Crokes Beyond 20 X 20 Update

Dear Club Members

Thanks again to those that completed the Crokes Beyond 20x20 Survey last year aimed at gaining an understanding of Club Members views on equity of participation in the Club. As previously advised, almost 650 club members completed the survey which gave rise to nearly 14,000 pieces of information and viewpoints on equity of participation in the Club.

As an update, the 20x20 working group met with the Club Executive providing a summary of the survey and discussing the initiatives Club Members wanted to see actioned to promote equity of participation in the Club.

In the first instance, the 20x20 working group note a number of improvements in equity of participation in the Club since the survey was undertaken including:

• Nursery – children entering the club nursery now have an equal nursery experience regardless of gender
• Pitch allocation - Pitch Allocation committee was formed in July 2021 and comprises of member representatives from each of the 4 codes. A key remit of the committee is to agree and schedule upcoming home fixtures to ensure all home games where possible are hosted on home venues at the agreed time or as close as possible to same and also to allocate all training slots on all pitches over which the Club has any control. The committee have done an excellent job in relation to the scheduling of home fixtures.
• Mini-All Irelands – all codes now getting a week each for Mini-All Irelands
• Coaching – active effort to ensure equity of participation on coaching courses across all 4 codes
• Female Coaching – Improvements in support bring provided to female coaches including Hurl with Me and Introductory Ladies Football
• Social Media Communication – active initiatives to ensure promotion across all codes, e.g. Team Spotlight
• Cross Club events – a number of cross club social events have occurred, e.g. Purple & Gold Let’s Celebrate, with all 4 codes receiving recognition on the night

As part of the survey, respondents were asked to provide their views on initiatives they would like to see undertaken to further level the playing field with these listed below. We are seeking club members who are passionate about equity of participation in the Club to volunteer themselves to join working groups to help action these initiatives – if you can assist with any of these please send an email to CrokesBeyond20x20@kilmacudcrokes.com.

1. Girls Coiste – form a working group, in the first instance, to determine if a girls Coiste would be in the best interests of Ladies Football & Camogie and establish same if deemed to be in the best interests of up to u12 girls. In addition, the working group would investigate the potential for a joint (boys & girls) Coiste in the short-medium term.

2. Female Coaches – form a working group with the Club GPO’s to develop ideas and initiatives for Club structured supports for developing female coaches(both existing and new).

3. Cross-club Activities – form a working group to promote greater promotion of integration of codes through club-wide social events (on/off pitch) by establishing a club-wide social committee – adult players particularly welcome for this role.

4. Pitch Allocation - Club Executive and the Pitch Allocation committee will continue to work to secure additional pitch resources  to support all sections of the club.  The full return to use over the next number of months of the redeveloped Pairc de Burca, coupled with lights for the winter in addition to other pitch resources which the club is in negotiation to secure, should help the challenge of pitch allocation, particularly for training slots.  Based on feedback from the survey, the Crokes Beyond 20x20 Working Group have made recommendations to the Pitch Allocation committee about areas to consider when looking to further improve the equity of pitch allocation for training slots and the working group will continue to engage with the Pitch Allocation committee on this matter over the coming months.  

5. Club Governance – Club Executive Committee very interested in looking at new/different ways to better inform members of how the club is run, future strategy etc.. The Executive welcomes club members to attend AGM’s and provide their input regarding the Club and running of same.

We would love to action the above initiatives as soon as possible therefore please get in contact by 31st July 2022 with CrokesBeyond20x20@kilmacudcrokes.com if you can assist, indicating which initiative/working group you would like to be a part of, or if you have any further comments or thoughts to further level the playing field in the Club we would love to hear from you.

Crokes Beyond 20x20 Working Group

Mark Kenny, Clíona Ní Shúilleabháin, Eadaoin Herlihy, Shane Horan, Bill O’Carroll, Rebecca Beggins, Fergus McCormack