Douglas GAA Club think big with €2m development plan

When fully integrated, Douglas will become the largest GAA Club in Munster, with over 3,000 members, 150 teams, and 300 coaches

Wed, 13 Oct, 2021 - 07:00

Larry Ryan

On Sunday, the Douglas senior footballers face Nemo in a crunch tie — that will be streamed live by the Irish Examiner — aiming to follow their hurlers into the knockout stage of the county championship.

Off the field, the club is building momentum too.

Inter-county stars from all corners of the Douglas GAA family came together last Saturday as their clubs launched a unified development plan that is set to cost around €2m over the next three years.

Douglas is the latest GAA unit progressing the ‘One Club’ model, with the hurling and football, ladies football, and camogie clubs working towards joining under one umbrella. When fully integrated, Douglas will become the largest GAA Club in Munster, with over 3,000 members, 150 teams, and 300 coaches.

“It makes sense to be one family,” says Brendan Murray, chair of the Club Development Plan Working Group. “It will be a massive benefit to drive everything forward.

“Families won’t have to join all three clubs, incurring extra costs. And it will be the same fundraising effort towards the development plan. The people of the community will know that money raised is being invested in their sons and daughters.

“There are things to be worked out, but there’s a working group in place, and the will is there to make it happen from people in all the clubs. And that’s the most important thing. We want the club to be a vibrant and inclusive cultural and social hub in the community.”

Behind the Cork stars on the four pitches in the heart of the village, there was an even more vivid illustration of strength in numbers, with more than 800 boys and girls playing in the club’s annual football street league finals — the youngest among them poster boys and girls for a spirit of cooperation.

“This year we mixed the under-5 and under-6 GAA and LGFA groups, with some interesting results,” said LGFA PRO Rosemary Browne.

“There’s something very special anyway about street leagues finals days in Douglas. All the older players remember this as one of their first Douglas memories. One couple watching their grandchildren remarked that it was 46 years since their first street leagues visit.”

To properly nurture the droves of kids and their dreams of becoming the next Shane Kingston or Kevin Flahive or Julia White, the club desperately needs to improve pitch capacity.

“In order for the One Club to be a success, we have to expand,” Murray adds. “Facilities like a new astro are vital. Facilities haven’t moved forward as quickly as we’d have liked in recent years. And the fundraising effort to do that needs everyone together because you’re talking about such large amounts of money.”

The club is currently running its second ‘WinAGaff’ draw and has a fundraising plan mapped out to cover most of the funds it will need.

Over three years, a capital investment of €1.8m in facilities is planned, which will cover a new astro pitch with floodlights and ball wall, a new astro games area, floodlights for the main pitch, bar refurbishment, and improved parking.

“But we also want to ensure excellence in coaching standards throughout the club, improve Gaelic Games participation in the local schools, and ensure that the club is operating to best practice. We are fortunate to have so many volunteers but it’s much easier to get people involved when everyone has a focus to move in the same direction.

“This is the first time that Douglas has developed a formal Club Development Plan. We’ve consulted former GAA director general Páraic Duffy and former Cork GAA chair Tracey Kennedy. It’s really about trying to move everything coherently forward together, with a structure in place that keeps moving the club forward.

“Everybody enjoys when the club does well on the field, but now is the time to lay the foundations for future generations.”