Australia's First Cul Camps a Raging Success

The July school holidays saw the first ever Cul Camps come to Perth hosted by the Gaelic Games Junior Academy of WA. We were lucky enough to have Longford footballer Damien Sheridan, come to Perth for a month to coach in schools and oversee and navigate the running of the 2 week school holiday program.


Based on the very successful Cul Camps in Ireland, Perth saw 64 children aged between 6 and 12 take part in the action packed fun camps. There were a few differences notable, one was the length of the day, with a starting time of 9am and a finish time of 3pm (drop off after 8.30am and pick up no later than 3.30pm), makes it nearly 2 hours longer per day than the Irish counter part. The weather however was on par with an Irish summer with plenty of rain falling in the first week!


The coaches were equipped with lesson plans and plenty of game idea’s to keep the kids busy, happy, challenged and eager to learn.


Every morning Damien would have a chat with the coaches to discuss the days plans and any issues/concerns/idea’s etc. He was always on hand to help out with kids who were finding a particular task difficult or to have a chat with a ’restless’ child.  On day 2 of each week, teams were made up to bring competition into the camps and we would have Cork, Kerry, Dublin or Tyrone fight for glory in football and hurling, with some surprise results! Other ways of earning points throughout the week were through a daily quiz, and a few minutes spent on art, skills challenge’s and other talents displayed. 


Kids were rewarded at the end of the week with medals, 2 different types, one for fair play and taking part in the daily activities, but those kids who excelled in a particular aspect was noted, and were awarded a special engraved medal.  BBQ’s at the end of each Friday session added to the fun atmosphere where parents were invited to come along a few minutes early to join in, and see how well their children were doing in the Cul Camps.


During his time here Damien Sheridan hosted a Level 1 Coaching Course for coaches of the Junior Academy, whereby new idea’s for training and games were put straight into practice the following Sunday, and skills honed and ideas shared among coaches to make our own Academy even better for our children who train every Sunday.  


The Gaelic Games Junior Academy Facebook page was a hotspot for positive feedback from happy parents, with many asking if we were to host a Cul Camps again in October! Since its success we have committed to doing it all again next year! 


Special thanks to our coaches, committee, Damien Sheridan, the GAA of WA, Gerard Roe and Croke Park for assisting in helping us pull this off and add to the growth and development of junior GAA in Perth. 


Hats off to all involved and roll on Cul Camps Perth 2016!


Thanks to Debbie Teahan for submitting this comprehensive report.

Irish Australian Blues and St Brendans prevail in South Australia GAA Finals

The South Australia GAA season culminated with the SA GAA Grand Finals yesterday at St Mary’s Park outside Adelaide, marking the end of a stellar Championship.

The day kicked off with a Junior GAA Academy exhibition game, which was followed by a highly entertaining Hurling demonstration game which proved to be a worthy curtain raiser to the Gaelic Football Finals.

First up, the Ladies Final between great rivals Irish Australian Blues and Onkaparingal was an extremely close encounter. Irish Australian Blues had to fight all the way to defeat a determined Onkaparinga team by just one point (1-10 to 2-06).

This was followed by the Men’s Final, which was another closely fought and highly entertaining game, where two goals in the second half determined the outcome. St Brendan’s prevailed on the day to claim the Hannigan cup with a score of 2-09 to 0-09.

Channel 7 was also on hand to broadcast the festivities.

For GAA in South Australia, the 2014/15 season saw an increase in the number of both Men’s and Ladies Football teams as well as the re-introduction of Hurling in the state, for the first time since 1990.

Despite the high temperatures, the GAA season in Adelaide runs over the Summer months enabling local AFL players to take up the sport during their off-season. All teams involved in the competition are predominately made up of Australian born players.

 

Tasmanian Gaelic Football & Hurling Association Grand Finals

Tasmania's Gaelic Football grand finals will be hotly contested this Saturday 7 February in Chigwell. 

The women's final will kick-off at 2pm with Clarence fighting Glenorchy for the silverware. The men take the field at 3pm with Shamrocks facing Brighton for the Kieran Middleton Trophy. If required, a supplementary women's final will take place at 4.15pm. All games will be played at the TGFHA's home base, the Metro Claremont Soccer Ground at Allunga Rd.

