Community at heart of Bandon GAA during Jarlath Burns visit

Community spirit is not an accessory in a GAA club. It is the foundation. In Bandon GAA, it is the thread that binds generations, abilities and ambitions. And it was that collective strength which left a lasting impression when GAA President Jarlath Burns arrived at the club last month.

Burns did not meet a single initiative or one flagship programme. Instead, he encountered three interlinked strands that together define Bandon’s identity.

Children with additional needs who had found a place to belong, teenagers learning what leadership looks like in practice, and older members whose club remains a social anchor as much as a sporting one.

Different strands, but the same fabric, each reinforcing the other.

At the heart of it all were Bandon’s All-Stars, an initiative that has grown quietly, but powerfully. Led by co-ordinator Liz Gleeson, it began with a simple question.

“Both myself and my husband aren’t from Bandon,” Gleeson begins. “I'm from Ballincollig, my husband's from Tipperary. So we moved to Bandon and I suppose the GAA was really influential in keeping us in Bandon.

“It opened a lot of doorways in terms of friendships for us in the community. So as a result, my husband actually got involved coaching our kids when they came of age, he's a proud Tipperary man, the home hurling allegedly!” she laughs. “John, my husband, loves coaching but not the admin side of it, he had no interest in it, so that's how I got involved.

WHY CAN'T YOU GO?

“There was a little boy next door to us, Darragh Walsh is his name. He has autism, and Darragh was non-verbal for a number of years.

“Slowly but surely his speech came, and one day, I was going to GAA with my own two boys and he came over to the car, and the speech was just coming, so he used to call me Wiz and he said, ‘Wiz, where are you going?’ And I said, ‘GAA’, and he said, ‘why can't I go?’ And that's when I went, do you know what, why can't you go?” 

The answer, Gleeson felt, should never be no.

“Every child should be able to take part in this. So I approached Amy Allen, who was the secretary of the underage club at the time, and John Ahern was the chairperson. Then Anthony Nyhan, and I approached the three of them, and they all said they'd have my back to get this going.” 

The first session began with eight children. Today, the All-Stars cater for around 20, with a wide range of abilities and needs – autism, Down syndrome, wheelchair users – running twice a year in six-to-eight-week blocks, every Saturday morning.

We love it as a club, and I’ve over 40 volunteers in a WhatsApp group. It's just gone from strength to strength. 

Supported by soccer neighbours Bandon AFC, who now also provide training blocks, the All-Stars have become a fixture in the local sporting calendar. For parents, the significance is profound.

“They drop their other kids to so many different activities, and those children, they were always sitting in the back looking at their siblings going to different activities,” Gleeson explains. “They just wanted them to feel part of a team and a club, and now they feel that, so it's wonderful. You have to see it to feel it.

JOY

“This is a joy to be part of it's not work, it's so enjoyable to be part of it.” 

Jarlath’s visit was sparked by a simple email – on a whim – about their All-Stars, Dermot Earley Youth Leadership Initiative (DEYL) students, and their senior group.

“I had spotted that Jarlath was going to the Carbery Centenary down in Bantry. I said you know what, I'll email him and see would he drop by.” 

Their All-Stars do not exist in isolation. They’re supported by Bandon’s DEYL students – of which they have 21 – and over 50 who have already qualified.

The DEYL is a programme established in honour of the late Dermot Earley and in collaboration with NUI Galway, the GAA and Foróige, which teaches young people the skills involved in leadership.

Bandon’s senior group then, is for elderly club members who meet up a few times a year for tea, coffee and conversation, and are often joined by current players or managers.

“So I emailed him all about it, and I got an email back saying that he's very busy. About 10 minutes later he emailed me the most fabulous email just thanking Bandon GAA for everything that they've done with the community,” Gleeson remarks. “He said that he would love to come and meet with us that he'd come for half an hour.

“Sure we had the whole place decked out!” she laughs. “The All-Stars were there, the senior group was there, there were loads of members who just wanted to meet with him. He came and it was an absolutely fabulous morning.

“He was just brilliant with kids, he had a real connection with them. He got down and played with them, high-fiving them.

“We had a young boy, he's probably one of our eldest All-Stars, Daniel Aherne, and Daniel brought him around with me,” she says. “Daniel introduced him and explained to him all about the All-Stars, what they did and how much he loves it.

“Then we had our U13s, U14s, U15s and U16s, and he [Burns] presented them with the silverware they'd won that year, and the medals.

I'd say he didn't expect so much of us there but he obliged and met and shook everyone's hand. And I'm talking there was well over 200-300 people! 

For chairperson Phil Murphy, the significance was profound.

“He met all three of those groups,” Murphy says. “He was with us for about an hour, and obviously it was a tremendous honour for the club that the president of the GAA came to visit us, and spend time with us.

“We were absolutely thrilled that he was able to fit us in.”