PREPARING FOR NEXT SEASON – COMMITTEE ELECTING OFFICERS

With last season only concluded and the AGM of the WW/EC League held just two weeks ago, the newly elected committee are in the process of electing the officers of the league for next season, 2013/2014. This will have been done by the time our notes appear in print.

Alan McNamee, the new chairman of the WW/EC League for next season will have conducted his first committee meeting last Monday night at Lismore House Hotel, and we will publish the officers that will look after the affairs of football, junior and youths, for the coming season.

As we wrote in our notes last week, there is a delegate meeting of the league on Monday, 29th July, and at this meeting the draw for the Tony Bolger Cup will take place. The opening games of season 2013/2014 will be played week ending 18th August. The league will then kick off week ending 15th September.

SYMPATHY

Sincere sympathy is extended to the Fogarty family, Killeagh on the tragic death last Tuesday of Diarmuid Fogarty following a car accident. The Fogarty name is synonymous with Inch FC and Diarmuid himself was a member of the Inch B team.

From everyone involved in the WW/EC League we send our sincere sympathy to his family and the extended Fogarty family on this very sad occasion. Ar dheis De ar a anam.

DELEGATE MEETING

There will be a delegate meeting of the WW/EC League on Monday, 29th July commencing at 8.30pm. This will be the first delegate meeting of the new season and the draw for the Tony Bolger Cup will take place. The Bolger Cup will kick off w/e 18th August and the league will kick off w/e 15th September.

There will be no delegate meeting in August as has been the custom for the past number of years, and the next delegate meeting will be held in September.

BIRTHDAY BOY

Last Saturday night we travelled to the Central Bar in Cappoquin to be part of a surprise 70th birthday party for the league’s assistant treasurer, Paddy Mason. It was indeed a surprise for Paddy, who has been involved with the league since its foundation back in 1972.

Having played with Lismore, Paddy then took up refereeing and also became hon secretary of the league for a number of years before taking a break when he helped found the Railway Athletic club that played underage football in the Waterford Schoolboy League.

He rejoined the WW/EC League a few seasons back and is the current assistant to hon treasurer, Michael McBride. It was a wonderful evening.

The hon secretary of the league tells us he has his doubts about Paddy’s age, as he believes he has been an o.a.p. for more years than he will admit! We don’t know, but what does age count, one Paddy seems to be adding the years and the other Paddy is subtracting them. Anyway, both have given great service to the game regardless of age and hopefully will continue to add their combined experience for many years to come.

From us all in the league we wish Paddy a very happy birthday.

MUNSTER JUNIOR AND YOUTH CUP

Entry forms for the Munster Junior and Munster Youth Cups can be obtained from the hon secretary of the WW/EC League.

TOURNAMENTS

A reminder to all clubs that intend running or organising tournaments during the summer, permission must be granted by the Munster Football Association and this permission will be passed on to the WW/EC ISRS. Referees cannot officiate at tournaments unless the organising club has received permission from the MFA.

OUR LOOK BACK

Next week we will take our annual back at all the teams that competed in the WW/EC League last season. As we always emphasise, it is our own assessment of how we saw the twenty teams play throughout the season. Some teams we saw more often than others, but we saw all teams if not once, then twice. It is not a critical view, and neither is it a negative view. We always give our prediction at the start of the league campaign, especially as we have the opportunity of seeing most teams in action in the Bolger Cup, and we did write last September that we felt Brideview may get the upper hand on Valley. But having seen Valley early in the season it was obvious to us that they goal was to retain the league title and this they did on the last day of the league.

As regards promotion, we stated from the outset that Mogeely would win the 1st division with Castlebridge as runners-up, with both teams promoted and this is what occurred.

Next week we will review the premier ten teams and the following week the 1st division teams. We will conclude our review of the season when we name our eleven players that make up our league team of the season.

FAI NATIONAL DRAW

As we announced in our notes last week, the Football Association of Ireland has launched a national draw that will benefit all participating clubs. Tickets are on sale at present by all the clubs in the league, costing €10 each, which will go directly to the club. There is a very small nominal fee to cover administration costs. The draw is low cost and no risk to the clubs that participate and in this current economic climate will be a welcome source of income to the clubs. Any club that sells more than 100 tickets will have their club name printed on the tickets.

The country is split into four regions, Dublin, Rest of Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connaught. Many prizes are regional prizes while other are national prizes. There are also club prizes.

Some of the regional prizes include 4 x Ford Fiesta cars.

So one can see that this draw is a no-brainer for the clubs and this national draw will, without doubt, be a financial fillip for the clubs that participate. The tickets are now with the clubs and the draw will take place at the Aviva Stadium on November 3rd next.

CONGRATS TO CLUBS

In the last few weeks Clashmore and Ardmore clubs have organised tournaments: Clashmore the Len Rodgers Tournament two weeks ago and last Saturday, Ardmore hosted the Ardmore Academy Cup.

Both tournaments were excellently organised and large crowds attended both venues, with the weather a big help on both days. It was fantastic to see the children, especially the U7 and U8, display their skills and the work that the various clubs are doing with the academies was apparent to all of us present.

While there has to be a winning team at the end, all the children that played received a medal for participating, which makes all players winners!! To both clubs we say well done on organising the tournaments.