Development Officer Barry Chambers are also stepping down from their roles tonight. John is responsible for turning our membership process from a messy paper and cash affair five years ago into the slick online operation it is today. Barry’s stay on the committee was relatively brief, but in that time, he made an important difference to the club in terms of the facilities open to us to use and this will stand to Ranelagh Gaels into the future.

Thanks too to everyone who over the past 12 months, and way back beyond that, volunteered their time, efforts, and energy in any way to help out with Ranelagh Gaels. The club and community owe you a debt of gratitude.

Something I am passionate about is inclusivity and we have made great strides on this in recent months with the launch of the Ranelagh Rockets, our training initiative for children with additional needs. This was overseen by our Diversity and Inclusion sub-committee, chaired by Clíona O’Leary and the project was driven on by Stuart Banks. Gearóid Hussey spearheaded the fundraising drive to make it happen and ended up smashing through all expectations to raise more than €11,000. The Rockets will make a huge and lasting difference in the lives of so many children and their families; a legacy worth the effort.

The thing I enjoy most about being part of this club is the feeling of being part of something bigger than oneself - it’s about building a better community. And while the club continues to move forwards on all fronts, particularly on the field with record numbers in our Juvenile Academy and young players on the threshold of jumping up from our underage teams to joining our adult set-up for the first time, I sincerely hope that inclusion and diversity continue to be cornerstones of our ethos. We need more women and girls involved at all levels and I would love to see a 50-50 gender balance in terms of playing, coaching and administration in the near future. We need to make Ranelagh Gaels a welcoming home for everyone in the community, whatever their ability or even their interest in sport, a home that offers shelter from the troubles of the outside world for however brief a period. There is a place for everyone under our roof.

When our club President Liam O’Hagan set up Ranelagh Gaels nearly 20 years ago now, hard and all as that is to believe for some of us who have been around for most or all of that time, he said he wanted this club to be more than a bag of jerseys and a few balls. Thankfully, Liam has seen his wish come true. We are so much more than that and we can still become so much more again. The potential of this club is virtually limitless and I look forward to watching Ranelagh Gaels grow and progress from the sidelines.

Peter Sweeney, outgoing Chairperson, Ranelagh Gaels

2 Secretary’s Report 2020

Welcome

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone and it is no different for Ranelagh Gaels. Due to the Covid-19 situation, all GAA clubs had to close and all activities were suspended from 13th March until 29th June. Then in September, our adult teams had to stop again while the juvenile teams could continue to train only and under restrictions. Due to the restrictions, we also lost the use of a number of key training facilities this year and this created the biggest challenge for the club.

Firstly, I would like to thank all of the people who work so hard to keep the club running so smoothly - that includes my fellow committee members, particularly those that joined during the year and got stuck in straight away - you know who you are, and all of our dozens of voluntary coaches at all levels. Without them, the club would cease to function in any meaningful way. Several others who are not coaching or on the committee put themselves forward to lend their particular expertise to Ranelagh Gaels over the past year, in terms of facilities, fund-raising and others and to those people we are particularly grateful. I would like to say a special thank you to our Juvenile Chair and Secretary, Joe Davitt and Paul Walsh who worked tirelessly to get our underage teams back in action this year. And also to those who volunteered as Covid supervisors and to all our coaches who followed all the necessary procedures and kept our club safe and covid free so far, not an easy feat. The club appreciate all your hard work in this area.

Despite the lockdown and subsequent cessation of all GAA activity, it has been a busy year for the committee. I would like to thank Peter Sweeney, Club Chairperson and all my fellow committee members for their help and guidance throughout the year.

Chairperson, Secretary, Registrar and Club Development Officer Tonight, a number of our committee members step down after being involved in the committee for many years. Peter Sweeney, our Chairperson has been on the club committee for as long as I have been involved with the club, more than 10 years. John O’Callaghan has been our registrar for many years and is leaving our registration and membership database in a better place. Barry Chambers has worked tirelessly this year on our current and prospective facilities. I would like to express our sincere thanks, on behalf of the Club Committee, for all their dedication and commitment to the club. I will also be stepping down from my role as Secretary and again I would like to thank anyone and everyone who has helped and supported me in the various roles I have had since joining the club 10 years ago. I would especially like to say a word of thanks to Peter Sweeney who was always there for advice and guidance and I leave knowing that I can call him a very dear friend. Obviously, I will still be a regular on the side lines and will champion this wonderful club to anyone who will listen.

Covid 19 When the pandemic introduced us to a new world in the form of lockdown, Ranelagh Gaels didn’t just down tools. We signed up to the Club Together initiative in partnership with Supervalu. Ciaran Doyle co-ordinated this project, and assisted by a dedicated group of volunteers, they delivered shopping for vulnerable members in our community straight to their doors. Huge thanks to Ciaran and all the volunteers who helped with this initiative. It was deeply appreciated by everyone. We were awarded with a Certificate of Recognition from the Lord Mayor of Dublin in recognition of the wonderful work undertaken by the club during the first lockdown.

We ran a number of competitions on our social media during lockdown (Design Your Own Ranelagh Gaels jersey, lockdown hair competition).

A big thank you must go to our GPO, Simon Lambert, who put together some skills videos for our younger members, so they could improve and work on their skills during lockdown.

Our committee also continued to hold regular committee meetings remotely and we issued our first Club Newsletter.

Facilities In 2020, Covid-19 created challenges for us as we had no access to Cathal Brugha Barracks and Donnybrook. We express our thanks to UCD for allowing us to lease their all weather pitch. Without this facility, our Academy would not be possible and our juvenile teams would be struggling for pitches. Thank you to Joe, Paul and Barry who worked so incredibly hard to find alternative facilities so our academy and juvenile teams could continue to have pitches to train on. The club cannot thank you enough for the trojan work that you have done this year.

3 As is the case every year, pressure for space and a lack of a permanent home remains the biggest single challenge facing Ranelagh Gaels as we continue to grow year on year. Facilities will be discussed in a later report.

As we continue to grow as a club, fielding more teams, we will need more and more space for training and this is going to require inventive thinking on our behalf as well as continuing to foster good relations with local authorities, local representatives and clubs and other schools in the area.

Membership Ranelagh Gaels membership continues to grow and more details on membership can be found in Registrar John O’Callaghan’s report later. In 2020, both our ladies and men’s teams welcomed new players and a significant number of players transferred into the club during the year. The men’s team had 41 registered players for 2020 while there were 26 registered players on the ladies team, similar numbers to what we had in 2019. Our juvenile membership saw an increase from 528 in 2019 to 606 in 2020. We also welcomed new members to our Gaelic for Mothers and Others team. We are making great strides in achieving gender parity in our juvenile teams. Thanks to John and the juvenile committee for all of their efforts in this area.

Fund-raising Sponsorship revenues remain constant since 2019. Full details of sponsorship can be found in Treasurer Alan Bluett’s report. Outside of sponsorship, we held 2 big fundraising events during the year, one for charity and one for the club, not an easy feat in the middle of a global pandemic. Our charity fundraiser in June 2020, raised over €7,000 for Crumlin Children’s Hospital and Ranelagh Community Response. Our members got out and ran, walked, cycled and froze for these very worthy charities. This created a lovely buzz in the club during the week we ‘Returned to Play’ after the initial covid lockdown which began in March 2020.

Then in September, we ran a fundraiser to raise funds to get our Ranelagh Rockets off the ground. A phenomenal amount of over €11,000 was raised and we were blown away by the support from our members and the local community.

Thanks to everyone who helped set-up and run each of these fund-raisers.

List of main club Sponsors: Savills Brewin Dolphin Smyth’s Tribeca Appian Asset Management

Gaelic For Mothers And Others Our G4M&O team had 27 players registered in 2020. Unfortunately, due to Covid, the ladies really didn’t get a chance to have very many pitch sessions this year. But team member, Caroline Chambers, has kept things going with online Pilates classes which was very much appreciated. Thank you, Caroline. 6 members of the team have completed a foundation level coaching course so that they can run the weekly session on their own, with the assistance of myself and Peter Sweeney. I may be handing over the secretary responsibilities, but I will continue to coach and support the G4M&O team in 2021.

I would also like to formally thank UCD’s Ger Brennan for facilitating the sessions in Belfield and all the women who take part so enthusiastically and make the sessions so enjoyable.

Men’s football Our men competed in the Junior 1 Championship again this year and the team put in some great & hardworking performances but ultimately came up short against tough opposition in O’Dwyers, Na Gaeil Oga and Geraldine Moran’s, all teams playing in a higher league division.

In the condensed season, there was no league but there was a cup competition before games were suspended in September and the competition was subsequently cancelled.

Thanks to all the players who gave their commitment to the team and to those who helped with training and organising the team. Thank you to Conor Walsh who came on board to coach the team this year and to the team manager, club President Liam O’Hagan.

A special word of thanks to Conor who conducted weekly training sessions via Zoom during lockdown. It was very much appreciated.

As always, thanks to men’s team sponsor Smyth’s.

4 Women’s football After winning the 2019 Junior D Championship, the ladies were now competing in the Junior C Championship with games against Crumlin, Ballyboden St Enda’s C, Castleknock B and Kilmacud Crokes C.

Much like our men’s team, there were no league competition this year but a league cup did take place with a number of games played before the competition was suspended in September.

Thanks to all the players who gave such commitment and effort this year and of course to Shane Minihane, for continuing to take charge of the team and for organising weekly zoom training sessions during lockdown.

Juvenile Section Our Juvenile section, made up of Academy (five-to-seven year olds) and underage teams, boys and girls, in football and hurling, from Under-8 to Under-16 continues to go from strength-to-strength, with numbers growing year-on-year. We even had a record number attending our Academy in October of this year. Full details on this growth and success can be found in the Juvenile Committee Report and the Registrar Report later on, but thanks must go all on the juvenile committee for their dedication and to our now over 170 coaches who are out come hail, rain or shine making it all possible. Our coaches also had the addition of Covid procedures to follow and this was done effectively, efficiently and admirably. We were extremely fortunate to be able to hold 2 Cul Camps in Alexandra College in August. Both camps filled up very quickly as we were limited to only 80 children per camp. Thank you to the juvenile committee, coaches, Simon Lambert and to Alexandra College.

