ON Saturday, thanks to an invite from my old team-mate Diarmaid Marsden, I had the privilege of speaking to a room full of club delegates at the Ulster GAA Club and Volunteer conference in Cookstown.
To see the level of professionalism on display from the Ulster Council, who put on a number of insightful workshops was very impressive.
Clubs were educated on ways to recruit, retain and reward their volunteers, the challenges and rewards of social media, maximising fundraising potential, increasing reach and relevance to health and well-being in their communities, and maximising the GAA as a way to bring our culture and heritage to a wider audience.
What was even more impressive was that each workshop was led by club delegates who enjoy great success in their own professional fields.
The whole conference was a pleasant surprise for someone like myself, who rarely attends such events.
I’ll admit I have no idea what’s going on in every club in my parish, let alone my province.
The level of attendance from delegates was proof to me that they were not prepared to sit back and hope someone else will lead the way, but rather they had ambitions themselves and were willing to learn.
From the youngest to the oldest person, everyone has a valuable role to play within their club.
The younger generation has an active playing role, but for clubs to survive and thrive, they need the knowledge and enthusiasm of their more experienced members to keep clubs on track off the pitch, maintaining what they already have while planning a path for the next generation.
One aspect of my brief from Diarmaid was to give an insight into my own club, on and off the field, and how it has impacted on my career.
Where does my sense of belonging and sense of identity originate?
While I’m very fortunate to have enjoyed a relatively successful county career, I’m very much a clubman first and foremost. While my club’s recent success is well documented, that is not the Crossmaglen I fell in love with.
I can clearly remember accompanying my dad to every training session and game during the early years of his managerial career, when Cross failed to even reach county finals in 1993, ’94 and ’95.
At this stage, I had no idea what it was like to see my club lift the county title because it had been 10 years since we’d done it.
Yet that didn’t matter to me, as those senior players were still the men we looked towards to represent our community.
The biggest thing that came across from all of my club managers was their desire to build a spirit within our group that would entice the whole footballing community to get behind us.
Building that spirit has been key to everything we managed to achieve but it doesn’t happen without respect from all parties throughout the club.
A common goal and vision needs to be clearly defined. While everyone doesn’t have to agree on every matter to meet your targets, they need to respect each other’s opinion along the way.
I have always been told that “its not what you say, it’s how you say it”.
We have always been encouraged to help out with underage coaching within that club and visit the local primary school to support and encourage our youth and the vast majority of our senior panel will take part in coaching at some point over the course of the year.
I will, without doubt, get involved fully in a coaching capacity when my playing days are over, just like many of the household names within our club have done in recent years.
Each of our last 19 Armagh SFC-winning teams have been managed by men who themselves had previously won championships with the club.
To have quality characters willing to put their neck on the line and give something back to the club is something we are immensely proud of.
But there’s far more to clubs than just their senior teams, while coaching or managing is not for everyone, which is why it’s so important to have good structures in place at a time when fundraising, in particular, is vital.
All of our major fundraising ventures, be that X-Factor, Strictly or breakfast mornings have been a huge success in recent years because our club committee have had the foresight to form sub committees to delegate the workload to other members whose talents would be best utilised in a certain area.
With club AGMs coming up in the months ahead, I would encourage anyone who feels they may have something to offer to get involved and give the best they have to offer in whatever role may suit.
You don’t need to be anyone else, just have the confidence to be yourself in the role.
If you play golf, join the golf classic committee, if you enjoy running, help set up a fun run etc.
I have no doubt the weekend’s conference was an enjoyable and beneficial experience for every delegate who attended as they wouldn’t have made the effort to be there if they were not passionate about their club and community.
I am no different as Crossmaglen is my home and, for me, it’s the greatest town on earth.
In years gone by, it was a place to be feared off the field of play. Through our actions on the football field, we have helped to change that perception and I feel that’s the greatest legacy we have left for future generations.
The loyalty to our Association has helped us create a club and community to be proud of. The size of your club or the amount of people in it doesn’t matter, but the spirit within it does.
Finally, after seeing and hearing an impressive report at Saturday’s event from the Ulster Council’s Stephen McGeehan, I would encourage all clubs across the province to give their full support to the Casement Park project in the coming months as the new plans are submitted for approval.
Like you all, I saw the updated stadium plans rolled out at the beginning of last week. The thoughts of playing and spectating in such an amazing stadium for years to come excite me greatly.
