Message From Our Club Chairman Kevin Foley
Fellow members,
Firstly I hope you and your families are staying well in these extraordinary times. That is the most important thing.
We certainly live in strange times. As a club we are committed to supporting each other by staying apart and by helping those who need assistance. A group of almost 200 volunteers made up of senior and adult players and members have been engaged for the past few weeks in helping out our community by doing messages, collecting and delivering groceries, prescriptions and other necessities for people who are cocooning or are otherwise especially vulnerable in our community. These members show the best of us every day.
Members of our club have sadly passed away in recent weeks. It is especially difficult for family and friends to manage through such sadness when such restrictions apply to our ability to express our condolences and support to each other at such times. Even though we cannot express ourselves in the normal way we do think deeply of the sorrow of bereaved families and as a club we offer our condolences and support.
As a club also it is important to remind ourselves that we have in place a benevolent fund to provide confidential support to anybody associated with our club who may face financial challenges. As members, we need to keep an eye out for each other.
We are dealing with unprecedented circumstances but it is great to see things like the effort some of our playing members are putting in to developing skill challenges to be enjoyed by players of all ages [and maybe players who are players no more !!]. Great also to see our players continuing their commitment to fitness by individual training within 2K and safe distancing.
We face many challenges of a practical and financial nature but our club Executive is diligently working to meet all of our commitments even while we are closed to normal activity including normal fundraising activity. We aim to be ready to take the field when the opportunity allows.
From the playing point of view, the staggering first reality is that all club activities have been closed down for weeks and we have no visibility of when we can see Crokes jerseys out on the pitch again. The Punchestown Race Day (such a key asset developed to be an amazing success over many years of hard work by the hurling section) has been at least postponed if not lost for 2020, the mini’s may be lost, the sevens 2020 competitions may be under grave threat, summer camps look to be lost, Glenalbyn House is closed for an unknown period, the Village Café is closed similarly, etc etc.
Uachtarain CLG has recently spoken about 2020 inter-county competitions running into 2021 – better than the alternative I guess. Where club competitions lie is a matter for speculation at this stage.
We are going to re-develop P de B in 2020 assuming health restrictions allow the resumption of the type of construction involved. We have engaged with our co-ordinating contractor to seek an acceleration of tenders and work start to the earliest date possible now. We’ll see where that effort takes us.
The key underlying message is that we are uncertain about any activity in our club for 2020. We have no handle on a timeframe for the restoration of any normal club activity. The Executive Committee priority, as well as encouraging all members to do all they can to stay safe in these times and to support each other, is to ensure that whenever games return, Kilmacud Crokes GAA Club is able to field teams in all four codes and that all playing sections are resourced to prepare and field those teams.
In the meantime – let’s take care and do the things we need to do to stay safe and well and to keep others safe and well also.
Ní neart go chur le chéile
Kevin Foley
Chairman
Kilmacud Crokes GAA Club
