Scandinavian Championship

Hello all
Just a few points on items that were discussed and agreed on last Thursday 's conference call.

Participants:

• Billy Finn (Gothenburg GAA)
• Joe Whelan (Malmo GAA)
• Donie O Brien (Oslo GAA)
• Philip O Connor (Stockholm GAA)

Copenhagen GAA apologised for their absence and their points were duly noted

Hosts/Dates
The following hosts/dates/venues were provisionally agreed for the 2011 Scandinavian Championship

• Round 1 -May 28th - Gothenburg (If Gothenburg cannot hold for whatever reason due: pitch unavailability etc.. the round will pass over to Oslo for the same date)
• Round 2 -June 25th - Malmo (Copenhagen will be the sole bidder from the Nordics to host a Pan-Euro. If unsuccessful, Malmo are open to let Copenhagen host the 2nd round)
• Round 3 -August 20th - Stockholm

Hosting is on a rotational basis with Oslo/Copenhagen/Helsinki due to host the 2012 rounds.

Pan-Euro
New tournament dates for Pan Euro rounds have been changed to the following

• Round 1 July 30th (was Sept 10th)
• Round 2 Sept 10th (was Oct 8th)
• Round 3 October 8th (was Nov 5th)

Viking Gaels
It is the intention of the Viking Gaels to attend one round of the Hurling Championship this year. To which one has yet to be decided but it will probably be the round in July. Venue and location to be decided shortly by ECB.

Sponsorship
Phil O'Connor from Stockholm has come forward with the possibility that there may be a sponsor for the 2011 Scandinavian Championship. Philip will update with news shortly.

Nations Cup
Participation in this competition will be discussed at a later date. No decision taken as of yet

Looking forward to a great 2011 season here in the Nordics

Is mise le meas
Billy Finn
Cathaoirleach
Gothenburg GAA Club

Updated GAA Posters

Hi All,
now attaching 3 posters to complement the leaflets that were sent out earlier. It is probably good to have both since sometimes it can be tricky to find places for leaflets. Again, the wonderful art work is by Mia - so thanks for that Mia! As always, comments are welcome and it is fairly easy to make changes so get in contact if you want any changes made.

• Gaa2011-P1
  
• Gaa2011-P2
  
• Gaa2011-P3
  

All the best,
David

Gothenburg GAA Newsletter January 2011

Hello all and welcome to 2011

Here's looking to a fantastic year of GAA in Gothenburg. We just want to send out a mail to welcome our new and old members and to keep all informed of what's going on in Gothenburg GAA circles.

Training
Training shall recommence very shortly, weather permitting of course. The first session will be on Monday 31st January. Meeting at the same place in Slottskogen at 18:15 (ready to go for 18:30). We will have a training schedule so people will know when and where training is on. Ballwork will commence once the weather allows us.

Pitch
We may know very shortly whether we will be in a position to share a full-size Gaelic pitch of our own with the Goteberg berserkers. This pitch is in Utby and we dont know facilities or anything just yet. If this falls through, we will train once again with Spartaus out in Partille.

Scandinavian Championship 2011
The need for training to begin immediately is apparent now as the draft calender from the ECB GAA has been published. There was a request that our championship to begin in march but this was quickly rejected as no way would any pitch be ready in March. However we expect the first round to commence in late April early May. All the Nordic teams are having a conference call next week to see what the lay of the land is but in short it will be the following

• 3 regional rounds this year (with a provision for a 4th if the championship is tied). It looks like the tournaments will be on a rotational basis with Copenhagen, Gothenburg & Stockholm holding the rounds this year and Malmo, Oslo, Helsinki holding the 2012 rounds. It looks very likely that Stockholm will be holding a Pan-Euro round this year so if this is the case, it will be a prime objective for Gothenburg to attend.

Viking Gaels
The Viking Gales hurling team has now been ratified for competition in 2011 hurling tournaments. As per the schedule, I think it should be a prime objective for representation from Gothenburg seeing as most of us are hurlers. More information to follow shortly in the next few weeks.

