‘A model in terms of what sporting clubs can do’

Damien Maher

Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, Charlie McConalogue, TD, was the special guest as Mullingar Athletic officially opened its new 4G playing pitch at Gainstown on Wednesday evening.

Mullingar Athletic chairman Liam McGovern spoke of the significance of the latest development, which will ensure an increasing playing membership has access to facilities at the club, which continues to grow and develop. There are 850 members playing each week, with approximately 1,000 members involved when coaching staff, the grounds team, administration and governance committees are taken into consideration.

“It’s a lot of moving parts. Our emphasis is on participation, community, social inclusion, player development, strong governance and providing good facilities. It’s about a good experience for the children coming in and their parents, who we find will return if they have that good experience,” he said.

The club has 51 teams, 37 of which were affiliated last year in the Midlands Schoolboy Leagues and other leagues. There are around 750 games played each year, approximately 2,400 coaching sessions, and the club has around 2,500 people who use the facilities each week.

“This is a hectic place in the middle of winter - we go from September right through to the end of May/early June. The activities are constant; there is no sporadic nature to them. Every week we would have 15-20 games at home, so there is a lot of activity here. The other 15-20 teams are playing away,” said Mr McGovern.

The club is immersed in the local community, sharing facilities with St Colmcille’s NS, Gainstown, something which Minister McConalogue highlighted as being a key focus for the Government. The school uses the car park each day for safe access and egress, with a footpath from one facility to the other. They use the facilities at the club for all sports and recreation. There is a shared caretaker in place and the grounds are immaculately maintained.

The club also has a community preschool and there is an after-school service provided by Westmeath Community Development. “It's good use of facilities and it’s community-based,” stressed the chairman. The club is currently constructing a new community walking track, which will be 1km long when finished, and they plan to open it on the August Bank Holiday weekend. Other schools from nearby towns and neighbouring counties use the facilities on an ongoing basis, while the Westmeath camogie team also use the facility. All the Community Games teams in the region are catered for.

The FAI Primary 5s are held at the club each year and they had 54 schools from Westmeath playing at the club in March. There are two padel courts planned at the club grounds in the near future.

“It’s constant activity, it’s very community-driven. And we pride ourselves on having those community links as opposed to calling ourselves a community club. Having tangible links is most important,” he said.

Mullingar Athletic is also a regional centre for the FAI and they use the club for coaching education and regional finals, with the national finals of the cup competitions held there this year. The club is planning to grow and develop further, especially at school level, and there is an ongoing need for facilities. They were renting pitches in Mullingar before they developed their new 4G facility. There are plans to resurface their 16-year-old all-weather facility and the hope is to secure Government funding in the future to make that possible. New dressing rooms are needed to cater for girls' football, a growing sport.

Minister McConalogue praised the real activity happening in the club and noted the phenomenal facilities that have been developed over the years. The Government will be supporting sporting projects through its Community Sports Facilities Fund and the club is welcome to make its application during the summer for whatever development works are being planned.

“It takes massive effort and commitment to make a club like this work. It’s exceptional what you have put together and it’s great to see the great collaboration with St Colmcille’s NS beside you - that’s exactly what we want to see. You are a model in terms of what sporting clubs can do within a community, allowing it to run to the best effect and to maximise your impact,” he remarked.

Minister Robert Troy was in attendance, as was Cllr Bill Collentine, the newly elected Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council. They were joined by Cllr Alfie Devine.

Later, more than 100 people representing clubs and organisations across Westmeath attended a briefing on the Sports Capital Programme in The Downs GAA centre and took the opportunity to put questions to the minister.