February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The inaugural Continental Youth Championships went ahead despite scheduling disruptions caused by Friday?s torrential downpours. Close to 1,000 footballers took to the fields, competing in 144 matches with 13 division finals contested on Sunday afternoon.
Boys and girls? teams from San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, Ottawa, Toronto, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York took part.
The GAA president, Sean Kelly, traveled from Ireland to show his support and an Uachtarain also provided practical support as the GAA Central Council granted $15,000 to the tournament. The tournament sponsor, O?Neill?s Sporting Goods, also chipped in with $15,000 worth of equipment for the players.
Westchester County Executive Vincent Spano was in attendance and he called the event a win/win for the county. ?This event is great for Westchester?s cultural development? Spano said.
Taking in the large crowd at SUNY Purchase, the executive also noted the positive impact this tournament has had on Westchester?s economy. ?These people are staying in our hotels and shopping in our stores,? he said.
Spano said he is looking to further his office?s relationship with the Irish community by building a full-sized Gaelic pitch in Westchester. The field would also be used for soccer. The site has yet to be determined.
The chairman of the New York committee, Daniel Hannon, got a great reaction from the crowd when he said how happy he was to see so many ?narrowbacks? in attendance. Hannon, better known as ?Bobbsy,? came up through the N.Y. Minor Board, as did many of the team coaches and tournament organizers, whose sons and daughters were competing last weekend and keeping Gaelic football alive in North America.
Meanwhile, GAA President Kelly has given the Randalls Island Project a shot in the arm as well as the pocket with a $100,00 grant. This is important news for the Randalls Island Gaelic Sports Corporation, which is facing a Sept. 1 deadline to raise the money needed to build a stadium in the New York City-owned park.
The $10 million grant from RIGS that former New York GAA President Monty Maloney announced with much fanfare in May is still going through channels. Although the RIGS group remain confident that the sports funding will come through, the parent organization?s confidence in the project could give fund-raising efforts a welcome boost.