Ranelagh Rockets In 2020, we launched our inclusive team, the Ranelagh Rockets. Thank you to everyone who helped to get this to fruition, from those that got involved with our fundraiser and who are helping to coach the team. It is a wonderful achievement and something the whole club can be so proud of.

20/20 Club Charter The club signed up to 20/20 Club Charter in March 2020 pledging to put both genders on equal footing and to strive for equal numbers in males and females for players, coaching and administration. We have made a lot of progress on this in 2020 and this will continue to be a focus of the club in 2021 and beyond.

Plans for the future Covid-19 really brought the challenges that we have while we have no pitch to call our own to the fore. 2020 was an extremely challenging year as we lost access to Cathal Brugha Barracks and Donnybrook which really made life difficult for us. More details on this is in our Facilities & Club Development Report.

A key focus for 2021 and beyond will be to source facilities and pitches that can allow us to continue to grow. As the gap between our underage and adult teams lessen, both facets of the club will need to work together so the natural transition is as seamless as possible. This will happen next year as some of our current under 16 girls will move into the ladies team, a momentous event in our club’s history.

Thanks Many people have, rightly, been thanked through this report, and there’s no need to mention them again.

I thank again all of those people who helped out Ranelagh Gaels and gave up their time and effort on a voluntary basis this year; players, the individuals that coached players and managed teams, anyone who got involved in fund-raising and any number of other projects that helped the club. Your GAA club is indebted to you.

Having worked closely with an excellent, committed committee throughout the year, I would particularly like to say thanks to those people who all made invaluable contributions in 2020 in demanding roles amid challenging times. You are making a positive difference to individual lives and to a community as a whole and for that you should be proud. To those that are stepping away, Peter Sweeney, John O’Callaghan, Barry Chambers and Enda Marren, a particular thanks for your efforts.

I look forward to seeing what great things are to come for Ranelagh Gaels and it has been a privilege to have been involved on the committee for 10 years.

Louise Donohoe, outgoing Secretary, Ranelagh Gaels

5 Treasurer’s Report 2020

The opening balance on the Ranelagh Gael’s Current Account on 1st January 2020 was €79,188.40 and the closing on 30th November 2020 was €62,755.86. There was also €1,507 in the Ranelagh Gaels PayPal account and circa €1,000 currently in My Club Finances. The deficit on the account for 2020 was €16,433.

In a normal year I would anticipate a small surplus for the year for the club but the advent of Covid has changed things a great deal. Fund raising for the club in general was down this year as our annual fund- raisers did not happen, namely the club quiz, the golf classic as well as the Easter & Summer camps. The only camps that were run this year were the GAA Cul Camps, which do not generate any income for the club and were actually run at a loss this year of €3,500 but were a valuable outlet for club members.

The other major change this year was the decision to extend the annual subscriptions for the juvenile section from September to December. This decision was made due to the Covid restrictions this year, which stopped all club activity for a number of months in the Spring, and so we extended the annual subscription year by 4 months to benefit members. This decision directly impacted the club turnover, and reduced our overall income substantially for 2020, so that the major flow of subscriptions for the current year will now happen in January 2021. From January 2021 onwards annual subscriptions for all club members will be on a calendar basis.

Sponsorship Brewin Dolphin (formally Investec Wealth Management) continue to sponsor the academy (5 to 7-year olds) for the three years starting from the 2017/2018 season and we hope that this strong relationship will continue. Brewin Dolphin have committed to providing €3,000 per annum to the academy and have done so again in 2020 – special thanks to Gearoid Hussey for spearheading this sponsorship.

Savills continue to sponsor the non-academy juvenile teams for 3 years from the 2018/2019 season (under 8s to under 15s) and they have committed to providing €3,000 per annum. They have done so again in 2020. Savills also agreed to sponsor the Summer Camp for 3 years from 2018 and provide €500 per annum for this. The Summer Camp did not happen this year due to Covid, but Savills are committed to sponsoring the summer camp in 2021 – special thanks to Andrew Cunningham for leading this sponsorship.

Appian Asset Management agreed to sponsor the Easter Camp for 3 years from 2019 to 2021 and provide €500 per annum for this. They did pay this amount into the club this year but alas the Easter Camp 2020 did not happen due to Covid. They kindly left the money with the club and we will just bounce this sponsorship forward to the 2021 Easter Camp. Thanks to Ian Naughton for driving this sponsorship.

I would like to thank all our sponsors for their continued support for the club. It is hugely appreciated and helps provide a great offering to all members of the club at a very competitive annual subscription.

Notes to the Accounts €7,416 was the proceeds of a joint fund raiser held during the summer by Ranelagh Gael Members for Crumlin Children’s Hospital & Ranelagh Community Response. The funds raised came into the account and were paid back out straight away to the two charities benefiting. €11,241 was the proceeds of a fund raiser specifically organised to support the Ranelagh Rockets initiative. To date Ranelagh Rockets have spent €3,481 on equipment and the balance of €7,760 remains in the account and is being ring-fenced for use by Ranelagh Rockets only. €11,045 relates to refunds made to children who registered for the annual Easter Camp. The 2020 Easter Camp had been sold out, but as it was cancelled due to Covid, all entry fees for the camp were refunded in full. €2,750 relates to a refund by the Dublin County Board for the cost of our GPO. The GPO costs €1500 per month by S/O, but as the DCC utilised the Government Wage Subsidy Scheme, they repaid some of that S/ O. The total cost of the GPO in the accounts is €15,000 (which is for 10 months) and is €18,000 for the full calendar year.

Main outgoings for 2020: All Pitch Rentals €25,720 GPO €15,000 Equipment Purchases €14,120 Club Registration fees & Insurance €13,532 Ongoing expenses €12,159

Main Sources of Income for 2020: Annual Registrations (Membership Subscriptions) €33,060 Academy Sponsorship (Brewin Dolphin) €2,977

6 Underage Teams Sponsorship (Savills) €3,000 See attached document - Income and Expenses Summary Alan Bluett, Treasurer, Ranelagh Gaels

7 Ranelagh Gaels Juvenile Secretary Report 2020

Child Protection Immediately after last year’s AGM RG was selected as one of ten Dublin clubs included in the Tusla/Dublin County Board Child Protection Audit. Frank Kelly RG Child Protection Officer (CPO) and I completed the audit response on the 18th Dec 2019. Thanks to earlier work by Frank and Lee Dillion our processes were in good order and the there was no audit follow-up from Tusla. A new incident report form has been introduced by Frank to cover all types of incidents involving juvenile players My thanks to our CPO Frank Kelly for his proactive efforts throughout the year. (separate report)

COVID precautions RG adopted all relevant GAA protocols and held coaches’ advisory meetings before resumption after the first lockdown. All coaches and parents completed the GAA eLearning and registered in the GAA ‘Return-to-play’ system and each team in the underage group nominated Covid officers to check the health questionnaire was completed before every training session/match. To date RG have had no significant issue, all Lead coaches have been advised to act on a ‘when’ rather than an ‘if’ basis. Regular reminders of GAA protocols have been sent to lead coaches. GAA ‘Return-to-play’ system has proved effective and reliable for juvenile teams, a manual register is used in the Academy as many parents are not GAA members.

Juvenile Numbers Despite COVID Academy Numbers increased, which challenged capacity and coaches: ACADEMY (270) Girls (115) Boys (155) 2013 30 45 2014 40 50 2015 40 55 2016 5 5

The age profile remained steady despite COVID and other sports, showing a positive gender balance for the first time: Juvenile (461) Girls (249) Boys (212) U8 30 40 U9 55 33 U10 37 35 U11 45 41 U12 28 34 U13 40 13 U15 16 U16 15

Coaching Our coaches deserve great thanks for their commitment and resilience in keeping RG operational during the COVID era. They have been resourceful and cooperative in ensuring their teams got the most out of the limited pitches available. Coaching and coach induction are cornerstones of our club development. A significant number of coaching courses were planned in 2020 for new volunteers and existing coaches who wished to improve their skill set. A Hurling workshop was run on 07-02-2020 with Mickey McCullough, a subsequent football workshop was lost due to snow. COVID forced the cancellation of several Foundation Coaching courses from March on- ward. Thanks to our GPO, Simon Lambert, a series of Zoom coaching sessions was organised during the first COVID lockdown. These proved popular and were almost the only connection the children had with their friends during this forlorn period. Feedback from parents was positive and the exercises given provided a daily challenge as well as keeping the Ranelagh Gaels community connected.

8 Simon also created a YouTube channel for the club that included exercises and skills that kids could undertake during the first lockdown. A distanced hurling workshop with the Ballyboden St Enda’s 1st team players was run outdoors on the 18th November at Teresian School under lights. It had also been intended to run a Level 1 Coaching Course this Autumn to facilitate the improvement of existing coaches but COVID also frustrated this. GAA on-line courses are available but, in my view, do not provide a suitable introduction for new coaches. A key part of the post COVID era will be catching up with the coaching backlog. Delays in training new coaches are a key constraint in our club development. The Army have offered mess facilities for RG to schedule the mandatory Foundation Coaching, Safeguarding and First Aid courses once COVID restrictions are lifted. Traditionally our girl’s teams have mainly played football, but our intention is to introduce Camogie more widely. Our Chair, Joe Davitt, has been working with the U8 Girls and there is no doubt as to their interest. The widening of this initiative is dependent on more members coming forward to coach. Special thanks to Clodagh Keher and Colum Gleeson for picking up the baton of running the U16s girls’ team after Paul Keane’s sudden departure as manager. They have done tremendous work to keep our oldest team going and must be commended for stepping up to the plate. A few of the girls will join up with the ladies team in 2021 and ensures now that we have a direct line from academy to adult for the very first time. We are now in the next stage of our development as a club.

