VINCENT McGlew may be known as ‘Mr Loughinisland’ around his own club, but he said that it’s time that others started playing the Mr & Mrs game.
Last May, Vincent was honoured for his incredible service to the county Down club with a ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award from The Irish News.
Briege Moore from Clan na Gael, Lurgan; Frank McGurk from St Brigid’s, Belfast; and Gerard O’Kane from Glenullin also picked up volunteer awards, and Vincent wants to see as many clubs as possible putting forward the men and women who give their all for the love of their club.
“The reaction after was brilliant, I have to say I was surprised,” he said.
“People in your own club were congratulating you obviously, but then going to county board meetings and even just meeting people in the street, they’d seen it in the paper and they were offering their congratulations.
“I didn’t realise that it would bring as much recognition as it did, and that has been great.
“The only thing that I feel a bit despondent about is that there are so many people in different clubs who deserve the award that I got and are not mentioned.
“There are people who have done a lot for their clubs and nobody has even thought to say “there’s Joe Soap, maybe we should enter them into this.”
“I’m lucky because my club made that effort, and all I can hope is that as many clubs as possible look out for these awards because they mean a lot.”
In a way Vincent is the embodiment of what The Irish News awards are all about – a Gael making the extraordinary look ordinary.
For over 50 years he has made his mark whether that was coaching, in the boardroom or simply being the man that locks up the gates. He has had his hand in basically every role that has raised its head in Loughinisland.
Vincent was also a key member of the famous Blues team that won the senior county championship for the first time in 1975 and he was also part of the management team when the club annexed their second county title in 1989, their last success at senior level.
He knows that many other volunteers have similar CVs and he has praised The Irish News for valuing those who maybe don’t always enjoy the spotlight.
“The whole occasion, getting the award, was just really something to enjoy. I would certainly recommend that clubs look into it.
“There are people in clubs who do an extreme amount of work and if someone could sit down in each club and look at those people and work out what they have done it would be a great start.
“Those people certainly deserve recognition and I would be firmly behind that.
“Some people come into clubs for maybe a year or two and they do brilliant work, but there are people who have been doing that for decades and they’re the people I like to see recognised.
“The people who see things that have to be done and just go and do it without looking for praise or reward.”
Once again The Irish News will be handing out ‘Volunteer of the Year’ awards and are asking clubs to nominate those people who they feel deserve to be considered.
All winning volunteers will receive an invitation to the awards ceremony in The Wellington Hotel, Belfast as well as £100 worth of O’Neill’s Sportswear vouchers.
Visit https://www.irishnews.com/offers/school-club-volunteer-awards/club-awards/ for categories and more information. The closing date for submission is 12 noon, Monday April 30, 2018.
