FAOI 6: INDOOR action for our Under 6 boys will continue in the Mounthawk School Gym on Sunday next…throw-in time: 10.00am. Our thanks to the school management for the use of their fine hall.
FAOI 8: Under 8 club INDOOR activity continues on Sunday next, 18th January, in the Mercy School Gym in MountHawk. Time: 11.00am. Ár mbuíochas le bainistíocht Scoil na Trócaire i gCnoc an tSeabhaic.
UNDER 10 BOYS: The Under 10 lads will continue their INDOOR activity on Sunday next in the Green School Gym. Time: 12.00. Ár mbuíochas le bainistíocht Scoil na mBraithre, Meánscoil na Faiche.
PEIL FAOI 14: All our Under 14 footballers are requested to attend their first get-together of the ’09 season on Sunday next at 5.30pm in the Green School Gym. We hope to prepare well so that we can make a good start to our forthcoming campaigns. Tosach maith, leath na hoibre! And why not come at 4.30pm and get warmed up with the hurlers? Why not a championship in 2 codes?
IOMÁNAÍOCHT…an cluiche sciliúil: The 2009 Hurling season continues next Sunday, 18ú Eanair, in The Green School Gym. Times: (a) at 4.30pm for the Under 10 and Under 12 lads and (b) at 5pm for the Under 14-17 boys. Last week’s group enjoyed their INDOOR session. Beginners encouraged to come along. Helpers needed ….come along to help….más spéis leat an cluiche sciliúil.
WEB: Have you logged into www.austinstacks.ie yet?
SCÓR NA bPÁISTÍ: Scór na bPáistí (for Primary School Pupils) will take place shortly…We have an amhránaí aonair and a scéalaí agus iad ag obair agus ag cleachtadh go dian dícheallach….but we need dancers, quiz experts and musicians!
FÉILIRE: There are still a few ’09 CLUB calendars available…buy one and support the juvenile side of the club…cúis mhaith!
SCÓR NA SINSEAR: Senior Scór will also take off early in ‘o9…will have dates next week. We expect to enter teams for solo singing, aithriseoireacht, tráth na gceisteanna and bailéadghrúpa. Any takers for sketch, set dancing, music, figure dancing?
NA CAILÍNÍ: The Austin Stack Club Ladies’ Academy slid back into action last Sunday and will be in action again on Sunday next in The Green Gym. (a) The Under 6, 8 & 10 girls will attend for the throw-in at 10.00am and (b) the Under 12 lassies will be chasing the pig’s bladder at 11.00am. There was a very impressive turnout for the first week back which we hope is a sign of things to come. The Under 6 and Under 8 girls were first into action showing some very excellent handling of the ball. The U10 girls started their return with a few drills involving handling, catching and kicking and a fair bit of sliding on a pretty slippery surface. The U12 girls then followed along at 11am with similar drills except a bit of skating came into the equation somewhere. Should we consider ice hockey? Or ice hurling? Nó scíáil amháin?
We are indoors for the next three months and we hope to make as much use as we can of our time inside. To help us do this we would like all our girls to come training as much and as often as possible on Sundays, as we can guarantee that, unlike when we are outdoors, we will not be rained off on any Sunday morning. So, a chailíní na peile, make the most of the opportunity. See you all on Sunday. The academy would like to wish Hannah O’Connor a happy 11th birthday…(Thursday)…breithlá sona, a Hannah! Go n-éirí go geal le Cailíní na Carraige agus iad i mbun traenála!
FAOI 16: Bíodh cluas leis an talamh agat
GAA 125: Don’t forget to watch “An GAA 125” on TG4 at 9.15pm on Friday….programme 1….and after “GAA Beo” on Sunday afternoon….programme 2. A 10 week series on our association should be a must for everyone.