Camps The 2020 Easter Camp was fully booked but cancelled due to COVID. Our Registrar John organised refunds promptly, which were well received by parents at a time when airlines were refusing refunds. After a period of great uncertainty two one-week Cúl Camps were run in August in Alexandra College on the weeks of the 10th and 17th of August with capacity capped at 80 per camp. This is one third of our normal camp capacity and many children had to be turned away. Both camps were highly successful, and many thanks go to our GPO Simon Lambert, Joe Davitt and volunteers who had to contend with extra COVID precautions on top of the normal camp organisation. Thanks are due to the Management of Alexandra College for facilitating these events during the COVID era. Due to the capping of numbers these camps ran a loss this year but provided vital summer sport for children at a time when few other entertainments were available.

Ranelagh Rockets D&I Initiative Commenced in Herzog Park on Sat 17th October, borne out of the ambition and drive of Stuart Banks. Many thanks to the sub-committee led by Clíona O’Leary for getting this initiative up and running in these challenging times. Special thanks to Gearóid Hussey for a magnificent fund-raising run which made the ‘Rocket’ self-sustaining. (See separate D&I sub-committee report)

Games Promotion Officer (GPO) RG benefits from the continuous input and effort from our tireless GPO Simon Lambert. In addition to running our Academy and supporting all Juvenile Coaches, he has been instrumental in bringing Gaelic Games back into the primary schools in Dublin 6. Many of these schools are built on congested locations with no proper sports facilities, therefore the introduction of field sports is a considerable feat. At present the following schools and pupils are within our programme: Scoil Bhride, Ranelagh – 150 St Louis, Rathmines – 90 St Marys, Donnybrook– 200 RMDS, Ranelagh – 160 KPS, Rathmines – 90 Gaelscoile Lios na nOg, Ranelagh - 90

Pitches Following the first COVID lockdown the decision of the Department of Defence to close Cathal Brugha Barracks to 3rd parties and a similar decision by Leinster Rugby left us struggling for pitches to train on. Our particular thanks to The Teresian School, Donnybrook and St Killian’s Deutsche Schule, Goatstown for granting us access in these difficult times. Also, UCD Sport’s Department have helped with Saturday facilities which allowed our older teams access to use full sized GAA pitches with nets and goals. A full report on pitch prospects is contained in the Development Officer’s report.

Kit A new ‘Rockets’ O’Neill’s jersey was designed for our D&I initiative (separate report). The logo on our Academy jersey has been altered to ‘Brewin Dolphin’, who recently purchased our sponsor Investec. Our thanks to ‘Brewin Dolphin’ for their continued support of our Academy and Savills for sponsoring our Juvenile section.

9 Thanks to Rob for his continued work in keeping the growing number of teams supplied with everything from sliotars to goal post.

Juvenile Committee First met on the 17-01-2020 and virtually since, my thanks to all who participated in keeping all running smoothly with the multiple extra COVID requirements

Administration RG switched in January to using GAA hosted Outlook email and storage, per the GAA policy to improve privacy and consistency. The GAA’s aim is to replace all 3rd party systems with a secure GDPR compliant team management and messaging system in 2021. Joe Davitt completed a huge task in creating team circulation lists in the spring to provide better contact and email facilities. There is further work to be done in terms of collating proper email list for teams and new members.

Challenges ahead • Coaching development and addition volunteers • Getting our main facilities back in Cathal Brugha Barracks and Donnybrook Stadium • Finding a consistent 10.30am all-weather pitch slot for the Academy that will run until June and adding the 2016 group to this • Getting enough pitch space to allow all teams to play matches on Sats/Suns from U8 up to U16. This will mean spreading ourselves across several venues. • Solution for the 2021 U13s and U14s girls’ teams. We will discuss with lead coaches in January when numbers for the groups are clear, in order to make an informed decision as to what teams we enter for year. • U14s boys hurling short on numbers – solution to be found with help from U13s • Keeping camogie going in 2021 with new U9s and U10s while starting fresh team at U8 level

Conclusion Many thanks to all our coaches and volunteers, apologies to anyone whose efforts I have omitted.

Paul Walsh, Secretary, Juvenile Sub-Committee, Ranelagh Gaels

10 Club Children’s Officer Report 2020

• Currently 126 Male Coaches – 50 Female Coaches. • As of 2/12/2020 – 166 coaches have Child safeguarding training in date. • Another class being organised by DCB for early 2021. • First aid classes will have to be organised in 2021. • Every coach in the club is Garda vetted or are waiting on their Garda vetting but process has begun. • There were no serious Child Welfare incidents to report for 2020. • Coaches all have access to an incident report sheet. Frank Kelly, Club Children’s Officer, Ranelagh Gaels

11 Registrar’s Annual Report 2020 2020 was another record year in terms of the number of members registered with Ranelagh Gaels. This is to the great credit of the Club, its coaches and its members whose work is reflected in the popularity of the Club as part of the community and sporting life of the area.

Membership Numbers We had 26 women and 41 men registered for the 2020 season.

There were also 606 juveniles registered which is up from 411 in 2018 and 528 in 2019. Since registration for 2021 opened to new members in September, 167 juveniles have been registered. The numbers in the Academy are noticeably strong. For example, there were 82 children in the 2013 cohort in 2020. 27 women signed up for Gaelic for Mothers and Others in 2020. We have recently opened registration for our Ranelagh Rockets. More detail is contained in the tables below.

Gender Our aim is to achieve 50:50 male:female membership. Significant progress is being made towards this objective. In 2018, 37% of our juveniles were girls. By 2019, this had risen to 42% and to 47% in 2020. Registrations for 2021 to date are running at 56% female, 44% male.

Finally, this is my last report as Registrar. I want to thank Peter and all the Committee for their support over the last few years. It was great to be involved with such dedicated and committed people and I have no doubt but that the Club will go on to great success in future years.

Seán Ó Ceallacháin, Cláraitheoir John O’Callaghan, outgoing Registrar, Ranelagh Gaels

Adult Players 2020 Male Female Total 41 26 77

Number of Juvenile Members 2018-2020 Male % Female % Total 2018 257 63% 154 37% 411 2019 304 58% 224 42% 528 2020 320 53% 286 47% 606 2021 73 44% 94 56% 167

Number of Gaelic for Mothers and Others 2019 26 2020 27

2020 Juvenile Membership by Year of Birth Year of Birth Male Female Total 2004 0 4 4 2005 5 9 14 2006 3 8 11

12 2007 17 34 51 2008 31 29 60 2009 32 29 61 2010 31 28 59 2011 36 40 76 2012 37 37 74 2013 53 29 82 2014 48 21 69 2015 27 18 45 Total 320 286 606 Tuarisc na bliana (Annual Report) 2020 Treoraí Gaeilge agus Cultúr (Irish Language and Culture Officer)

D’imigh Gaeilge sa chlub ó neart go neart i mbliana, in anneoin deacrachtaí an dúnghlasú! (This year we made great strides with Irish in the club, despite the difficulties presented by the lockdown):

1. Suíomh idirlín nua (new club website) • Chruthaíomar suíomh idirlín álainn nua don chlub, a léiríonn an béim agus an meas atá ar an nGaeilge sa chlub (We developed a beautiful new website, which highlights the emphasis and respect for Irish in the club)

2. Gaeilge ar an bPáirc’ • Chuireamar tús le feachtas ‘Gaeilge ar an bPáirc’ chun tacú le coitseálaí, moltóirí agus páistí frásaí agus focla simplí Gaeilge a úsáid ar an bpáirc. (We kicked off an initiative called Irish on the Pitch to get coaches, referees and children using simple words and phrases as Gaeilge on the pitch). • Fuair baill uile an chlub cárta beag ‘Gaeilge ar an bPáirc’ le frásaí úsáideach as Gaeilge má tá tú ag imirt, ag cóitseáil nó ag tacú le do fhoireann. Mura bhfuair tú ceann, inis dúinn! (All club members received a wallet-sized ‘Gaeilge ar an bPáirc’ card featuring key phrases as Gaeilge for playing with, coaching or supporting your team. If you missed out on your card, get in touch! • Ar an drochuair, chuireadh cosc le spóirt díreach ina dhiaidh sin, ach tiocfaimíd ar ais chuig an bhfeachtas seo ar ball (Unfortunately all training and matches were stopped shortly after the launch of this initiative but we will be picking up on this initiative again)

3. Fondúireacht (Foundation) Seosaimh Mhic Dhonnchadha • Don chéad uair riamh, ghlac Gaeil Raghnallach páirt i mbliana sa bhFondúireacht CLG seo, a spreagann clubanna an teanga a chaomhnú (For the first time ever, Ranelagh Gaels became a member of the GAA Seosaimh Mhic Dhonnchadha foundation, which encourages clubs to foster Gaeilge in their club. • [Newsflash!] Tá bród ollmhór orm a rá go mbronnfar bonn cré-umha ar an gclub i bPáirc an Chrócaigh i mbliana de bharr na himeachtaí uile a chuireadh i bhfeidhm an bhliain seo. (I am extremely proud to share the news that Ranelagh Gaels will be awarded a bronze medal in Croke Park this year in recognition of the progress we have made with bringing Irish on in the club). • Is tús iontach é seo ach beimíd ag súil le tuilleadh an bhliain seo chugainn. (This is a brilliant start but we will be hoping for even more next year. • Ba mhaith linn go n-úsáidtear an Ghaeilge chomh fairsing agus is féidir ar fud an chlub i 2021 ach beidh sé mar príomh aidhm againn go mbeidh á ndaoine óga á úsáid ar an bpáirc (The goal for 2021 will be to see Irish being used naturally in as many aspects of the club as possible, but above all, to see our young players using it on the pitch.

Bígí linn!

Paula Fyans - Treoraí Gaeilge agus Cultúr (Irish Language and Culture Officer)

13 Fundraising Committee Report 2020

A fundraising committee was established this year with the following purpose: 1.to raise funds for the club in order to cover rental of pitches, insurance, club gear and equipment, referees’ costs etc. 2.to raise awareness of Ranelagh Gaels in the community, 3.to support the wider Ranelagh community through events and fundraising, and 4.to raise funds for charities / Crumlin Hospital etc. The following initiatives were undertaken: • The walk, run or cycle (in your Ranelagh Gaels gear) as much as you can took place between Monday, June 22 and Sunday, June 28. The ice bucket was an option too! Gearóid Hussey championed the idea of starting a fundraiser by the club to help Crumlin Children's Hospital and Ranelagh Response Unit. Over €7,688 was raised. • Ranelagh Rockets Fundraiser - on Thursday 24th September, the challenge to the Ranelagh Gaels Coaches was to run a combined 600km - the distance from Dublin to Tralee in County Kerry - and back to raise much needed funds for the Ranelagh Rockets. Led by Gearóid Hussey, Stuart Banks and Bill O'Sullivan, it started with some coffee and in less than two weeks it all happened. The runs all took place locally to ensure they complied with the Level 3 Covid-19 restrictions in the capital. Over 800km was covered and €11,600 was raised across the whole Ranelagh Gaels community. The Ranelagh Rockets is an inclusive training programme which was successfully launched on Saturday 17th October for children with additional needs. • Further initiatives are being planned and more members are now helping with fundraising.