New Players
We welcome new players Colm Keller and Brendan O Driscoll to the ranks. Welcome guys. Brendan joins us from Stockholm so is a welcome addition to the squad. Welcome aboard guys !!!

Recruitment and advertising
Thanks to David and Mia for producing those wonderful posters advertising Gothenburg GAA. Please put them up in any clubs , offices, universities. We need to recruit more players again to the teams and all avenues must be explored. If you need a copy of the posters, please get in contact.

Fundraising
As always, fundraising is an ongoing matter. We will always need funds from outside sources so please lets get cracking on some ideas for the new year (Paddy's Day/6 Nations/Bingo/Table Quiz/etc.). Lets see who has any ideas.


AGM
Gothenburg GAA AGM will take place before February 18 (probably during week 7). We will probably have it in Dubliners Jarntorget but we will keep you posted on date and details.

Membership details
There is a new ECB requirement that all membership names and details are accessible on the GAA database. We are in the process of collation all the data but just to make sure all details are still correct, please send your name, address, DOB, phone number and e-mail addresses to either this mail address or the Gothenburg GAA website.

Also, the membership fee will be discussed at AGM but rates will probably be the same as last year (500 sek playing, 250 sek non-playing). The membership fee will have to be paid before Paddy's Day due to the proximity of the regional tournaments.

That 's the story for the moment. Keep an eye out on the website for updates and we'll be using facebook and twitter more this year.

I've attached the GAA posters and I will forward the Euro 2011 fixture list for your viewing shortly.

Regards
Billy Finn
Chairman
Gothenburg GAA

GAA Christmas Night Out - 18th December - Update

Hello again
just to let you know that beach volleyball has been booked for the 18th December between 16:00 & 18:00. We have booked 2 courts for 2 hours. Most of the cost will be covered by the club so the more people that come, the cheaper it is. So please let me know if you are coming. Need to tell them the day before if we have to cancel.
A few bevvies, a good workout, then straight onto a session.
Details on where it is ( in Hogsbo ) to follow later
regds
Billy

GAA Christmas Night Out - 18th December

Hey all,
just a quick one to say that Christmas GAA night out is planned for 18th December - most people went for this date. How about playing beach volleyball in the afternoon followed by a themed night of " The 12 pubs of Christmas " ..let me know soonest if you are interested in the volleyball .... any other suggestions? Please let other people know that i may have missed on the mailing list
regds
Billy

Gothenburg GAA Newsletter November 2010

Hello all
Just a quick update on current GAA happenings and other stuff :

Training
Guys and gals - I know it is cold but training continues in Slottskogen every Tuesday evening with Caz. Meeting at car park at 6:15 p.m.. There are a few things are in the pipelines for training in January and February: a boot camp weekend to build up our fitness. We will resume our timed runs like last year when we resume training in Skatas in the New Year.

Euro GAA Convention
The Euro GAA convention is on in Stockholm on Dec 4th. Before that there will be a conference call with all the Nordic clubs to see what agenda items can be put forward which are in the best interests of Scandinavian GAA. Likewise, it would be great if we had Gothenburg GAA represented at the conference. I need to submit names by next Wed as to who or how many are going (its usually 2 per club). Let me know if you 'd like to go. If you feel like adding an agenda item, please feel free

GAA Christmas night out
Its that time of year again. Our annual Christmas night out. There was not much of a turn out for the last one so lets have a bit of a hooly for this one. The suggested dates are Dec 3rd or 4th or Dec 17/18. Dec 10th/11th seem to be a no-go for some people. Let us know what dates suit and we'll go with the one that suits best .

New members
Gotheburg GAA would like to welcome new member Colm Keller to the Club. A native of Westport, Mayo. Colm has played inter-county hurling for Mayo so will be a great addition to the proposed Viking Gaels panel for next year as well as the football panel. Welcome, big man!

