Archers ask Galway City Council for outdoor space to grow

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – A group of archery enthusiasts is hopeful that Galway City Council will be on point with a proposal that they be considered when any new sports facilities are being planned.

Galway Archers – who currently use Árus Bóthar na Trá in Salthill – told the City Council in a submission under the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29 that such clubs in Ireland are very restricted in where they can let their arrows fly.

At the moment, there are three archery clubs in the city: Galway Archers, GMIT Archery Club, and NUIG Archery Club. The county has one — Athenry Archery Club which currently practices in a facility in Gort.

The two college clubs have access to their own facilities, but the likes of Galway Archers have no access to a permanent and open archery facility.

In its Development Plan submission, the group has asked for archery to be considered when new sports facilities are developed.

The community in Galway is not very large — Derek Dalton, a coach at Galway Archers, estimates that between his own club and Athenry Archery Club there are around 50 members.

“Finding long-term sustainable members in the sport is difficult, and part of that is due to the fact that we don’t really have adequate facilities.”

The club’s current practice space is a hall at Árus Bóthar na Trá, where they have been holding beginners’ classes and training sessions since 2014.

Beginners’ classes at Galway Archers often fill up within an hour of the announcement being posted on their website and Facebook page. The group used to use a waiting list, but Derek says it became “ridiculous”, and that around 150 people were on the list for the next time a class opened.

“People are that interested in the sport when they’re looking for it. With bigger facilities, we can grow the club, and with bigger facilities then maybe as the club grows, we can have more coaches which will sustain the growth of the club,” he says.

(Photo: Novice archer Katharina Luennemann during Galway Archers club practice.)

This is a shortened preview version of this feature. To read the rest of the story and photos, see the June 3 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.