A HIGH-TECH Performance Hub is due to open at Tyrone’s Garvaghey training complex next spring, built at a cost of £400,000.
But anger has been expressed at the failure of the GAA and of government to provide financial assistance for the project.
Club Tyrone’s efforts to find the finds required to construct the hub have been hampered by a ‘dispiriting’ reluctance by a number of bodies to support the venture.
“The Hub will cost over £400,000 and it remains very disappointing that the GAA at national or provincial levels has not responded to our requests for funding support,” said Club Tyrone chairman Mark Conway.
“It is equally disappointing that, beyond a greatly appreciated grant offer of £20,000 from the Fermanagh and Omagh Council, ‘civic society/government’ here has yet again failed to engage.
“In those dispiriting contexts, we put in place a Hub Patrons scheme, largely modelled on our previous and hugely successful Garvaghey Patrons model. Hub Patrons gift £5,000 to the Hub project and from a standing start in May 2019 we reach the year end closing in on a target of 100 Patrons.”
Conway reported that the response to the scheme has been encouraging, and he lauded the generosity of those who have contributed.
And he revealed that Club Tyrone, which was established in 1995, has now raised almost £6m for the activities of the GAA in the county, adding: “The people who invest in Club Tyrone also graft hard for the money they give us and that’s why we treat them, and their donations, with total respect.”
In his annual report, Conway paid a glowing tribute to the late John Mulgrew, one of the driving forces behind the establishment of Club Tyrone and the construction of the Garvaghey Centre.
“On 9 March this year we lost our friend, colleague, mentor and inspiration, John Mulgrew. John’s contribution to Tyrone GAA, and much, much else over several decades was immense. The chair that John always sat in at our meetings is kept vacant when we meet.”