I would like to thank Gearóid Hussey who has been instrumental in raising funds for the club and the wider Ranelagh Gaels community.

Bill O’Sullivan, Fundraising Sub-Committee, Ranelagh Gaels

14 Diversity & Inclusion Report 2020

The RG D&I Sub-Committee was set up in March 2020. The Sub-Committee is made up of Cliona O’Leary (Chair), Stuart Banks, Lee Dillon and Roger Leviton.

The sub-committee had a number of ideas, but the first project initiated was the training programme for children with special needs.

In the summer, the Sub-committee ran a survey of members, seeking prioritisation from members on what the sub-committee could be doing in the area of diversity and inclusion. We received a great response, and the following list of actions are based on the information we gathered: 1. The majority of our members ranked ‘Dedicated coaching for children with special needs in our community’ as the top priority for the club. Stuart Banks in particular put enormous efforts into setting up this programme for children with special needs; Ranelagh Rockets. Joe & Simon secured Herzog which was really important as a secure space for training, and our fundraising committee, led by Bill and Gearoid generated over 11k for the team. Training started on the 17th Of October. Training takes place every Saturday and it was agreed the club membership would be 50. We have 12, 5-10 year olds, 11 Coaches and 7 TY students. From March we are hoping to expand to run a programme for 11-14 year olds. Stuart bought gear, including jerseys and hoodies with Rocket emblem. Moira and her team did the training and helped with the coaching plan. We are aiming to create an Autism Awareness evening in the new year. 2. Gender diversity (e.g. initiatives to improve the ratio of male to female coaches/committee members) was high on the rankings and we gathered some interesting information from the responses to the survey – many females stated work/family commitments prevent them from getting involved; some mentioned no GAA experience but if it is stated and accepted it’s not required it might change their position; some asked if some training could be given to help and others stated that there if there isn’t the pressure there to be there every week they might join in. This is what we are prioritising in 2021. Earlier this year a survey was done to look at the gender split in the club and out of 150 coaches approximately 40 were women (approx. 25%). We are going to redo the audit and create a list of targets in early 2021 to propose to the committee to reach gender parity in our club. 3. ‘Social inclusion (e.g. initiatives to encourage greater participation in the club by different socio- economic and cultural groups)’ was ticked as important by a significant number of members. We have reached out to Masi to see if we can create a sponsorship with a Direct Provision centre in Hatch Street, and we are also looking at initiatives to encourage people from a broad range of socio-economic backgrounds into the club. Lee has made contact with the school in the Mosque. This action is challenging in Covid times, so we are working on creating contacts, but it will be at least mid 2021 before we can advance this aspect more. 4. Mental Fitness (e.g. developing resources and tools that support and promote mental and emotional health and wellbeing), Jigsaw are offering online workshops aimed at coaches to make a positive impact on the mental health of teenagers, they have an online course called ‘One Good Coach.’ Cliona did a masters thesis on the importance of sport coaches in YP mental health and did a survey with over a thousand coaches, it’s surprising how few coaches know about the signs and symptoms and the role of sports coaches in this regard. We have 13 coaches signed up to the first courses on the 9th of December at 7pm.

Any feedback and ideas would be really welcomed by the sub-committee.

Cliona O’Leary, Lee Dillon, Stuart Banks, Roger Leviton – Diversity & Inclusion Sub-Committee, Ranelagh Gaels

15 Facilities Report 2020 A perennial issue for the Club is the provision of suitable, accessible and safe facilities for all our playing age groups from the Academy to the Ladies and Men’s squads. Since the Government introduced measures last March to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19 in local communities and the subsequent implementation of the GAA restrictions for Gaelic Games activities, this has been particularly challenging this year. However, owing to the great efforts of a number of Club officers, notably Juvenile Secretary, Paul Walsh and Juvenile Chairperson, Joe Davitt we have managed to keep the show on the road through the varying levels of restrictions by securing facilities for our members in a number of locations. Thankfully this has enabled activities to continue as and when permitted. The Club’s two main facilities, namely the all weather pitches at Bective and Wesley RFCs, Donnybrook and the GAA pitch at Cathal Brugha Barracks have been unavailable to us since the anti-virus restrictions were initially introduced. We have been liaising closely with Leinster Rugby and the Department of Defence respectively, to ensure reactivation of our use of these facilities just as soon as this is possible. A special note of thanks to Paul Walsh for maintaining great relations with both of these landlords. Current Playing Facilities Dublin City Council Public Parks: When permitted, the Juvenile groups use the open spaces at Dartry Park, Herbert Park and Herzog Park MUGA for training and along with the Senior groups, the GAA pitches at Bushy Park as our home venue for match fixtures. The Club is in ongoing discussions with DCC to optimise our use of these facilities on a fair and sustainable basis with other users. We are hopeful that a positive solution will be reached in the coming weeks, perhaps with a focus on Bushy Park. It is expected that this will provide greater availability and more certainty of use for the Club from the start of next year. DCC also manage an indoor facility at TK2 off Charlemont Street which is available on a per use booking basis. Private Grounds: In the scramble to secure training facilities to replace the temporary loss of Donnybrook Stadium and Cathal Brugha Barracks this year we have negotiated licences at a number of local private schools and colleges. These are St Killian’s (thanks to David Coyle for negotiating this licence), The Teresian School, Wesley College and more recently UCD. The cost of providing these facilities has put pressure on the Club’s finances and it is hoped that we can revert to more sustainable options as soon as this is feasible in the current environment. Prospects Potential facilities that are under close and constant monitoring include all weather pitches at venues such as, St Mary’s College, Gonzaga College, Sandford Park, Tempelogue CDETB and Harold’s Cross Educate Together School (currently under construction). It is very important that we continue to maintain and build on relationships with existing stakeholders in our community such as DCC, local elected representatives, school principals, etc. and that we continue to identify new opportunities. We would encourage all members to keep an eye out and ear open for possible opportunities and to channel any suggestions and ideas through the Club Committee for coordination and approach by the most appropriate contact. Barry Chambers – outgoing Facilities and Club Development Officer

16 Ranelagh Gaels Income and Expenses Summary January to November 2020

Row Labels Sum of Spend Sum of Income 1-001 General income 25 1-002 Fundraisers 7,416 20,807 1-003 Sponsors 6,477 1-004 Registrations 33,060 1-005 Camp subscriptions 20,290 2-001 General expenses 12,159 170 2-002 GPO 15,000 2,750 2-003 Rental costs 25,720 2-004 Referees 800 2-005 Equipment 14,120 2-006 Registrations 11,097 2-007 Insurances 2,435 2-008 Refunds 11,045 (blank) 2-004 Registrations 350 1-002 Camp subscriptions 130 Grand Total 100,141 83,708

Deficit in the period -16,433

Ranelagh Gaels Bank movement January to November 2020 € Opening cash at bank 01-Jan-20 79,188.40

Funds received 83,708.28

Spend in the period -100,140.82

Closing cash at bank 25-Nov-20 62,755.86 Ranelagh Gaels Income and Expenses Details January to November 2020

Row Labels Sum of Spend Sum of Income 1-001 General income 25 Subs 25 1-002 Camp subscriptions 130 Fund Raiser 130 1-002 Fundraisers 7,416 20,807 Fund Raiser 7,416 9,566 Ranelagh Rockets 11,241 1-003 Sponsors 6,477 Sponsors 6,477 1-004 Registrations 33,060 Paying for gear 35 Sports gear 175 Subs 32,850 1-005 Camp subscriptions 20,290 Camp Subs 14,500 Cul Camp Subs 5,790 2-001 General expenses 12,159 170 Bank fee 66 Charity 50 Cul Camp 6,900 Equipment 338 170 Expenses 2,924 Web site 1,880 2-002 GPO 15,000 2,750 GPO 15,000 2,750 2-003 Rental costs 25,720 Rental 25,720 2-004 Referees 800 Referees 800 2-004 Registrations 350 Camogie 350 2-005 Equipment 14,120 Equipment 12,747 Expenses 158 Jerseys 1,215 2-006 Registrations 11,097 LGFA 8,350 Registrations 2,747 2-007 Insurances 2,435 Insurance 2,435 2-008 Refunds 11,045 Camp subs refunds 11,000 Refund 45 (blank) (blank) Grand Total 100,141 83,708 RANELAGH GAELS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Minutes

