New Development Strategy for Britain

“WE ARE HERE TO HELP STRENGTHEN LADIES FOOTBALL IN BRITAIN”

 

The British Ladies Provincial Board had special guests at their recent meeting in Coventry: Paula Prunty, National Development Manager and Con Moynihan the National Development Officer. They made the long way from Ireland to Warwickshire, to lay out a new strategy to promote underage and adult Ladies Football in Britain.

Ladies football in Britain is still finding its feet and this exciting new plan is to bring structure to the fledgling organisation. There are currently 32 ladies clubs in Britain and the hope is to increase numbers and participation – a way of doing this, with co-operation from Croke Park, is to enlist ‘Club Support Officers’ which will support clubs throughout Britain. Paula Prunty stated “This is important, it is the first ever development plan in place for Ladies Football in Britain.” The Gaelic4Girls in Britain initiative was introduced 3 years ago, and under the careful stewardship of Provincial Development Officer Geraldine Munnelly; it has flourished. Prunty reminded everyone of that fact, “People have said Gaelic4Girls in Britain wouldn’t work, well it has.” This new growth has created a buzz in Ladies Football in Britain and with support from Croke Park, as well as the clubs; it will hope the new plan will have long-term effects.

Club Support Officers (CSO), will be based in each county (same may have two), and will aid clubs in many aspects of Ladies Gaelic Football. It is hoped that ten altogether will be trained up.

The full CSO specifications will be issued shortly but some of their main tasks are:

• Support with coaching ladies within the clubs in their respective counties.
• Work with all clubs within the county to enhance ladies competition.
• Create a ‘Ladies Club Ethos’ to promote ladies football.

The CSO must be:

• Development minded
• Have coaching qualification
• Good interpersonal skills
• Flexible

Full training will be provided on the new role and expenses will be matched, as well as continued support from Provincial Board and Croke Park.

If you think you have the qualities for this role, please let your respective County Board know.

The first year of implementation of this plan will be reviewed and the strengths and weaknesses assessed, however, Provincial Chairman Tommy Donohue hopes to see improvement at the end of the first year. “We would like to see every club have a 7 aside team this year,” Donohue hoped, “We want to create a club ethos in this and create club competition. “

Keep an eye out for the CSO specification which will be released at the start of next week.

British Ladies’ New Development Plan (Please Share)

By Cathal Harkin