BY JOHN MANLEY
TIPPERARY ALLIANZ CUMANN NA MBUNSCOL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SECRETARY’S REPORT BY AODAN WRENN
Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol held their 2014 Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 26th of February 2014, in Hayes’s Hotel Thurles, at 7.30pm. The Chairperson Paddy Kelly presided. Paddy Kelly opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. He thanked all the delegates for making the journey to Thurles. The Standing Orders were adopted. They were proposed by Conor Doyle and seconded by Michelle Skehan. The Minutes of the 2013 A.G.M. were presented to the delegates by Secretary Aodan Wrenn. There were no matters arising from the Minutes. The 2013 A.G.M. Minutes were proposed by Michael Corcoran and seconded by Michael Heffernan. Secretary Aodan Wrenn proceeded to go through his Secretary’s Report for 2013. This Report was proposed by Conor Doyle and seconded by Kieran Healy. Treasurer and Equipment Officer Jerry O’Donnell then went through his Treasurer’s Report. Jerry spoke about Mick Forde, a Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol stalwart from Clonmel, who sadly passed away recently. Jerry asked the meeting to observe a moment’s silence for Mick. R.I.P. After the minutes silence Jerry went through his Report. It was extremely comprehensive, as usual. Jerry went through every item on the report with the delegates. He said that the Equipment Scheme is working very well and it’s very important that it continues. He informed the delegates that the balance in the Bank is 18,163 euro. He said that it’s a healthy position to be in but we must continue to get all our grants or else we would be in trouble. He mentioned that helmet sales are down on previous years and this is a sign of the continuing recession. He emphasised the importance of our Equipment scheme. Jerry feels that our Equipment Scheme is the foundation base of hurling in Tipperary. Jerry said the County Board appreciate everything that primary school teachers do to promote Gaelic Games. Jerry finished by thanking the County Board for all their assistance. The Treasurer’s Report was proposed by Michael Heffernan and seconded by Michael Corcoran.
Address of the Tipperary County Board Chairman:
The new Chairman of Tipperary County Board Sean Nugent then addressed the Annual General Meeting. In his address he said:
“It’s a pleasure to be at this important meeting. It’s very important to be here. The County Board acknowledge the great work of Primary teachers. Many All Ireland winners of recent years have come through Allianz Cumann na mBunscol and Primary school games. Teachers have made huge contributions to the GAA. I enjoyed going into the Primary Schools in 2010 with the All Ireland cups. We are pleased to give you the County Board Grant and I promise that we will continue to provide this grant to you. At the Officers’ Night in the Tipperary Institute tonight Joe Carton, the Munster Coaching and Games Officer, said that Tipperary have the best Primary School coaching scheme in Munster, in particular for school-club links. We have two new GDAs on board with us now. David Egan is the new North Tipperary GDA and Padraig Moloney is the new South Tipperary GDA. I wish them the best of luck with their jobs. I would like to thank John Cummins and Tadhg O’Connor for all the great work they did, as GDAs, over the years. I’d like to finish by thanking your Officers for all their hard work. There is a lot to be done and they do it well. Best of luck to you all in 2014.”
Address of Guests
Dinny Maher, the County Coaching and Games Manager, addressed the meeting. He thanked the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Officers, and teachers for their hard work. He said it’s important to keep the Coaching Scheme, in the schools, alive. He said that Andy Ryan, the Mid Tipperary GDA, will be setting up a review of the Primary Schools Coaching Scheme. Andy will be calling on the Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol officers to assist in the Review. Dinny said that Workgroups will be set up. He stated that the Coaching Scheme has had a huge impact on Tipperary G.A.A. It has, according to Dinny, contributed to Tipperary’s success at under age level, in recent years. Dinny finished by wishing all schools the very best for 2014.
In his Chairman’s Address Paddy Kelly covered the following points:
1. He thanked the three Officers at the top table for their co-operation and good work throughout the year.
2. He thanked the Primary Game Selectors, the GDAs, the Blitz Co-ordinators and all the teachers who gave up their free time to coach young players.
3. He thanked Paddy Collins for his great work as Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Handball Co-ordinator.
4. He thanked the County Board, Allianz, Munster Council, Coiste Naisiunta and Coiste na Mumhan for their generous financial assistance and overall support.
5. He thanked the Semple Stadium Management Committee for continuing to make Semple Stadium available to us for our Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Hurling Finals.
6. He thanked referees who refereed Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol matches, and caretakers of GAA pitches used by Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol.
7. He re-iterated the importance of paying the 30 euro registration fee. Each school must pay the fee if they wish to participate in Allianz Cumann na mBunscol competitions this year.