Thursday, November 21st 2019 Beechwood Hall, Ranelagh

Agenda

Chairperson’s Address

Adoption of 2018 AGM minutes

Secretary’s Report

Treasurer’s Report

Juvenile Secretary’s Report

Children’s Officer’s Report

Registrar’s Report

Health and Wellbeing Officer/Healthy Club Report

Tuarisc an Treoraí Gaeilge agus Cultúr

Club Constitution

Election of Officers for 2020

Any Other Business

17 Chairperson Address Firstly, I’d like to thank and welcome everyone who is here tonight. For any club to thrive it needs a strong and engaged membership and I believe we are lucky to have that at Ranelagh Gaels. I would also like to thank anyone who has contributed their time in any way to help the club - without these efforts we would cease to exist and they never go unnoticed or unappreciated. I would particularly like to pay tribute to our regular volunteers, from coaches to club officers, who keep Ranelagh Gaels driving forward on a daily basis. I am reaching the end of my first year as Chairperson and though there have been downs as well as ups, it has been a thoroughly enjoying and rewarding experience. I hope I have repaid at least some of the faith that was placed in me when I was elected to this position 12 months ago. The reason I am involved in this club years after my playing days ended is because I enjoy feeling part of something far bigger than myself, and no doubt many of you here tonight feel the same. We are part of something far bigger than individuals and it is inspiring to be able to help build a new community of people which is a force for good in the local area and so many people’s lives. I work most closely with my fellow committee members and after my first year in the role of chairperson I have a greater appreciation of the time and effort each of them puts into their role for no reward other than knowing that they are helping to build and strengthen this club and community. This AGM sees a number of brilliant club servants step away, including Conn McCluskey, Lee Dillon and David Coyle, who have all been instrumental in helping put our thriving juvenile academy on such a strong footing. You will be missed, but it’s great to know that you will always be on hand to offer advice should it be needed and maybe in the future you’ll return to the committee again. Everyone in the club is indebted to you and the work that you’ve done. Shane O’Connor is also stepping away this year and we thank him for his efforts in 2019. They all leave big shoes to fill, but the great thing about this club is that there are brilliant and capable volunteers willing to step up and we welcome all the committee members, who I look forward to working with in the year ahead. We are also in the process of putting together new sub-committees, inclusion and diversity, and fund-raising, which will be of huge benefit to the club in the years ahead. We thank anyone who has expressed an interest in becoming involved in those. Firsts this year for the club include our Family Fun Day, which was such a big success and which was organised so well by our Games Promotion Officer Simon Lambert, Gaelic for Mothers & Others becoming a permanent feature of the club and playing in their first inter-club blitz and an Under-14 boys team playing in the Dublin Féile, following on from our girls in 2018. We look forward to a new decade - the club’s third in existence, believe it or not - with confidence that the next ten years will bring further development and growth and that there will eventually be a seamless link between the juvenile and adult sections of the club. But this doesn’t mean that the new decade will be without its challenges because Ranelagh Gaels is at a pivotal point in our development as our underage membership continues to grow and our older underage teams make their way closer to playing adult games. Facilities and space continue to be a concern and we will have to come up with new and innovative solutions in order to meet our needs. One of the major decisions this AGM will make will be on our new club constitution, which will include term- limits for club officers. I believe this will make us best-in-class in terms of GAA clubs and will also ensure that there is a constant supply of fresh minds and bodies onto the committee to keep pushing the club forward. In the New Year we plan to start our new Inclusive Games programme for children with additional needs, which will be an exciting departure for Ranelagh Gaels and help us reach out to people who may not normally come into contact with a GAA club, and who may feel marginalised by society. Initially at least, our Inclusive Games will find their homes here in Beechwood Hall and for that we thank Philip Daly and the local parish. We also thank them for throwing open the doors for us tonight and being such gracious hosts. In 2020 we will continue to work towards gender parity across all areas of the club, players and administrators, boys and girls, men and women. We are taking small steps in the right direction, though the process remains far from complete. Speaking of women’s football, taking pride of place this year are the women’s footballers, who won the Dublin Junior D Championship, beating Garristown after a brilliant final in Swords. It was a great night and it was lovely to see so many supporters there in their colours, young and old. For the young girls in particular, it was inspirational to see our women playing so well and lifting the cup. Congratulations to all the players, and manager Shane Minihane, who put so much of himself into the season, and who was ably assisted by our club secretary Louise Donohoe. Congratulations also to our women’s captain Yvonne Twomey on that win, and on her marriage to our men’s captain Jerry Buckley barely a fortnight later.

18 I mentioned Louise Donohoe and I can’t go any further without thanking her for her tireless dedication to Ranelagh Gaels in her role as Secretary, though that doesn’t even begin to cover all that she really does for the club. She is a great friend of mine and it has been a joy to work alongside her knowing that she is always doing her best and that she’ll never let Ranelagh Gaels down. 2020 will be a year filled with opportunities and challenges for us - let us make the best of those opportunities and deal with the challenges as they present themselves. Ranelagh Gaels is a club very much on the up and together we can ensure that upwards trajectory continues. Peter Sweeney, Chairperson, Ranelagh Gaels

19 Secretary’s Report 2019

Welcome I’m happy to report that 2019 has been an overwhelmingly positive year for Ranelagh Gaels on and off the field, with some very notable achievements in the clubs history, namely we entered both girls and boys teams in Feile, with both teams making the semi-final in their respective groups and our first camogie team was established. Our Academy and underage teams continue to thrive, and our ladies team won the Junior D Championship, 9 years after their first championship success.

Firstly, I would like to thank all of the people who work so hard to keep the club running so smoothly - that includes my fellow committee members, particularly those that joined during the year and got stuck in straight away - you know who you are, and all of our dozens of voluntary coaches at all levels. Without them, the club would cease to function in any meaningful way. Several others who aren’t coaching or on the committee put themselves forward to lend their particular expertise to Ranelagh Gaels over the past year, in terms of facilities, fund-raising and others and to those people we are particularly grateful.

This was my first year as Club Secretary and I am glad to say that I have enjoyed my involvement, though it’s been busy. I would like to thank Peter Sweeney, Club Chairperson and all my fellow committee members for their help and guidance throughout the year.

Juvenile Chairperson and Secretary Tonight, David Coyle and Brid Quigley step down as Juvenile Chair and Juvenile Secretary after being in these roles since the formation of our Academy and Juvenile sections. I would like to express our sincere thanks, on behalf of the Club Committee, for all their dedication and commitment in getting the Juvenile Academy up and running, they have been instrumental in the growth and sustainment of the Juvenile Academy since 2013.

Facilities We continue to grow our footprint across the Dublin 6 and Dublin 4 areas as our juvenile section grows and we will now be entering teams from under 15 down to our academy. Whilst this is a positive, pressure for space and a lack of a permanent home remains the biggest single challenge facing Ranelagh Gaels, something that was evident from our club survey undertaken during the year. Outcomes from the survey will be discussed as part of Club Children’s Officer Report later. We continue to maintain good relations with the Department of Defence and successfully secured extra pitch slots at Cathal Brugha Barracks for training as well as holding our inaugural Family Fun Day on the pitch. We’ve also held several club events (first aid courses, gender parity meeting, survey outcomes with lead coaches) in the Barracks and hope to use the facilities in 2020 for other meetings and events. A huge thanks goes to Peter Sweeney, Club Chairperson and Paul Walsh for their ongoing discussions and fostering of an excellent relationship with the commandant in the Barracks.

As we continue to grow as a club, fielding more teams, we will need more and more space for training and this is going to require inventive thinking on our behalf as well as fostering good relations with local authorities, local representatives and clubs and other schools in the area. Our member’s discussions with the local representatives during the election in May 2019 was very much appreciated and we will continue to lobby our newly elected representatives.

Membership Ranelagh Gaels membership continues to grow, there were 550 children registered in the 2018/2019 season and we expect that to rise to over 600 for the coming season. In 2019, both our ladies and men’s teams welcomed new players and a significant number of players transferred into the club during the year. The men’s team had 42 registered players for 2019 while there were 29 registered players on the ladies team. We also welcomed new members to our Gaelic for Mothers and Others team. More details on membership can be found in Registrar John O’Callaghan’s report. Thanks to John and the juvenile committee, particularly Chair David Coyle and hard-working Secretary Bríd Quigley for all of their efforts in this area.

Fund-raising Fund-raising is an area where Ranelagh Gaels needs to make significant improvements. Sponsorship revenues remain constant since 2018, with the addition of Appian Asset Management who sponsored our Easter camp and have agreed to sponsor this for another 2 years. Full details of sponsorship can be found in Treasurer Alan Bluett’s report. Outside of sponsorship, our main fund-raisers were a Golf Classic organised again by underage coach Stuart Banks, our pre-All-Ireland table quiz, our men’s team sports events prediction competition and our ladies team bag packing fundraiser. Thanks to everyone who helped set-up and run each of these fund-raisers.

20 List of main club Sponsors: Savills Investec Wealth & Management Smyth’s Tribeca Sherry FitzGerald

Gaelic For Mothers And Others Following on from its inception last year, our G4M&O team has continued to grow. We have over 20 registered and regular players and the weekly sessions have been running since the beginning of the summer and will finish up for a few weeks at the end of November. We hope to commence in 2020 at the end of January. 6 members of the group have completed a foundation level coaching course so that they can run the weekly session on their own, with the assistance of myself and Peter Sweeney.

The feedback from the members has been overwhelmingly positive and to see the participants, many of them playing gaelic football for the first time, improve week-on-week was amazing. The women had a great time showcasing their newly learned skills at a blitz held in Ballyboden GAA Club in June. More blitzes and games will be organised with other clubs next year.

I would like to thank our Chairperson, Peter, who has been instrumental in establishing the team and continues to coach the team every week. I would also like to formally thank UCD’s Ger Brennan for facilitating the sessions in Belfield and all the women who take part so enthusiastically and make the sessions so enjoyable.

Men’s football After the highs of the Junior 2 Championship win last year, 2019 was always going to be a tough act to follow. It was going to be a difficult one on the field, after going up a level to Junior 1 in the Championship and this proved to be the case having been drawn with Craobh Chiarain (Division 5), Bank of Ireland (Division 6) and Garristown (Division 8 who finished top and gained promotion to Division 7 for 2020. The team ended up in a relegation draw and as luck would have it, they drew a bye in the semi-final and secured their place in the Junior 1 Championship for 2020.

In the league, the men’s team had a mixed season, finishing 10th in the league and avoiding a relegation playoff and remaining in the Adult Football League Division 8 next year.

Thanks to all the players who gave their commitment to the team and in particular to those who helped with training and organising the team namely Denis Doolan, Brian Mitchell and Jerry Buckley. Thanks also to the team manager, club President Liam O’Hagan.

As always, thanks to men’s team sponsor Smyth’s.

