Club Sligo

[SLIGONIAN]

Great new initiative that will help Sligo GAA big time, fair play to those involved, id ask all those connected with Sligo GAA to pass on the word and any of the posters on here outside the county who know any Sligonians who'd be interested in supporting to spread the word aswell.


On this Thursday April 23rd at 8pm in Sligo Park Hotel we will have the launch of a new vision for Sligo GAA its " Club Sligo "  Its County ,National and Global no matter where you reside and you want to be, a Sligo Gael      click on www.sligogaa.ie/clubsligo

The concept of  Club Sligo is an exciting initiative and draws together a coherent vision for the GAA in Sligo with a structured approach to raising the level of funds necessary to achieve this vision

So what can you do for Sligo your county ? -- Club Sligo will enable you to make a difference. Through Membership of  Club Sligo you can/will play a vital role in the future development of Gaelic Games and Culture in our/your county There are a number of benefits for you in being part of Club Sligo

We urge all Sligo Gaels  to be part of  Club Sligo no matter where you reside on this planet to come on board,in doing so we will achieve our aims leading to the success we are determined to bring about

Do you want to be a pioneer, to become part of a success story Cumann Sligeach  Club Sligo ??

[SLIGONIAN]

MORE ON CLUB SLIGO see below, you can now access Club Sligo online and apply there, see link on my avatar below...

Club Sligo is the product of the endeavours of a wide range of Sligo Gaels including Sligo County Board, Markievicz Park Development Committee and Friends of Sligo Football. The 5 key aims of Club Sligo are:

To put in place the necessary finance to achieve GAA success for the County.
To contribute to the effective management of expenditure on our County Teams.
To ensure the County Coaching and Games Development Plan 2007 - 2012 is achieved.
To complete the development of Markievicz Park.
To platform the development of a new County Training facility.
The concept of Club Sligo is an exciting initiative and draws together a coherent vision for the GAA in Sligo with a structured approached to raising the level of funds necessary to achieve this vision.

So what can you do for your County? Club Sligo will enable you to make a difference. Through membership of Club Sligo you can play a vital role in the future development of Gaelic games and culture in our county.

Your commitment will ensure the financial support which is necessary to continually invest in all aspects of our games. We urge all Sligo Gaels, who are in a position to do so, to help us achieve our aims by joining Club Sligo and be part of the success we are determined to achieve in the future.

An Coiste Chontae has launched a new initiative to promote and fund Gaelic Games in the County. This idea which is branded as "Club Sligo" is aimed at raising finance for the games in the County with a dedicated training facility to be among the "wish list" when adequate funding is in place. There will be three membership categories Silver, Gold and Platinum with annual membership of 60, 240 and 1000 Euro respectively. The membership will give the holders various entitlements with the Platinum holders for instance getting their name on a high profile sponsorship board in Markievicz Park and a website business link from the Sligo GAA website among the "perks".

This is Sligo GAA's first major fundraising drive since the Premium Sponsorship deal which has now run its course. The Board along with all Sligo Gaels would like to thank most sincerely those that availed of the Premium sponsorship option and we look forward to the cooperation of old and new friends in order to make Club Sligo a huge success. The commitment to create a dedicated training ground is a priority for Sligo and will involve the purchase and development of land. Success on the playing field brings with it added expense and this is especially true in the case of our new found success in the hurling code. Sligo has a small base from within to raise funding but we feel that the "Club Sligo" option gives people from all over the County the chance to be part of the GAA family in order to promote the games at all levels and age groups in every Club area.

[magpie seanie]

I assume the advent of club Sligo will mean the end of Fiends, sorry - Friends of South Sligo Football?

[SLIGONIAN]

FOSF is really useless, sure look at the fundraisining event theyve organised on Sligogaa.ie, absolute joke. In terms of funds ClubSligo is the future and long overdue so id say FOSF might continue but in terms of serving sligogaa it will have no benefit except to the egos of those who run it. No harm we need fresh approach now and I think we are getting it so hopefully that'll continue. Id hope ClubSligo will get good backing and if anylads on here could get 5 or 6 people to apply it would help massively and I include myself in that but in the current climate it wont be easy.