8. He thanked the teachers for their continued promotion of Gaelic Games in our Primary Schools.
9. He thanked all the clubs who provide their pitches for us to use.
10. He mentioned that it is of up-most importance for anyone writing match reports to put the word Allianz before Cumann na mBunscol. He said our P.R. grant will be affected if we don’t because the amount of times counties use the Allianz term in the media is being monitored in Allianz Headquarters, in Germany, and they will reduce the P.R. grants given to counties who do not have a sufficient percentage of Allianz ‘hits’ in the media.
11. Paddy finished by wishing all the schools the very best of luck in 2014.
P.R.O John Manley went through his P.R.O Report. It was very comprehensive and thorough.
John thanked:
• Our Assistant P.R.O. Paudie Fahey; for looking after all the P.R. material for the Football competitions, and for his help last June in Semple Stadium with the writing of the match reports.
• The regional newspapers, Tipp FM and Tipp Mid West Radio; for giving us good exposure.
• Allianz, for being a loyal sponsor.
• The County Board, for all their assistance.
• Ger Ryan (former Tipperary County Board P.R.O.), for all his support throughout the years.
• Tipperary Yearbook Committee, for giving us excellent exposure again this year, in the Yearbook. They gave us a 10 page spread which was brilliant.
• Michael Trehy, for all his work on the production of our County Finals DVDs.
• Everyone who follows us on Twitter.
• Andy Ryan, and the GDAs, for assistance on County Final Days, and throughout the year.
John mentioned that the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol National Awards will take place again next November. He stated that Tipperary schools have done very well in it, over the years.
John finished by thanking all the teachers for all their great work, and their co-operation, during 2013.
Election of Officers
Chairman: Paddy Kelly.
Vice Chairman: Kieran Healy.
Secretary: Aodan Wrenn.
Treasurer/Equipment Officer: Jerry McDonnell.
P.R.O: John Manley.
Assistant P.R.O: Paudie Fahey.
• These positions were taken en bloc. The above officers were proposed by Michelle Skehan and seconded by Michael Corcoran.
The positions of delegates to various Committees were taken en bloc. They were proposed by Kieran Healy and seconded by Michael Heffernan.
The Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Committee members were returned en bloc. They were proposed by Shane O’Brien and seconded by Paudie Fahey.
The Coiste Gearan members were returned en bloc except for John Lalor, who was standing down, having retired from the profession. The four other members were proposed by Paudie Fahey and seconded by Michael Corcoran. Eamonn Riall, Lissenhall NS, took the final position in the Coiste Gearan, after being proposed by Aodan Wrenn and seconded by Mary O’Donnell.
Primary Game Selectors:
Football: (Kieran Healy – not standing). Orry Ryan, Paudie Fahey, Shane O’Brien.
Liam O’Sullivan was proposed by Aodan Wrenn to replace Kieran Healy. Mary O’Donnell seconded that proposal and thus Liam O’Sullivan was elected to the position as Primary Game Football Selector.
Ladies Football: All standing. (Labhaoise Cunningham, Katie Sweeney, Anne Marie Landers).
Hurling: All standing. (Paddy Kelly, John Manley, Pat Buckley, Conor Doyle).
Camogie: All standing. (Michael Corcoran, Tammy Cullen, Michelle Skehan).
• All Primary Game Selectors were taken en bloc. They were proposed by Kieran Healy and seconded by Paudie Fahey.
Motions
There were 3 motions on the Clár. Motions 2 and 3 were passed. These were submitted by St. Colmcille’s Primary School, Templemore. Motion 2 sought for semi finals to be re-introduced for Under 13 Football competitions. This was passed. Motion 3 sought for the option to be given to players, in Under 11 and Under 13 Football competitions, to take 45s out of their hands. This was passed. Andy Ryan, Mid Tipperary GDA, recommended that the Secretary would write to the Referee’s Committee to inform them of this rule change in Tipperary Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Football rules. Runaí Aodan Wrenn said he would do this.
Motion 1, from Lissenhall N.S, looked for Under 11 Go Games matches to be split into 3 thirds. The first 2 thirds would see the score being kept. The last third would have no score kept and all substitutes would come on during this last third. A good discussion arose about this motion and about the running of Go Games. In the end Lissenhall N.S. withdrew the motion. Thus the motion wasn’t carried. Many delegates contributed to the debate prior to this. After Lissenhall withdrawing the motion Paddy Kelly, the Chairman, recommended that in Go Games we would go back to having a minimum amount of substitutes. There would be a minimum of 3 subs for larger schools’ competitions and 2 subs for medium to small schools’ competitions. Kieran Healy said schools who could not field the minimum of substitutes for their competitions should be allowed to apply to the Runaí for an exemption. The Officers would then meet to decide on whether to allow the exemption or not. The meeting agreed to this. Paddy Kelly said we would try the minimum amount of substitutes rule, and the exemption application, for this year and then review it next year.