Women’s football After a tough year in 2018, our ladies team came full circle and had a fantastically successful year, which culminated in winning the Junior D Championship against arch rivals Garristown and finally ending the disappointment of losing 3 Junior D Finals since their promotion to Junior D in 2011. After a comprehensive win over Naomh Mearnog on a windy night in Portmarnock in the semi-final, they were meeting their old foe Garristown in the final. Garristown knocked our ladies team out of the Junior D Championship at the semi- final stage last year and had beaten them in both the league and cup this year but the score line was getting tighter with each meeting. The final was an extremely competitive and tight game with our ladies coming out on top at the final whistle on a score line of 2-9 to 1-10. Thanks to the county board for a wonderfully organised final, to the referee and officials, to Fingallians GAA for the use of their wonderful facilities and to all the supporters who came to cheer on the team. Special thanks to Smyths who supplied food and drinks to help the girls celebrate.

It didn’t stop at the Championship; the ladies team also made the final of the Division 5 cup competition. Unfortunately, due to scheduling issues, the game was unable to be played. The team also finished in a very healthy position of 4th in the league, in a group with 12 teams.

Thanks to all of the players who gave such commitment and effort this year and of course to Shane Minihane, for continuing to take charge of the team.

Juvenile Section Our Juvenile section, made up of academy (four-to-seven year olds) and underage teams, boys and girls, in football and hurling, from Under-8 to Under-15 continues to go from strength-to-strength, with numbers growing year-on-year. Full details on this growth and success can be found in the Juvenile Committee

21 Report later on, but thanks must go all on the juvenile committee for their dedication and our now over 150 coaches who are out come hail, rain or shine making it all possible. We also can’t forget that the club’s first camogie team was established in 2019 with an under 8 team entering into competition.

Some things worth noting: Well done to our Feile teams who represented the club so well. It was a great occasion for players and coaches and we look forward to the competition this year. There were also a number of trips away: the Under 11 boys had an overnight trip to Shelmaliers GAA Club in Wexford in May and the under 12 girls also had an overnight trip to Wexford in September. Thank you to Shelmaliers GAA Club who looked after us so well. There were other team outings throughout the year such as the under 10 girls trip to Croke Park in May, the under 9 boys hike in the Dublin mountains and the under 12 boys harbour splash adventure. We also hosted our first Mini All Ireland event in June for the under 7s and under 8s. Thank you to all the coaches who organised and co-ordinated these events.

AIG Club Chronicles The club was selected to participate in the AIG Club Chronicles and our club video was released in June. We got some lovely feedback and would like to thank AIG for the opportunity to showcase what is great about Ranelagh Gaels. The video was subsequently picked up by Joe.ie in September, giving us more PR.

Family Fun Day The club held their inaugural Family Fun Day in Cathal Brugha Barracks on a sunny Saturday on 21st September 2019. It was a wonderful success with games aplenty along with a BBQ and ice-cream van to keep the energy levels up. Special thanks to all the volunteers who worked tirelessly to get this event organised, in particular Peter Sweeney, Conn McCluskey, Paul Walsh, Simon Lambert, David Coyle, Brid Quigley, Liam O’Hagan and anyone else I may have forgotten to mention. Thanks also to our resident club DJ, Graham O’Toole.

Healthy Club In October 2019, the club received its Healthy Club award. Thanks to outgoing Healthy Club Officer, Conn McCluskey, for all his work in achieving this.

Plans for the future Whilst 2019 has been an overall positive year for Ranelagh Gaels, that doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges and those challenges will persist into the future.

Among them is the ongoing pressure for space at the pitches we use - all of which have to be rented as we have no home pitch of our own - and we will have to ensure that we use our resources carefully.

Fund-raising will always remain an issue for Ranelagh Gaels, as it will for every GAA club, and we must be proactive to make sure that we have adequate and reliable revenue streams to keep the club running smoothly now and in the future. Each section of the club is responsible for running their own fundraising event annually with the men’s team running a sports prediction competition, the ladies bag packing in Dunnes Stores in Rathmines and the golf classic run by Stuart Banks. We plan to set up a sub-committee for fundraising in 2020 and are looking for volunteers.

At underage level, we have to ensure that we give every child possible the chance to experience Gaelic Games and that we offer as positive an experience as possible to them to ensure their continued involvement in the club in whatever capacity suits them best. We can happily say that for the vast majority of children, this is the case, as was evident from the club survey.

As our young players get older, we also have to ensure that they are being coached in accordance with best practice so that they can fulfil their potential and ambition with Ranelagh Gaels. This will require the constant education and up-skilling of our coaches and the club is looking at creating a Coaching Development Officer role.

We are pleased to report that the club will be launching Inclusion Games in 2020. The Inclusion Games are for children with additional needs and we hope to start in the New Year once we have trained our coaches appropriately, with Beechwood Hall the venue.

The club is working towards having gender parity and there will be more about this in Lee’s Club Children’s Officer Report.

Another outcome from the club wide survey is the requirement to deepen our roots in the local community and ensure that we play a vital role in that community. None of this is easy, all of this takes time and

22 considerable effort. Promoting ourselves the right way is essential and to do this we must continue to have a vibrant presence online, as we have no clubhouse to act as a central hub, exploiting our website (which will be updated in 2020) and social media to the maximum. In 2020, we hope to create a new role, that of a Community Officer, in an effort to foster a link between Ranelagh Gaels and the Ranelagh and wider Dublin 6 community.

A special mention of thanks to Lee Dillon, outgoing Club Children’s Officer, for her trojan work on the club survey and the gender parity agenda. These are the things that will help to make our club better for you, our members and the amount of time and effort Lee put into these initiatives did not go unnoticed.

Thanks Many people have, rightly, been thanked through this report, and there’s no need to mention them again.

I thank again all of those people who helped out Ranelagh Gaels and gave up their time and effort on a voluntary basis this year; players, the individuals that coached players and managed teams, anyone who got involved in fund-raising and any number of other projects that helped the club. Your GAA club is indebted to you.

Having worked closely with an excellent, committed committee throughout the year, I would particularly like to say thanks to those people who all made invaluable contributions in 2019 in demanding roles. You are making a positive difference to individual lives and to a community as a whole and for that you should be proud. To those that are stepping away, David Coyle, Lee Dillon, Conn McCluskey and Shane O’Connor a particular thanks for your efforts.

Louise Donohoe, Secretary, Ranelagh Gaels

23 Treasurer’s Report – November 2019

The balance on the Ranelagh Gael’s Current Account as of 18th November 2019 is €60,599 The balance on the Account as of 19th November 2018 was €59,297 The balance on the account as of 29th November 2017 was €33,558 The balance on the account as of 29th November 2016 was €22,393 The balance on the account as of 2nd December 2015 was €14,503 There is €2,149 in the Ranelagh Gaels PayPal account and circa €7,000 currently in My Club Finances. Generally the account is close to its peak at this time of year as the majority of subscriptions from the juvenile section of the club are now collected between October and November each year. The account is generally at its lowest in September/October – this year the account troughed at €14,140 on 1st October. Academy subscriptions opened later that normal this year so there is additional income of between €15,000 and €20,000 yet to come into the account. The cost of running the juvenile section of the club again continues to grow as the increased club membership has required additional pitch rental for training and matches, as well as additional purchases of equipment. There are close to 400 registered children to date for the current season - we expect total registrations to be over 600 for the 2019/2020 season (Registrations were 248 in 2015, 337 in 2016, 410 in 2017 and 550 in 2018). The men’s team had 42 registered players this year with total subscriptions of €6,000 The ladies team had close to 29 registered players this year with total subscriptions of €4,500 In the year to the end December 2019 I anticipate a small surplus from running the club. We continue to try and put Ranelagh Gaels on a secure financial footing and currently have a surplus of just over €20,000. This has not grown much this year as we had some additional expenses. Again for the coming year our aim is to increase this surplus in order to build a development fund for the future and to also provide for contingencies. Sponsorship Investec Wealth Management continue to sponsor the academy (4 to 7 years olds) for the three years starting from the 2017/2018 season. Investec have kindly committed to providing €3,000 per annum to the academy. Savills continue to sponsor the non-academy juvenile teams for 3 years from the 2018/2019 season (under 8s to under 14s) and they have committed to providing €3,000 per annum. Last year, in their first year of sponsorship, they provided €6,000 which was be used to buy jerseys for all players in the underage sections. Savills also agreed to sponsor the Summer Camp for 3 years from 2018 and provide €500 per annum for this. Smyths continue to sponsor the Men’s Team and provided €1600 this year. Appian Asset Management agreed this year to sponsor the Easter Camp for 3 years and provide €500 per annum for this. I would like to thank all our sponsors for their continued support for the club. It is hugely appreciated and helps provide a great offering to all members of the club at a very competitive annual subscription. Also special thanks to Stuart Banks for organising and running the annual golf classic which this year raised nearly €2000 for the club and €1,800 last year. Finally thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s annual quiz a great success and this also raised over €2000 for the club. Main outgoings for 2019: All Pitch Rentals €26,500 Registrations & Insurance €22,000 GPO €18,000 Equipment Purchases €8,000 Referee Fees €3,000 Jerseys for new members of the academy €3,000 Net cost of September family day €1,200 Main Sources of Income for 2019: Academy Annual Subscriptions to date (18th November) €55,000

24 Men’s & Ladies Annual Subscriptions €6,000 Easter & Summer Juvenile Camps Excess €4,000 Academy Sponsorship (Investec Wealth & Investment) €3,548 Under Age Teams Sponsorship (Savills) €3,000 Profit from Quiz Night €2,100 Golf Classic €1,970 Men’s Sponsorship (Smyths) €1,600 Savills Summer Camp Sponsorship €500 Appian Asset Management Easter Camp Sponsorship €500 GAA Healthy Club Contribution €500 GAA Live Contribution €500 Alan Bluett, Treasurer, Ranelagh Gaels

25 Ranelagh Gaels Juvenile Section AGM Report 2018-2019

The Juvenile section of Ranelagh Gaels was formed in 2012 and will be entering it’s 8th year in January 2020. We are continuing to show tremendous growth in terms of numbers with over 650 boys and girls currently registered. We are fielding boys teams at U8, U9, U10, U11, U12 , U14 and girls teams at U8, U9, U10, u11, U12 u13 and u15 level. We have had huge success from the U8s right up to our eldest, U15 girls teams. We had 13 teams in 2019 & this will increase to 15 in 2020. In 2019 we fielded our first boys team and girls team in the Feile Peile which is a milestone in any young club’s history. We also have our first camogie team in our current U8 girls.

