Galway puts schedule for club football on the table

THE Covid-19 pandemic, Government restrictions and lockdowns may have dampened many people’s spirits, but one group of individuals it has not broken is Galway’s Junior ‘C’ club footballers.

It would appear that boots consigned to the attic are now being dusted down as players, young and old, are planning to come out of retirement, don the club jersey, spray on the Deep Heat and make their bid for county championship glory.

At last Monday evening’s Football Committee meeting, it was revealed that no less than 24 of the 46 football clubs have entered a team in this year’s Junior ‘C’ championship – the highest in quite some time.

“It’s wonderful,” says Football Committee Chairman Kevin Clancy. “There are 24 teams competing in the Junior ‘C’. We have three groups of eight and it is the biggest championship now. The senior has 18 (teams), but the Junior ‘C’ has 24.”

Although urbanisation and emigration have stripped clubs of players in the past, there has been a growth in numbers playing junior football, be it due to increased participation locally or players, conscious of maintaining a healthier lifestyle, staying involved longer in the sport.

“Over the last three years, participation (at this grade) has definitely been increasing and it is a trend, really,” continues Clancy. “We are definitely up four or five teams anyway on last year, if not more. It is great the interest is there to do it.

“Even the overall figures! When you take that we have 104 (adult) teams, it means you are going to have over 2,000 playing games, starting in early June.

“The two real principles we wanted was to keep to the (senior and intermediate championship) calendar we adopted three years ago and the second thing was that we would have eight competitive games for all adult teams (between league and championship) and six for the U17s and U19s.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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