Re-Grading and Fixtures
The meeting proceeded to Re-Grading and Fixtures. The Secretary Aodan Wrenn went through each Division with the meeting, and informed the delegates who was going up and who was going down from each Division. There were contested re-grading positions in:
• Under 13 Roinn D Hurling. Ardfinnan and New Inn B.N.S. both sought to go down. The meeting discussed the issue. It was pointed out by the Secretary that both schools struggled badly last year in this Division. He had the score-lines at hand and they revealed that both schools suffered many hammerings last year. It was pointed out that the division below Roinn D has an un-even number of teams in it. It was suggested that we let both teams down on this occasion, despite the rule clearly saying that only one team can go down from a division in a given year. Chairman Paddy Kelly asked the meeting if they would agree to allow both teams down in this once-off situation. The meeting agreed. Therefore both New Inn B.N.S. and Ardfinnan were re-graded to Roinn E.
• Under 13 Roinn E Hurling. Moyne and Ayle both sought to go down to Roinn F. Both schools spoke and argued their case for re-grading. Due to the fact that both schools have the very same numbers available to them and both cases were identical it was decided by Chairman Paddy Kelly to have a coin-toss to determine who would go down. Moyne won the toss and were thus re-graded to Roinn F.
• Under 13 Roinn C Camogie. Scoil Eoin Naofa and Knockavilla both sought to be re-graded to Roinn D. Both schools argued their cases and once again it was decided to toss a coin to see who would be re-graded. Scoil Eoin Naofa won the coin-toss and was thus re-graded to Roinn D in Under 13 Camogie.
The time frame and dates of the Championship were relayed to the delegates. The delegates were told that Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Officers will consult with the Semple Stadium Committee, regarding the dates for the County Finals in Semple Stadium. Those dates would be relayed to the schools at the earliest convenience. The provisional dates would be Thursday 5th June and Friday 6th June.
Any Other Business.
Jacinta Coman, Cappawhite, asked if there was a rule about children wearing glasses playing Allianz Cumann na mBunscol matches. The Secretary said he would enquire from National Allianz Cumann na mBunscol and get back to her with clarification.
Chairman Paddy Kelly then closed the meeting, wishing everyone a safe journey home.
EQUIPMENT SCHEME 2014
Our Equipment Scheme evening takes place in Scoil Ailbhe Primary School, Thurles, between 5.00pm and 8.00pm on Friday. 21st March, 2014. All order forms and information forms have been forwarded to schools by email and are available to download/view on our website.
REGISTRATION FEE 2014
All schools should forward the registration fee of €30.00 to our Treasurer Jerry McDonnell, 25 Ballingarrane, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Please note this is an annual fee which covers a school for a calendar year. Payment of this fee entitles schools to participate in all Cumann na mBunscol activities for 2014.
REPORTER OF THE WEEK
Schools are reminded and encouraged to send news and updates of their progress in the hurling championships for the coming season. Reports on upcoming challenge games would be hugely appreciated. Reports should include, in as much as possible, school names, referee, venue, final score and a balanced account of the match. A Reporter of the Week will be chosen and their work included in the weekly report. Please ensure all reports are a single paragraph in Verdana 10 type. All submissions should be proof-read by the teacher before submission.
For any schools/teachers wishing to access Tipperary Cumann na mBunscol news and updates via Twitter, the Tipperary Cumann na mBunscol Twitter username is @TippCumanNamBun. The following link will enable you to follow us: https://twitter.com/TippCumanNamBun. We would encourage as many teachers and schools as possible to follow us as this will enable you to access information as soon as it becomes available. We thank all the teachers who have become followers of Tipperary Cumann na mBunscol on Twitter. We have got a great reaction from teachers and schools in recent months. We now have 662 followers.
CONTACT CUMANN NA MBUNSCOL
For match reports, fixtures and school G.A.A. News and events, please email Tipperary ALLIANZ Cumann na mBunscol P.R.O. John Manley Dualla NS pro.cnmb.tipperary@gaa.ie Website: http://www.cumannnambunscol.tipperary.gaa.ie/. Ní neart go cur le chéile.
By Jonathan Cullen Mon 10th Mar
