By John Moore

On Sunday, December 4 at the Riverdale Steakhouse, the New York GAA will elect a new board and chairman to lead the association for 2006. I have put together a plan for the next 12 months should I be elected.

This plan is designed to raise the bar for the entire association. I believe we can achieve all the points that are stated.

Randalls Island Gaelic Sports Complex

*Work with Croke Park to secure their grant for the project. This is going to have to be guaranteed to the City of New York.

*Lead New York GAA fundraising to raise $1 million over the next 12 months and $2 million over the next 18 months.

*We have a lot of very bright, smart people who are ready to think and work outside the box. Clubs are not going to be asked for money.

*Work with the RIGS board to move the project forward to secure investors for all investment opportunities in this project.

*Continue to work with politicians and other Irish organizations who have an interest in this project, on securing matching grants, etc.

Sponsorship

*Immediately meet with our main sponsors to secure more sponsorship money. We have not been smart in our staging of sponsorship events including the player’s awards. Our sponsors’ territory includes Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.

*Immediately secure additional sponsors for our county teams. There are lots of companies out there who would welcome the chance to become an additional sponsor of our county teams if we treat them properly.

Senior Hurling

*Hurling is our native game. We must promote and market hurling as if it were an endangered species. The following plans will be put into place immediately:

*An urgent meeting of the senior hurling division to install the chairman of this division for the forthcoming year.

*Installation of the manager and selectors for the New York senior hurling team. Commencement of plans and training for first round vs. Derry.

*A complete roll-call of all hurling clubs, personnel, management, players, etc. to ensure we do not lose any more hurling clubs.

*Creation of a budget of all expenses needed by the county hurlers and this Division for next season.

*Solid plans to support the development of underage hurling started by Chris Dalton and the Rockland County club. The goal of this plan will be to try and have one underage club for every senior club within the next year. All funding for hurls, helmets, sliothars, jerseys, etc. to be supplied by the county board to the hurling board to nurture and develop underage hurling.

*Creation of hurling championship between New York and Boston clubs that will not interfere with domestic championships, and choosing the best time of year for these games.

*A list of fundraising activities by the hurling division to fund the supporter’s club.

Senior Football

*Senior football needs a lot of work. At present, two clubs I have spoken with have stated that it’s extremely unlikely that they will have a team next year. This situation demands immediate attention along with several other issues, including the imminent return to Ireland of some of our top county footballers, due to no leadership in New York. These players have assured me they will stay if we can get our act together.

*The following plans will be put into place immediately:

*Urgent meeting of the New York football division to install new chairman for the forthcoming year.

*I feel the outgoing chairman, Damien Devlin deserves serious consideration for another year. His time and energy was not put to good use by the county chairman this past season.

*Immediate plans to put in place a manager and selectors for the New York county team. All players seem very content with the efforts of the current management team and feel they need help, not change.

*Immediate plans created and signed off by all teams by this division to stamp out all illegal players.

*An immediate review of the senior A and B championships to see if there is another format that would spark new interest from players, officials and supporters.

*A budget of all expenses needed for the county football team and this division.

*A list of fundraising activities to fund the supporter’s club.

*Plans from this division to bring more players through from the Minor Board.

*Plans to keep our top senior players in New York and securing the services of four or five top young players to play in New York next year by encouraging the clubs to reach out and secure these players that might be thinking about going elsewhere. We must be pro-active on this to turn our footballers into true championship material.

*Creation of football championship between New York and Boston clubs without interfering with domestic championships and choosing the best time for these games that can be played in Boston, New York, Glastonbury and the Catskills.

Minor Board

*The New York Minor Board is the future of the association. The following plans will be put in place immediately:

*Solid plans to have every available Minor Board player registered with a junior or senior football team next year.

*Solid plans to find summer work and weekend work to help these young players.

*Solid plans to increase the amount of partial and full scholarships.

*Plans for more prime time games in Gaelic Park.

*Plans for investing of a minimum of $20,000 per year in the Minor Board, by the Senior Board.

*Plans for securing separate sponsorship for all Minor Board competitions, exclusively for the Minor Board.

*Working with the Minor Board to support the excellent leadership shown by those who have done major work in securing playing fields in Tibbets Park. We need all of the playing fields we can get.

Junior Football

*This is the hardest working division in the association with plenty of tight, exciting games. Better playing conditions is their only demand. I intend to fully explore the possibilities of more games at Gaelic Park for this division. There are games played in at Gaelic Park that do not belong there, including the much talked about relegation game between Tyrone and Monaghan, which Monaghan failed to field a team for.

*The County Board chairman refused to enforce the rules for failing to field a team and then claimed that the game did not matter. This begs the question — if the game did not matter, why was it scheduled for Gaelic Park? Surely a lot of junior games are more deserving. Plans for this division include the following:

*More games in Gaelic Park.

*The use of playing fields on Randall’s Island with permanent goal posts for next season.

*Plans to introduce more Minor Board players to the junior divisions.

This is a critical time for the New York GAA. How Seamus Dooley in last week’s Irish Voice can claim that New York teams need a rest shows how far out of touch they are with reality.

Roscommon have already appointed and commenced training under one of the top managers in Ireland. Mr. Dooley needs to log on to wiseup.com and get with the real picture.

All Gaels should be outraged by the failure of one newspaper to print any interviews on this election. It is high time the New York GAA builds better relationships with all papers and promotes the association to the fullest. I intend to achieve this should I be elected.

This is America, freedom of press, freedom of speech. Please vote for a better future for the New York GAA. I will not let you down.