[Leo]

This is clearly based on the excellent  "Moving Forward With Sligo" scheme that was put in place a few years ago and got off to a great start but did not get enough sustained support from the then county committee who were more interested in doing their own thing and was allowed to wither away. I am sure the current committee will not allow this to happen this time and I look forward to succeess of Club Sligo.

[baoithe]

If this initiative is implemented properly and if there are previously defined channels into which these funds will go then I think it has potential.

If its just money flowing into a pot then that money will disappear into blackholes in no time.

We're mighty in Sligo for initiating these schemes but when it comes to full and proper implementation of same, our track record isn't so good.

[thejuice]

Best of luck with it, hope it pays off. Would be nice to see Sligo win Connacht again.
something similar for fund-raising in Meath would be good, the fan club doesnt do a whole lot.

[SLIGONIAN]

This is clearly based on the excellent  "Moving Forward With Sligo" scheme that was put in place a few years ago and got off to a great start but did not get enough sustained support from the then county committee who were more interested in doing their own thing and was allowed to wither away. I am sure the current committee will not allow this to happen this time and I look forward to succeess of Club Sligo.

There are so many committees now i wouldnt know where to start but of course it needs direction and drivers, the financial commitee needs to go door to door of businesses at least IMO but i doubt that will happen. None of us know what state Sligo county board is in financially but id guess its not in great shape, a new treasurer started recently and id say he'll have to clean up a fair bit of deficit. Personnally i dont think Sligo can afford to allow it to wither away, there are Sligo people who want to support the cause and this a way outside of going to games that we can.

Baoithe I agree with that but i dont think that will happen now. We'll just have to wait and see but id be confident the money will be spent wisely and where its needed unlike in the past. No point speculating on finances as all i know is last yr from published figures running of our county teams was very high, lets just all roll in behind, support it ourselves then get others to support it and see where it takes us. 

[paddypastit]

Club Sligo is a good way to go and we should all support if we can afford to.  

It is both wrong and unfair however to throw around comments like 'FOSF is really useless' when in reality you know little or nothing of what FOSF is about or the people behind it.

I do. Although I have had no involvement with FOSF since 2002, other than to attend events and contribute financially as a punter, I was there on day one when it was founded in 1994 and again when it was revived in 1998. FOSF was actually the organisation that in 2000 or thereabouts cried halt on handing money that it raised over to an inefficent Co Bd that was pouring it into a general pool.

FOSF, and a number of its individual members, were again central to the effort to take hold of badly structured core Co Bd finances and put shape on them in 2001 / 2 which led to the creation of the Finance Committee - I know because I was there and I was on the initial committee.  

It was a later version of that committee, under a new CB chairman, that a few years on devised and delivered 'Moving Forward With Sligo'. FOSF played a direct and hands on role in that initiative.

Although it is less active now than it was, has a good network of people in Dublin that are interested in supporting and contributing to Sligo and not just from South Sligo.  As an example it had a massive raceday in Fairyhouse just a year ago and it actually had an event tonight in Dublin that I couldn't go to because of work. It is fair point that the public face of FOSF as displayed weekly in the Champion notes is 'off beam' and that infleunce is not to everybody's taste in Dublin either but when the cause needs support it is still a rallying call for many Sligo peopl and in slagging it off as 'really useless' you are dumping on the genuine efforts and interest of a lot of good people

[Orior]

What about Sligo's most famous female export Aine Chambers?

http://www.sligozone.net/

Is she doing her bit for the team?

[magpie seanie]

Club Sligo is a good way to go and we should all support if we can afford to.  

It is both wrong and unfair however to throw around comments like 'FOSF is really useless' when in reality you know little or nothing of what FOSF is about or the people behind it.

I do. Although I have had no involvement with FOSF since 2002, other than to attend events and contribute financially as a punter, I was there on day one when it was founded in 1994 and again when it was revived in 1998. FOSF was actually the organisation that in 2000 or thereabouts cried halt on handing money that it raised over to an inefficent Co Bd that was pouring it into a general pool.

FOSF, and a number of its individual members, were again central to the effort to take hold of badly structured core Co Bd finances and put shape on them in 2001 / 2 which led to the creation of the Finance Committee - I know because I was there and I was on the initial committee.  

It was a later version of that committee, under a new CB chairman, that a few years on devised and delivered 'Moving Forward With Sligo'. FOSF played a direct and hands on role in that initiative.