The trophy for the winning men’s team will be presented at the ground at 4pm by Glenorchy Mayor, Alderman Kristie Johnston. The inaugural women’s grand final – previous seasons saw social games but no finals – promises to be a tough contest with the physical Glenorchy starting favourites.

As a best-of-three, Glenorchy are already one up after finishing top of the ladder. If they win the key final they will be crowned victors; if Clarence win, a deciding third final will be required. The men's grand final is expected to produce some exciting football.

Shamrocks qualified first for the big game after topping the table in this year's five team competition. Brighton earned their spot in the decider with a very tight preliminary final over the Hobart Celts last Sunday. The Shamrocks are one of the stalwarts of the Tasmanian Gaelic competition, having fielded a team every season since the commencement of the sport in the state in 2007. Brighton meanwhile have had a very successful debut season, adapting their Australian Rules football skills well to succeed at the Irish game.

Full presentations including individual player awards will be held on Saturday evening. These will take place at the New Sydney Hotel, the association’s major sponsor, at 7pm. The presentations conclude a busy Tasmanian season that commenced in October. A representative team however will continue to train for an interstate Sevens tournament in Melbourne later in February.

Entrance to all the TGFHA Gaelic football finals is free of charge.

Grand Final Day Schedule Summary:

2pm: Women – Glenorchy v Clarence
3pm: Men – Shamrocks v Brighton
4pm: Trophy Presentation – men, women (if no deciding final required)
4.15: Women – deciding final, if required, Glenorchy v Clarence
7pm: Full TGFHA presentations, New Sydney Hotel

Media enquiries: TGFHA President, Amanda Watkins. tel: 62104814/ 0428861743, email: mrstentpeg@hotmail.com

Good Luck to all teams involved!

2014 Magners Australasian GFHAA Championships - Day 2

The action continued today at Gaelic Park in Melbourne with all states out in force. While the Senior Men’s Football and Ladies Football teams progressed with their round games, the Minor Footballers and Camogie sides had semi-finals to contest.

In the first Minor Football semi-final Victoria Blues defeated their state counterparts Victoria White 5-14 to 0-02, while the second semi-final was a closer affair with South Australia edging out New Sales Wales 3-05 to 4-05.

Queensland Camogie had a convincing win over hosts Victoria (3-07 to 0-06) in the first semi-final securing their place in tomorrow’s Camogie Final. In the other game, New South Wales faced off against Western Australia and came out on top winning 2-08 to 1-04. Queensland will go into the Final as slight favourites haven beaten New South Wales already in the round games.

In the Ladies Football competition, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia all recorded wins, with the New South Wales v Queensland game a closely contested affair (1-10 to 0-08). New South Wales will now meet hosts Victoria in the semi-final, while West Australia will be up against Queensland. go into the semi-finals unbeaten and will be up against Western Australian.

New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia had wins in the Hurling. While New South Wales beat Queensland in the early game (0-12 to 0-06), Western Australia were the stronger team later on the day edging them out by two points (2-07 to 0-15) in close match. While Wellington Hurlers didn’t make the semi-finals, they must be commended for travelling to the games for the first time and will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with when New Zealand host next year’s games.

The Senior Men’s Football teams each had two games today with New South Wales maintaining their unbeaten record by seeing off competition from Victoria (1-08 to 1-04) and Western Australia (1-10 to 1-06). They finish top of the table as we go into the semi-finals. Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia also progress to the next stage while Wellington and South Australia unfortunately bow out of the Championships.
Tomorrow is set to be another cracking day as we look forward to the highly anticipated Minor Football and Camogie Finals, in addition to the semi-finals for all other codes.

Camogie
WA	0-06	NSW	2-11
Camogie Semis
NSW	2-08	WA	1-04
VIC	0-06	QLD	3-07
Ladies Football
SA	0-03	VIC	0-09
NSW	1-08	QLD	0-10
WA	6-11	WELL	0-02
Hurling
NSW	0-12	QLD	0-06
VIC	5-13	WELL	0-05
NSW	2-07	WA	0-15
Minor Football – Semi Finals
SA	4-05	NSW	3-05
VIC BLUE	5-14	VIC WHITE	0-02
Senior Football
SA	0-01	QLD	4-10
NSW	1-08	VIC	1-04
VIC	3-13	WELL	0-01
NSW	1-10	WA	1-06
SA	0-09	WELL	2-06
WA	0-05	QLD	2-05

 

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