Irish Society
We are still looking for a venue for the Irish Society but in the meantime, we should appoint an Irish society committee and see will how we propose to get things off the ground. We have musicians, we have the GAA and we have Paddy's Day next year. Wouldn't that be a great day to launch the society. Lets see if its something we can work on, get our heads together and see what we can come up with - any dates for a planned meeting? Lets have something before we all break for the Christmas.

Is mise le meas
Billy Finn
Cathaoirleach
Gothenburg GAA club

Monthly Gothenburg GAA Newsletter - Oct 2010

Just a quick newsflash on current happenings going on in the world of Gothneburg GAA.

ECB Convention 2010
Tomorrow Monday we will know whether we have been awarded the convention for European GAA this year. If we have been, it will mean help with some volunteers on the weekend of Dec 4th and 5th. This will mean all European GAA officials will visit our city. A great showcase for Nordic GAA.Fingers crossed!

Maastricht Championship Nov 6th 2010
The final Pan-European shield competition takes place in Maastricht on Nov 6th. This promises to be a huge affair with action taking place over 6 pitches on Maastrichts own GAA pitch complex. The president of the GAA will also be in attendance. As we did not attend Budapest, are we in a position to attend Maastricht? If we did attend we would fly to Amsterdam and drive down to Maastricht. Let us know what you think and then we can make a decision.

Training
Physical training will continue with Caz every Tuesday. Time is dependent on Caz so contact her directly if attending. This is not part of Gothenburg GAA, just for people who want to get fit and stay fit.

However, we will have hurling training this thursday evening at 6:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. out in Partille or if it is more convenient we can meet in Slottskogen in the big green area for 6 p.m.. I'll bring the hurleys. Let me know who wants to attend!

New club in Scandinavia
Its looking very likely now that there will be a new club joining the Scandinavian championship next year. Helsinki look set to join the fray. All going well they will be set to be ratified at the ECB convention. Another place to visit!

Annual Scandinavian championship
With the onset of more clubs now in Scandinavia , it has been decided that there there will be a trophy for the Scandinavian championship that we can all play for every year. Gothenburg GAA will contribute to the cost of the trophy and as the idea was mooted by Stockholm GAA, a decision was taken to call it the Aherne trophy, in memory of John Aherne.

John passed away tragically whilst visiting his friend and Stockholm Gaels corner-back Karl Lambert in Stockholm around St Patrick’s Day 2008. They have contacted his family and they are delighted that we would choose to remember John in this way.

Stockholm Hurling exhibition
Gothenburg GAA are also planning to close out the season in style and introduce the game of hurling to the unsuspecting Stockholm public on October 30th at Östermalms IP. As is normal in Europe, we will play 11 v 11, most likely a Gaels side taking on a Rest of Scandinavia XI. If there is enough interest from the ladies sections, there will also be an exhibition game for them at half-time.

This will be hopefully be followed by a reception hosted by the Ambassador to Sweden Mr Donal Hamill. The reception is planned for the new embassy here in Stockholm, should that not be available, alternative arrangements will be made. At the reception, Mr Hamill will present the medals and trophies for the Scandinavian Championship and the Ambassador Cup.

Stockholm GAA have also said that if cost is an issue for anyone , their members will provide a couch or spare bed for those travelling. Otherwise, we can stay in the hostel that we stayed in last time.

Please let me know ASAP whether you intend to go or not so we can make arrangements. For those travelling , we have loads of hurleys to break.

Alliance with Swedish Landhockey Federation
Gothenburg GAA is pleased to announce an alliance with the Swedish Ladies Landhockey association. This is part of the Idrottsforbundet and as an affiliation to them, it increases both our chances and their chances for getting funding from the government for our respective organisations. It also opens up the avenue for both them and us to try our respective sports.

Other events
If you would like to contribute with any news or other social events that you think members of Gothenburg GAA would like to know about, please let me or Declan know and we can include in the monthly newsletter

Thanking you
Billy Finn
Chairman
Gothenburg GAA Club