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Clubs, social and sporting, provide vital safety net

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The blow to his hip knocked Lynch from the game and, worse, from his construction job for more than three weeks due to torn ligaments.
Though he was without health insurance, his mind was put at ease as he went for X-rays. His Astoria Gaels clubmates came to his rescue, as they do for all of their members, paying his medical bills and providing a weekly stipend until he could go back to work.
The constitution of the club states that members injured while playing for the team will receive $300-$350 a week when they are out of work due to impairment, said David Browne, the Gaels’ treasurer and a member for five years.
“We want to support all of our members, but we have to protect ourselves. We don’t want some guy to come and fake a sprain just to get money from the club,” Browne, who’s 27, said. “Each claim is on a per-person basis at the discretion of the committee.”
It’s generally accepted that the clubs will help cover medical costs if players are injured, said Scott Shevlin, the 70-year-old president of the New York Shamrocks soccer club, though he says that many of the players have their own insurance from their jobs.
“We hope that insurance covers bills, but when it doesn’t, we always pay for it.”
The Astoria Gaels, like many clubs in the tri-state area that sponsor GAA, soccer or rugby teams, are much more than sporting clubs. Indeed, they are social clubs as well, supporting their members through thick and thin.
“We are like a small family,” said Lynch, 26, who moved to New York from County Kerry five years ago and immediately joined the club.
In addition to their a football and soccer teams, the Astoria Gaels club, which was founded in December 1991 and is nearly 90 percent Irish, also has a thriving social scene, with events such as dinner dances, race nights, camping and fishing trips throughout the year, often times, with several events each month.
“The club is a meeting place for Irish people, or really anybody,” said Bernie Kenny, who is from County Longford and has been a member for three years. “You get to meet a lot of people and the networking is important,” she said, having gotten her last job through the Astoria Gaels.
Because of the social support, along with the financial assistance in times of need, the Gaelic clubs are valuable to Irish residents, new to the U.S. or not.
“[The club] is a great introduction to the social network of America,” said Stephen Kenny, 37, coach of the Manhattan Celtics, which is approximately 60 percent Irish. “We have a good network of Irish players and a couple of Irish bars, which helps people make connections.”
The Celtics recently had a fundraiser at the Pioneer Bar to cover players’ medical expenses, but unlike some other clubs, money isn’t always easy to come by.
“There isn’t really a bank account sitting around with a lot of money in it,” Kenny said. “We are lucky — most have insurance, but some don’t.”
The New York Shamrocks soccer club has to raise as much as $5,000 this year to take care of its players, Shevlin said.
“[Injuries and expenses] are an ongoing problem with all football clubs,” he said. “We are not like some teams that can insure their players fully and when they’re not working, take care of them, but we do our best to cover their injuries and other related expenses.”
This year, Astoria, which is almost entirely funded by its members, needs to raise nearly $8,000 to cover expenses for seven injured players, a task it is tackling through fundraisers.
Knowing that they’re not alone is empowering to the clubs’ members.
“[The financial support] really helps with the dedication to the club and the sport, because a lot of these guys don’t have insurance,” said Bernie Kenny of Woodside, whose fianc

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