Archive News
Olympics’ legacy must be the funding of sport and leisure at all levels
Date Published: 16-Aug-2012
If the Olympic games – after all of its incredible highs over the last week – is to have a lasting legacy, it has to come in the form of investment in the future of Irish sport.
And that’s not just about ensuring that we don’t allow future generations of Olympians slip through the cracks; it is also about allowing all to enjoy a healthier lifestyle by providing access to leisure and sporting facilities in their towns and villages.
We saw from the Olympics how an investment in a high performance programme yielded such incredible results for the boxers in particular. And we saw how the growing use of the waters around our shores was reflected in the number of sailors able to compete at the highest level.
The British team did the same when they invested in cycling and swimming in particular – and in both codes, they reaped huge rewards to backbone their overall Olympic haul.
So there’s no secret to sporting success; you must invest in it at all levels, so that on one hand the stars of tomorrow are coached and trained to fulfil their potential, but also that the children who might never scale those lofty heights also have access to pursuits that will give them a healthier lifestyle.
And the reality is that, if we are to shine on the international stage, we must have the best facilities, the top coaches and international standard back-up on lifestyle and diet to leave nothing to chance.
Of course there are those who will point out that we have enjoyed huge success in the past – on the track, for example – but the foundations for the medals won on the international stage by Ronnie Delaney and John Treacy and Sonia O’Sullivan were laid on sports scholarships in the US.
And when our soccer team heads for World Cups or European Championships, they do so having refined their skills at their English clubs, because they have long left these shores in pursuit of their dream.
That’s not to undermine or disrespect the coaches and trainers who nurtured them from childhood at home, but the real work – the elite coaches, the world-class facilities – was in Villanova or providence, or in the case of our footballers on the training grounds of clubs across the UK.
Equally it is important to acknowledge that, without the tireless voluntary work of thousands of coaches and kit men and trainers and officials, there would be no raw material to mould into champions. And they are utterly entitled to claim their share of the glory too.
But to get to the next level – the highest level – you must create high performance programmes. And that costs money.
However, Sports Minister Michael Ring told Galway Bay FM last week that – while he entirely accepted the importance of financial support for sport – nothing could be guaranteed in the current climate, and that at least was an honest response.
But even with the purse strings tightened to breaking point, the government must find the money to promote sport and recreation at all levels.
A slice of it can come from the health budget because, on one level, this is about a healthier lifestyle for all and, on the other, creating heroes to inspire a generation – and the government could do worse than earmark a portion of the admittedly declined education budget to sport on the same basis.
This is about creating role models for a better future; young men and women who inspire a generation, who lift the hearts of a nation and restore a sense of national pride during the darkest economic period in our country’s history.
And ensuring that is one of the things that differentiates a country from a mere economy – because even when times are tough, a nation must invest in its people, be they international athletes who bring glory to their shores or youngsters who need the facilities to enjoy a healthier lifestyle.
It should be seen as an investment in our future as well as a legacy of our past achievements – and both of those make it a price worth paying.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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