‘There’s a lot of moving parts and you have to work hard to get every section working in tandem together’
“Things like you might have a couple of good under-12s and the under-14 manager would go looking for them to play and that would be repeated all the way up along. And the result was, you’d burn out the good players and as well as that you’d have lads that were older than them going to training but seeing these lads come in and play ahead of them. So you’d lose them as well. That’s just one example.
“But overall, once we got better structures in we started to get better. We has a strategic plan for 2012-2017 and then got to work on another. On top of that, you had Mayo coming through then and playing in Croke Park every year. And you had Lee Keegan representing the club. And lots and lots of work by volunteers, of course.”
Westport’s rise over the past decade has brought its own challenges. Like most urban clubs, they’re stuck for space. They have a new pitch on the way in September and they’re relying on help from local schools a bit in the meantime. The edgiest couple of hours in the club every year is the pitch allocation meeting where football , hurling, camogie and underage all state their case and fight their corner.
“The challenge in a place like Westport is getting the One Club model to work,” says Lambert. “There’s a lot of moving parts and you have to work hard to get every section working in tandem together. Everyone is using the facilities, which is a great way to be, but that brings wear and tear, it brings maintenance costs, it brings energy costs and insurance and all the rest of it. The challenge is to keep it going and not fall back to where we were.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
All challenges are different for GAA clubs - in Na Fianna, we crave spaceSympathy towards Dublin super-clubs might be in short supply, but first-world problems don’t go away just because you call them that
Read more »
Joey Carbery’s omission a career blow; GAA clubs forced to adapt to modern challengesThe Morning Sports Briefing: Keep ahead of the game with The Irish Times sports team
Read more »
GAA continues to stay on top of sporting TV ratings despite rise of rivalsFor a fourth year the All-Ireland final was the most watched sports programme but soccer and rugby had strong showings
Read more »
GAA: Cork secure McGrath Cup crown for first time since 2018Steven Sherlock and Brian Hurley both secure seven-point hauls
Read more »
Former Mayo star Lee Keegan's life with teenage sweetheart & two young daughtersKnown as one of Mayo GAA's 'greatest', the much-loved Westport man announced his retirement from inter-county football last week, stating that he 'couldn't commit' to it now that he has his own family
Read more »