Facilities The club now has the use of the Cathal Brugha pitch, Dartry Park, the rental of Bective and Wesley during the weekends and during the week St. Kilian’s on Wednesday nights and now the addition of Teresians on Mondays and Wednesdays. We continue to seek out and invest in playing facilities across Dublin 4 and 6.

Coaching As in previous years there is a continued drive to recruit new coaches into the club, particularly for the 2014 and 2015 born groups where we have seen a huge influx of new joiners since September. New coaches have to be garda vetted and attend safeguarding training before they can coach and we also provided foundation course training. In total, we now have 150 coaches registered with the club and thanks to Lee Dillon for her work in managing these significant numbers through Garda Vetting and Simon Lambert who recently ran the Foundation workshops.

Cul Camps We hosted 3 Camps during the year, one at Easter and 2 Summer Camps. Over 200 children participated in the Cul Camp in August and the camps remain a good fundraiser and recruitment tool for the club as well as a support to parents and a fun week for children during holidays. Simon continues to organize all the Cúl Camps and the feedback is universally positive from all the kids and parents.

GPO We do want to highlight all the great work our GPO Simon Lambert has carried out throughout the year and delighted that he will be continuing in his full time role throughout 2020.

Club Survey A special word of thanks to Lee Dillon for carrying out such extensive work on our first club survey which we represented back to all the club members in September.

Family Fun Day The club ran its first Family Fun Day in September to promote the club to existing and new families and to the broader community. Run in Cathal Brugha Barracks pitch, we had big attendance and the whole event was a great success with fun games, raffle, music and refreshments available on the day. Credit to Simon Lambert who took the lead on organizing the event. We would hope to run an event like this each year.

Mini All-Irelands (2011 & 2012 groups) Simon also organized mini All-Ireland event over 2 evenings in May / June which were a great success. If we can secure appropriate venue, we would like to run this for the full juvenile section in 2020.

GPO Report 2019 Our Academy, the base of our future, thrived in 2019. Paddy Ryan, Cathal O’Daligh & the recently added Shane Barrett have put trojan work in & must be acknowledged for the time, effort & workload they give to each of their respective groups. It doesn’t just happen on a Saturday, the work commences straight away after the Saturday reviewing what went well & what can be done differently with the number one goal in mind – are the kids leaving with a smile on their face. Numbers suggest this is true! Paddy’s group (2012) who will leave the academy for U8s in 2020, have approx 60 boys & girls. Cathal’s group (2013) have approx 75 boys & girls & Shane’s groups (2014/2015) have had a huge surge in

26 numbers since September – 100 consistently. These figures are up on last years, 170 approx for the 3 groups to 240. They key to our success I believe is the organisation that goes into each weekend. Planning the sessions, contacting coaches, weekly emails, defined coloured bibs, enclosed playing area are all factors that add to this success. Having enough coaches to cover the kids has become a little problematic but we have been adding in many new coaches from our safeguarding, Garda vetting & foundation coaching course. We have also decided to add in some of our camp coaches each September to overcome the issue of new kids but no new coaches.

Teams 2019 was a fantastic year on the playing field for our juvenile teams. With over 400 children playing every weekend against opposition clubs. We don’t like singling out teams but acknowledgment must go to U8s boys & girls who were in their first year out of Academy & have had a great response to new surroundings from both players & parents. I would also like to pay special attention to U12 hurling team who narrowly suffered a defeat in league playoff as our flagship hurling team - the work Michael Moran & Roger Leviton have put in has to be commended. To our flagship older teams, U15 Girls & U14 Boys – the players are a closer step to the adult grades & it’s our aim & ambition to ensure this happens.

To all mentors – 140 of you guys, it’s a thankless job at times. The effort, grind & sometimes struggle to make this a happy place for our kids is incredible to watch. Seeing this first hand on the ground midweek & weekends, you guys are the reason why the club is thriving. Well done on what you’ve achieved so far.

Financials Alan Bluett, Treasurer, will run through the financials for the Juvenile and Senior section in his report. We would like to thank Investec and Savills who have come on board as Sponsors this year.

Brid Quigley Outgoing Juvenile Sub-Committee Secretary

David Coyle Outgoing Juvenile, Sub-Committee Chairperson

27 Club Children’s Officer Report 2019

As a GAA club, Ranelagh Gaels has two officers responsible for child welfare - a Designated Liaison Person (or DLP), and a Club Children’s Officer (CCO). A club’s DLP is the person tasked with reporting any concerns regarding child abuse/ neglect to the relevant authorities (GAA, TUSLA, An Garda Síochána). The current DLP is Conn McCluskey. The role of the Club Children’s Officer is to ensure the club complies with child protection laws e.g. Garda vetting and Safeguarding training of coaches, and to act as the link between juvenile members and the club’s management & juvenile committees. Lee Dillon is the outgoing CCO, and Frank Kelly is the incoming CCO, effective from the 2019 AGM.

2019 Review

• Garda vetting & safeguarding training of coaches throughout the year - we currently have 151 coaches fully GV’d and Safeguarding trained, up from 120 this time last year, with more still waiting on their GV and training. • Incident reporting - where children are injured, coaches inform the CCO who follows up with the parents, and informs the management committee so that learnings can be recorded and shared where appropriate. • Club Risk Assessment (CRA) carried out February 2019. • Club survey, March - June 2019 - in response to CRA 2018 & 2019 o Children - 218 surveyed in person by Lee at training sessions o Parents & guardians - 115 via SurveyMonkey o Coaches - 42 via SurveyMonkey o Adult players - 42 (15 women, 27 men) via SurveyMonkey o Committee members - 7 via SurveyMonkey • Safety Squad First Aid workshop for 24 coaches and adult players, 20th May at Cathal Brugha Barracks. • 2008 Boys (29 boys & their parent/ assigned guardian) overnight trip to Wexford, organised by coach Brendan Breen - 11th & 12th May. • 2007 Girls (21 girls & their parent/ assigned guardian) overnight trip to Wexford, organised by coach Gill Harris - 14th September. • Survey outcome meeting for coaches (18 coaches attended from across juvenile & adult teams) - 23rd September at Cathal Brugha Barracks. • Safeguarding workshop for 21 new coaches, 11th October at Cathal Brugha Barracks. • Gender parity meeting, 22nd October at Cathal Brugha Barracks - 12 women coaches/ committee members/ players attended.

Survey Outcomes

Overall, the survey feedback was positive – the club is doing well and is highly valued by its members. There are areas for improvement, and the management committee has considered the feedback, and responded by committing to the following: • Securing facilities – pitches & clubhouse as a medium/ long-term objective, but clubhouse as a short-term priority. • Community Development Officer – to develop the community within the club – club-wide and within & amongst individual juvenile age groups (players, coaches, parents) and within adult teams – and also to develop relationships between the club and its wider Ranelagh & environs community. • Coach Development Officer – to coordinate coach training – focusing on skills & behaviour management. • Inclusion & Diversity Officer – to ensure Ranelagh Gaels is a club which includes people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds in its sporting and community endeavours, with gender parity as its first priority. • Fundraising sub-committee – to tap into expertise and resources within the club, working with the club treasurer, apart from the management committee. • & more friendly matches please for teams right across the juvenile club �

Frank’s CCO objectives for 2020:

• To ensure that the child protection procedures are understood and adhered to by all members. • To ensure all club members are aware of, and maintain, the complaints procedures. • To make available to existing coaches the GAA’s online ‘Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport’ workshops, renewable every three years. • To develop good practice procedures in the recruitment and selection of persons working with young people in the club.

28 • To oversee the implementation of the vetting through Garda Vetting for GAA coaches. Lee Dillon - Outgoing Ranelagh Gaels Club Children’s Officer & Frank Kelly - Incoming Ranelagh Gaels Club Children’s Officer

29 Registrar’s Annual Report 2019 Membership Numbers Starting with our adults players, we had 29 women and 40 men registered for the 2019 season, slightly more than in 2018. Meanwhile we had 537 juveniles registered for the 2018-19 season. To date, almost 500 juveniles have registered for 2019-20 which is higher than at the same time last year. The Club is also participating in Gaelic for Mothers and Others (G4&MO), with 26 women registered. With the introduction of family memberships, we had over 300 non-playing members in 2019.

Gender Our aim is to achieve 50:50 male:female membership. Significant progress has been made. The % of female juvenile members increased from 37% in 2017 to 43% in 2018 and 2019. Of the juveniles registered to date for 2020, girls make up over 46%. This is a significant achievement and is a credit to all concerned, not least our coaches who put so much effort into making the games enjoyable for all.

Schools Our juvenile members are drawn from over 30 schools, with Scoil Bhríde, RDMS, St. Mary’s Donnybrook and Lios na nÓg accounting for almost 3/4 of them. Numbers have increased from most schools as numbers overall have risen. The excellent work being done in the schools by coaches is flowing through to the Club in rising numbers.

Data Breach We were informed by Clubforce, the company we use for our on-line registration system in October of a data breach that had occurred the in March 2018. While it is understood that the breach did not involve any financial records, and there does not have appear to have been any attempt to use the information hacked subsequently, the breach was serious and is taken very seriously by the Club. All members and former members affected were contacted by both Clubforce and the Club. The breach was also reported to the Data Protection Commission by the Club and the Club has cooperated fully with the DPC’s investigation of the issue. The Club will continue to monitor the situation and will keep its relationship with Clubforce under review. It is important that members regularly change their passwords on their accounts.

Calendar Year Membership The Club has decided to move to calendar year membership from September 2020. New joiners and those renewing their membership in September 2020, will be given membership until December 2021. From then

30 on, new joiners to the Academy in September will have a 15 month membership and everyone else will renew in December for the following year. As a result, juvenile membership fees for 2020-21 will be adjusted to reflect the 15 month membership period.

John O’Callaghan, Registrar, Ranelagh Gaels

31 GAA Healthy Clubs Report 2019

Ranelagh Gaels was one of the 150 clubs which took part in Phase 3 of the Irish Life GAA Healthy Club initiative over the past 18 months across 2018 and 2019. As part of the initiative each club receives training and support as well as a small grant (€500) to deliver the programme. The club attended two training courses in Croke Park in advance of and during the initiative and also attended the Annual Healthy Club Conference each year as required under the scheme.