RULE 4: In the Official Guide of the Gaelic Athletic Association Rule 4 states the following as a clear objective: “The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song and other aspects of Irish culture”. With the birth of Scór in 1969 the GAA, through its clubs, has become actively involved in promoting Irish culture in a meaningful and enjoyable manner. Language and culture are amongst the most important elements of Irish heritage. The GAA, through it’s many clubs throughout the country and through Scór na nÓg and Scór na Sinsear, has played a significant part in the revival of our culture and heritage in creating an understanding and interest in its importance. Scór competitions commence in each county with clubs competing to represent their county in one of the many different Scór events. County winners go through to the Provincial Finals with the winners at that stage qualifying for the All-Ireland Finals. Scór is divided into two sections. Scór na nÓg caters for the younger GAA members while Scór Sinsear caters for adult members. The national finals of both Scór na nÓg and Scór na Sinsear are wonderful occasions and winning a national title is a tremendous honour for any club. Some counties also run a Primary School Scór, ‘sé sin, Scór na bPáistí.!
OUR FIRST AGM: At 3.00 p.m. on Saturday 1st November 1884, a small group of men, at least seven and possibly as many as fourteen , met in the billiard-room of Miss Hayes’ Commercial Hotel in Thurles and there founded the Gaelic Athletic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes. The seven founder members: Michael Cusack, Maurice Davin (who presided) John Wyse Power, John McKay, J. K. Bracken, Joseph O’Ryan and Thomas St.George McCarthy. Also admitted later by Cusack to have been present was Frank Moloney of Nenagh, while the following six names were published by the more detailed press reports of the time as having attended: William Foley, – Dwyer, – Culhane, William Delahunty, John Butler and William Cantwell. All these were from Thurles except Foley who, like Davin, was from Carrick-on-Suir. The foundation meeting of the GAA~if such it was~was the culmination of several feverish months’ work by Cusack since he had enlisted the support of Davin in August ’84. The activity included a meeting in the Galway town of Loughrea of a group of local athletic enthusiasts with possibly Cusack present and certainly Bishop Duggan of Clonfert, who is said to have recommended Archbishop Thomas Croke of Cashel (who spent some of his childhood in Tralee) as a patron of the proposed body…deir daoine sa Ghaillimh gur ansan a thosaigh CLG! Cusack also seems to have considered holding the first meeting in Cork, according to a brother of Davin, and he had even chosen the title “Munster Athletic Club”. In October, two prominent nationalist weeklies, “United Ireland” and “Irishman”, carried identical “anonymous” articles by Cusack, summarising the case for a body like the GAA. In subsequent issues the same month, Davin and Cusack openly supported the project, and finally Cusack sent out a circular for the Thurles meeting. This he had drafted in Dublin with the help of a number of hurling enthusiasts. So small was the attendance in Thurles that it may have been an exploratory or preliminary meeting. If so, the real foundation meeting was held in Cork City in the Victoria Hotel on the 27th December, attended by a group of Cork Home Rule personalities led by the Lord Mayor-elect, Ald. Paul Madden. Of the five other founder-members in addition to Cusack and Davin, John Wyse Power was a Waterford journalist, then with the “Leinster Leader” staff in Naas, and later with the “Freeman’s Journal” in Dublin. McKay was a Belfast journalist, then with the “Cork Examiner”, who later worked in the House of Commons in London before returning to Cork in the early 1900s. Bracken was a Tipperary stonemason (and, interestingly, his son, Viscount Brendan Bracken, was a member of Sir Winston Churchill’s World War II coalition government). O’Ryan was a solicitor in Thurles and in Callan (Cill Chainnigh). McCarthy, a Kerryman, was a police officer in Templemore. Apart from Cusack’s contribution, the proceedings in Hayes Hotel were brief. Davin took the chair, and in a brief speech called for a body to draft rules to help revise Irish games and to open athletics to the man in the street. Cusack’s long speech criticised the national press for boycotting Irish sports, put forward the idea of a national athletic festival on the lines of the old Tailteann Games and referred to over sixty letters of support that he had received. After McKay had also spoken, Cusack and Power proposed and seconded Davin as president of the new association, and the meeting then elected Cusack, Power and McKay as secretaries. The meeting adjourned after agreeing to ask Archbishop Croke, Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt to become patrons, with instructions to the new officers to draft rules. Bhí go maith agus ní raibh go holc!
SCOIL: Only 20 school days to the mid-term break!!
Hurling & Football Club