Although it is less active now than it was, has a good network of people in Dublin that are interested in supporting and contributing to Sligo and not just from South Sligo.  As an example it had a massive raceday in Fairyhouse just a year ago and it actually had an event tonight in Dublin that I couldn't go to because of work. It is fair point that the public face of FOSF as displayed weekly in the Champion notes is 'off beam' and that infleunce is not to everybody's taste in Dublin either but when the cause needs support it is still a rallying call for many Sligo peopl and in slagging it off as 'really useless' you are dumping on the genuine efforts and interest of a lot of good people

That's putting it mildly.

[SLIGONIAN]

Club Sligo is a good way to go and we should all support if we can afford to.  

It is both wrong and unfair however to throw around comments like 'FOSF is really useless' when in reality you know little or nothing of what FOSF is about or the people behind it.

I do. Although I have had no involvement with FOSF since 2002, other than to attend events and contribute financially as a punter, I was there on day one when it was founded in 1994 and again when it was revived in 1998. FOSF was actually the organisation that in 2000 or thereabouts cried halt on handing money that it raised over to an inefficent Co Bd that was pouring it into a general pool.

FOSF, and a number of its individual members, were again central to the effort to take hold of badly structured core Co Bd finances and put shape on them in 2001 / 2 which led to the creation of the Finance Committee - I know because I was there and I was on the initial committee.  

It was a later version of that committee, under a new CB chairman, that a few years on devised and delivered 'Moving Forward With Sligo'. FOSF played a direct and hands on role in that initiative.

Although it is less active now than it was, has a good network of people in Dublin that are interested in supporting and contributing to Sligo and not just from South Sligo.  As an example it had a massive raceday in Fairyhouse just a year ago and it actually had an event tonight in Dublin that I couldn't go to because of work. It is fair point that the public face of FOSF as displayed weekly in the Champion notes is 'off beam' and that infleunce is not to everybody's taste in Dublin either but when the cause needs support it is still a rallying call for many Sligo peopl and in slagging it off as 'really useless' you are dumping on the genuine efforts and interest of a lot of good people

If FOSF was so successful why the need for Club Sligo? There has to be a reason, my guess is FOSF raise feck all funds for Sligo, there comments disappoint me weekly in there rants on sligogaa.ie, i just get the impression there maybe not got Sligo as a whole best interests at heart.

Although it is heartening that what they write isnt the taste of all Sligonians in FOSF so its unfair for me to tarnish them all with same brush. For the future FOSF only use is for Sligo Gaels in Dublin to meet up IMO and raise minimal funds and thats no harm so I probably take back the useless comment but i meant in a financial capacity more although im speculating, but Club Sligo is our main hope in terms of fundraising terms and FOSF have to roll in behind that aswell.

Maybe they could organise a CLUB SLIGO launch in Dublin aswell race night in the shelbourne park with all funds going to Sligo GAA, probably get a few members out of that aswell.. my point is i was disappointed with the idea of the latest fundraiser, and think they can do better. Are they all volunteers Paddy and what are theyre numbers?

Paddy you said your were on a past financial commitee, so im presuming you know current members, are they going to drive in behind Club Sligo and get the public and busineses to support it?

[paddypastit]

Sligonian - In general my understanding is that FOSF has been very effective as a fundraising organisation but it was and is Dublin based and was always as such. Club Sligo on the other hand is far wider than that in its appeal and that something wider is needed.  You will find that FOSF are actively supporting and promoting Club Sligo.

Another key difference is that Club Sligo is a Co Bd initiative whereas FOSF, despite its current very close links with indiviodaul Co Bd people, is not and at times in the past has been very substantially at loggerheads with the Co Bd.

In terms of events that they run, they've had a few excellent Shelbourne Park nights of the type that you mention and last year did something similar in Fairyhouse which was I believe very successful as a fundraiser. I don't know what 'latest event' you are talking about so I can't comment on that but anybody involved with FOSF is very much a volunteer (what else would they be?).

Again I don't actually know who is on the Finance Committee now but I do know that one of the people that was intimately involved in setting up Club Sligo was for a number of (its better) years the Chair of FOSF.

Bottom line is, as I think you accept, that FOSF should not be judged only by the approach of one person... important to see the bigger picture