AND - Club Notes - March 29th 2009

Senior/Junior Football

Indoor Soccer continues this Tuesday night March 31st, this is the last schedule soccer night of the year. From Thursday night April 2nd training will take place outdoor. We had hoped to have the training schedule for the year prepared last week, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. The incoming year training schedule will be finalized on Wednesday night at the weekly Committee/club meeting.

Membership

Membership is due for the current year at $40 and can be paid to Hugh Meehan (Treasurer) or Bernard McDaid (Ast Treasurer). It is important that all club members are paid up as membership fee is to cover the Cost of player registration and insurance for the incoming year. As always the club is seeking new members/players, if there is anyone that you know that would be interested in joining the club or becoming a player please contact Sean Butler (Club Registrar -617-645-7905)

Next Club Meeting

The Next Club meeting will be held in the Green Briar on Wednesday April 1st at 630PM, all committee members are expected to attend. If any member is unable to attend please contact Brian McGrath (Secretary) 857-544-6898. Again it is vital that all committee members attend, there are many important items that need to be discussed and decided upon, we are only 3 weeks away from the Harford tournament, and only 4 weeks away from the start of the O’Brien Cup.


As Always all paid up club members are welcome to attend, if anyone has collected any money owed to the club please bring along and give to the Treasurer.

Items to be discussed include current fundraising initiatives, player recruitment, training schedule, Hartford trip, Team management, 2009 sponsorships and also club merchandise.

Hartford Tournament

Hartford Tournament- All interested players and club members that would like to travel can contact Cathal Brady (617-645-9585) Brian McGrath (857)-544-6898 to register for the trip.

Casino Nite

The club has arranged to hold a Casino Nite in the Elks (Brighton) on Friday April 24th at 630pm, ticket cost is $100 per person there are a limited number of seats (150), anyone interested in purchasing a ticket can contact any committee member or Gavin Hall 617-708-6427 (Fundraising Chairman) or Hugh Meehan – 617-312-6713 (Treasurer).

Referees

As the deadline for club registration approaches, each club in the NEDB (North East Divisional Board), is required to furnish the names of 2/3 competent referees. If anyone is interested in becoming a referee please contact club Registrar Sean Butler (617-645-7905), there will be a training and certification course organized for interested parties. Any participants will receive the GAAs certification in refereeing both Gaelic Football & Hurling. This is the same certification that Referees in Ireland receive.

Coaching

Through the NEDC (North East Divisional Youth Committee), an extensive coaching course has been organized to take place on Saturday April 25th at Canton. Each club has been asked to provide at least 2 willing candidates. There will be qualified coaches on hand to train and advise. At the completion of the course candidates will be certified in the GAAs Level 1 Coaching. The coaching course will greatly benefit the candidates and allow them to take valuable information back to the club. If anyone is interested in attending please forward your details to Cathal Brady (617-645-9585).
GAA 125 Year Anniversary

As many of you are aware 2009 represents the 125th Anniversary year of our great organization, Throughout the course of 2009, the GAA has organized a calendar of events for people to attend ( See attached schedule).

It is also notable that 2009 represents the 50th Anniversary of the NACB (North American County Board). As the Finals tournament is taking place in Boston, the NEDB, will be setting up a subcommittee, to oversee the organization of events, if anyone is interested in submitting their name or volunteering to take part in the subcommittee please contact Brian McGrath (Secretary). Notably this years finals will have some special guests from Ireland – Artane Boys & Girls Band.

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the GAA has encouraged clubs to organize their own events to celebrate the organization and their individual clubs. It has been muted before that we as a club should put together our own Club history along with pictures, Match reports etc.. If anyone is willing to take on this role it would represent a significant achievement to celebrate our own club. This will be discussed further on this Wednesdays club meeting.

ILIR- Public Meeting

On separate note, the ILIR ( Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform – http://www.irishlobbyusa.org/) has organized a public meeting to take place on Monday April 6th @ 730pm at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton. Guest speakers will include former Senator Bruce Morrison (Who lent his name to the Morrison Visas – that many Irish people benefitted from), Ciaran Staunton (ILIR) & Bart Murphy ( ILIR). It has been quite a while since the ILIR has had a public meeting, and as such it is important that club members travel along to get a valuable insight as to what the ILIR has been working on. If anyone would like to travel to the Cultural centre and does not have a lift, please contact any of the committee members and we will do our best to organize transport.

Website / Facebook

The Club has setup a new webpage at http://www.armagh-notredame.com/ were all the weekly club notes will be archived, along with Match Reports and any other club news. Please note that we have added GAA news feeds from many of the media outlets in Ireland along with RTE’s Media player, which has many audio and video broadcasts updated on a weekly basis. We have also included an interactive calendar which will be populated as events and games are scheduled. If anyone has any suggestions that they would like to make please forward them to Brian McGrath (Club Secretary). Lastly as many of you will already know the club has set up a Facebook page, this represents an opportunity for players/members past and present, to catch-up. If anyone would like to be added as a “Friend” – email Brian at secretary@armagh-notredame.com.

Support Group

Following Saturday evenings National Football League results, it has come to the clubs attention that a support group should be setup for Derry Supporters. Under the watchful eye of Robbie Logue, the first session will be held in Porter Bellies on Monday evening at 630pm. Robbie can be contacted directly, registration is $100 per person, the meetings will run for the duration of the League, restarting again on Derry’s exit from the Championship.



Notes
If anyone would like their name added to the list of people receiving club notes via e-mail please contact Brian McGrath at 857-544-6898 or at secretay@armagh-notredame.com