'It’s about trying to get people re-energised': Beara GAA planning for the future

Beara GAA is to hold a review today in Scoil Phobail Bhéara with a view to “re-energising” people about Gaelic football in the area.

Beara GAA chairman Jim Hanley says: “It’s about trying to get people re-energised about Beara football at every level — underage, clubs, representing Beara, everything.

“We have six adult clubs and three underage clubs, and to me everything works better when everyone works together, and there are opportunities we could look into in terms of underage coaching and so on.

“A regular divisional meeting is about the practicalities, and it’s not that often we look further than a step or two ahead of us. Wintertime is chance for us to say: ‘Where exactly are we going?’”

There’s a reason for having the meeting — or meetings — in Scoil Phobail Bhéara.

“I’d say most of the kids in the peninsula go there so it’s a symbolic gesture — we’re saying ‘this is the heart of Beara football’, and Beara is often referred to as the spiritual home of Cork football.

“It’s for the current generation of players, the next generation of players and the generation which hasn’t even started playing yet.

“The majority of them will go through the school.“

The first meeting this weekend is for players.

“They don’t usually attend meetings,” says Hanley.

“That’s understandable, players play, but we want their contribution — wheat’s their experience of playing football, come in and have your say. If there are things they don’t like or want to change, we want to hear that. What do they think of the leagues and championships in Beara, and what do those capable of playing senior football think of playing for Beara and the way the divisional championship is run?

“What about our U20s, who go straight into the county championship and face teams which have already gone through stiff divisional championships?

“We want to hear from them at this meeting, which will be chaired by (Cork GAA project co-ordinator) Conor Counihan. There’ll be nobody else in the room apart from Conor and the players.”

The second meeting is a public one at 6pm.

“Michael Byrne, the former county board development officer, is coming down to facilitate that. We’ll divide those present into roundtables to discuss a range of topics, and then give feedback to the wider group in order to see if we can reach consensus on some of those issues.

“We’ll take the findings and put meat on the bones for a plan which we’d have hoped to launch at our convention, but that timeline may be too tight.

“We’ll launch it before Christmas, anyway. The clubs are all very positive about it, and there seems to be a good attitude — Beara people seem to realise that we can’t just keep doing the same thing.

We have problems coming down the line which we need to be ready for — population drain, and the drain of football experience, those are things we need to tackle. We can’t expect others to solve that.

“Yes, we can draw on others for help, but it’s not going to be a case of someone coming in from outside to wave a magic wand.

“Beara people have to fix it themselves and we have to face up to it.”