Each club must complete at least two initiatives to become a Healthy Club and progress is logged with the GAA on the online portal. Ranelagh Gaels started a 'Gaelic4Mothers' group, led by Peter Sweeney, Eimear Flanagan, Louise Donohoe and Bláithín Brady, as well as a club warm-up and stretching programme developed by Caroline Chambers, a qualified physio, juvenile coach and parent in the club. The Gaelic4Mothers group has been meeting regularly in UCD each Thursday and we have more than 20 registered and regular attendees. The group played their first matches in Ballyboden St Enda's earlier in 2019 which was enjoyed by all. It is hoped that the group will continue, sustain and grow into the future. Caroline ran a great warm-up training session for coaches and posted a number of practical videos for use by coaches in the club early in 2019.

It is important that we continue to promote health and wellbeing within the club as our remit goes beyond the playing pitch and into the community that we serve.

Conn McCluskey, Health and Wellbeing Officer

32 Tuarisc an Treoraí Gaeilge agus Cultúr (Irish Language and Culture Officer Report) This year saw Ranelagh Gaels is dipping its toes into Gaeilge. The Irish language has always been a central component of the GAA ethos but in many clubs it’s not as visible as it should/could be. To begin, we ran a survey of our members at the beginning of the year to ask them what role they’d like Irish to play in the club. 138 people took part. We learned that: • Over 70% of people would like to see more Irish used in Ranelagh Gaels. They’d especially like to be able (or for their children to be able) to use a few phrases of Irish when playing or watching a Ranelagh Gaels match. They’d also like to be able to say Hello and Goodbye to people as Gaeilge at training and matches. • There is currently a big range of ability in the club when it comes to speaking or understanding Irish. While almost everyone (94%) can at least say a few words and phrases, 60% of people describe their Irish is fairly basic while about a third describe themselves as pretty comfortable or fluent in Irish. (This is probably helped by the large number of children in the club who attend local Gaelscoileanna). • The key thing is to ensure as we try to grow the Irish language in the club is that this is something which is inclusive to all. Nobody needs to be great at Irish to speak it, we just need not to be afraid to give it a go! Irish initiatives in the club this year: 1. Survey of Club members views on Irish carried out in Jan-Feb 2. For the Mini All-Irelands competition, the club produced beautiful county T-shirts for all players with the county names as Gaeilge as well as as Béarla 3. For Seachtain na Gaeilge we produced a series of simple phrases as Gaeilge for members to use, called ‘On the Pitch’, ‘On the Sideline’ and ‘Having the Chat’. We then ran a competition over the next fortnight encouraging everyone to use a little bit of Irish whenever they can during training sessions or matches. You nominated anyone on your team who you spotted speaking Irish to be entered into a prize draw for family tickets to the cinema. The winner was Sennan Donnelly (ard bhuachaill Sennan!!) with a special prize also going to coach Gill Harris as ucht iarracht ollmhór freisin (ard bhean Gill!!) 4. Last month, Ranelagh Gaels became a member of the Seosamh Mhic Dhonnchadha Foundation, a joint GAA and Glór na nGael organisation that supports clubs keen to develop and grow the Irish language. Over the next year we will be rolling out lots of Irish initiatives with a view to hopefully being awarded a bronze medal award at the end of the year in Croke Park by the Foundation. Irish initiatives for the coming year Sa bhlian atá romhainn, beimíd ag obair ar an dúshlán (challenge) a chuir an Fondúireacht romhainn, ‘sé sin an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn sa chlub trí (ar a laghad) 17 imeachtaí éagsúla. A big challenge indeed!! 1. An chéad áit a bheimíd ag díriú ná ar na fóirne seosaireacha; ag obair le coitseálaí, moltóirí agus páistí chun frásaí agus focal simplí Gaeilge a aimsiú gur féidir le gach éinne úsáid ar an bpáirc. 2. Táimíd chun uasdátú a dhéanamh ar suíomh idirlín an chlub (update the club website), ionas go mbeidh béim níos mó ar an nGaeilge ann (to have more emphasis on Irish) 3. Beimíd ag lorg smaointe ó gach duine sa chlub a bhfuil suim acu sa teanga, faoi bealaí gur mhaith leo Gaeilge a chur chun cinn i nGaeil Raghnallach. (We invite everyone to please share their ideas about how they would like to see Irish grow in Ranelagh Gaels). Bígí linn!

Paula Fyans - Treoraí Gaeilge agus Cultúr AGM 2019 Minutes

The minutes of the 2018 AGM were proposed by David Coyle and seconded by Lee Dillon and adopted unanimously.

Election of Officers (2019) President: Liam O'Hagan (unelected) Chair: Peter Sweeney Secretary: Louise Donohue Treasurer: Alan Bluett Registrar: John O'Callaghan Health & Safety Officer: Paul D Walsh

33 Cultúr & Gaeilge: Paula Fyans PRO: Paddy Ryan Juvenile Chair: David Coyle (outgoing) Juvenile Secretary: Bríd Quigley (outgoing) Health & Wellbeing Officer: Conn McCluskey Child Welfare Officer: Lee Dillon (outgoing) Club Development Officer: Joe Davitt Ladies Team Rep: Bláithín Brady (outgoing) Men's Team Rep: Jerry Buckley Assistant Secretary: Enda Marren Committee Member: Shane O’Connor (outgoing)

Present: Liam O'Hagan (President), Peter Sweeney (Chair), Louise Donohoe (Secretary), Alan Bluett (Treasurer), John O'Callaghan (Registrar), Paul Walsh ( Health & Safety Officer), Paula Fyans (Cultúr & Gaeilge), David Coyle(Juvenile Chair), Bríd Quigley (Juvenile Secretary), Conn McCluskey (Health & Wellbeing Officer), Lee Dillon (Child Welfare Officer), Joe Davitt (Club Development Officer), Jerry Buckley (Men’s Football Representative), Enda Marren (Assistant Secretary), Donal Donnelly, Michael Moran, Frank Kelly, Triona Morrow, Shane Minihane, Barry Coogan, Katie McCormack, Yvonne Twomey, Aoife Drury, Aisling Ní Lúing, Eimear Flanagan, Neil O'Keeffe, Cathal O'Dalaigh, Bryan Byrne, Caroline Chambers, Barry Chambers, Cathal Mac Suibhne, Ian Naughton, Denis Doolan, Seán O'Reilly, Brian Mitchell

Election of Officers (2020) President: Liam O’Hagan (unelected) Chair: Peter Sweeney Secretary: Louise Donohoe Treasurer: Alan Bluett Registrar: John O’Callaghan Cutlúr & Gaeilge: Paula Fyans PRO: Bríd Quigley Juvenile Chair: Joe Davitt (elected by the Juvenile Committee) Juvenile Secretary: Paul Walsh (elected by the Juvenile Committee) Health and Wellbeing: TBC (can be filled by committee) Child Welfare Officer: Frank Kelly Club Development Officer: Barry Chambers Ladies Team Rep: Aoife Drury Men’s Team Rep: Jerry Buckley Assistant Secretary: Enda Marren Committee Member: Donal Donnelly Diversity & Inclusion sub-committee: Cliona O’Leary Fundraising sub-committee: Bill O’Sullivan Health & Safety: TBC (can be filled by committee) Community Officer: TBC (can be filled by committee)

*All present will be referred to for the first time by their full name and thereafter by their initials

Any Other Business

During the treasurer’s report, there was a question regarding sponsorship. Alan Bluett (AB) confirmed that Smyths sponsorship of the men’s team was €1,600 for the year, Denis Doolan (DD) questioned the amount as smaller than previous years. Agreed to look at option of 2 sponsors, front and back of jerseys

Club Constitution was issued earlier and is on the standard GAA template. Key inclusion is the introduction of term limits for committee members.

Shane Minihane (SM) raised that we need to have nominated county board delegates.

Sean O’Reilly (SOR) confirmed that there is a plan to set aside a leadership team for the men’s team which will consist of players plus juvenile representatives to feed into the team manager/team representative and

34 feed back into the committee. Frank Kelly (FK) suggested having a link up with the under 14s who could have warm up matches before adult games.

Barry Chambers (BC) asked about Portobello. Peter Sweeney (PS) advised that he met with them regarding plans for the future, Portobello said they were not in a running for a merger despite us sharing a pitch at the Barracks. They have been reasonable with sharing the pitch on Sundays if they are not using it. We also have a very good relationship with the Commandant in the Barracks.

Ian Naughton (IN) asked if the recent survey was club wide. Also looked for clarity on the term limit for committee members, PS to update. Also asked if the men’s coaches will remain, this will be agreed later.

Paul Walsh (PW) raised that we need referees for girls teams.

David Coyle (DC) expressed a need for a referees co-ordinator. Agreed that the Juvenile Chair and Secretary will look at this. DD advised that Jimmy Trimble is a referee who may be available.

Neil O’Keeffe (NOK), coach of under 8 girls mentioned that the feedback from the survey for coaches was useful and could be repeated regularly i.e. have an annual coaches forum. It was confirmed that Simon Lambert’s intention to run an event for coaches regularly.

Conn McCluskey (CMcC) suggested that we look at the strategic plan for the club again and he is happy to assist with this.

Yvonne Twomey (YT), ladies player, suggested that adult female players to help out with juvenile teams. NOK advised that young girls need role models so we need to build a relationship between adult and underage teams. Caroline Chambers (CC) also said that it is a benefit to the coaches to have an adult player help out. Lee Dillon (LDi) gave Jane Hall as a contact for the juvenile teams. Gaelic for Mothers & Others could also generate coaches.

Liam O’Hagan (LOH) thanked the committee, particularly, the chairperson, secretary and treasurer, and the coaches and parents. Joe Davitt (JD) thanked David, Conn and all who started the juvenile section with 40 children 7 years ago. He also acknowledged David Coyle’s work as Juvenile Chair.

JD and PW gave their plan for the year. There is a lot of pressure on coaches, some coaching 2 teams. They also hope to see some of the adult team members going and helping out at juvenile training sessions.

35