Coiste Thir Eoghain Annual Report Book 2010 - Tyrone GAA | Tir ...

Sponsors that have been with us for a number of years and which were back again in 2010
included Patrick Fahy & Co (Solicitors) who also supported our provision of match programmes;
we are deeply indebted to Patrick and to Adrian O’Kane for all of their support and assistance.
Club Energise has continued to supply its sports drinks for use by the county’s players at all levels
as well as generous financial support, and for all of this we are particularly grateful to Karla
Quinn. Finally, the GAA in Tyrone continues to enjoy tremendous sponsorship from O’Neills
International Sportswear, based in Strabane, towards teams’ playing and training gear, and also
towards the county’s adult leagues and all youth competitions. This generosity would not be
available to Tír Eoghain were it not for the personal interest in all aspects of our county’s affairs
by the company’s managing director Kieran Kennedy, to whom we offer our sincere gratitude,
once again. His personal attention to our requests for the supply of products, many of which
come at the eleventh hour, is always assured and we acknowledge the much additional work that
he undertakes on our behalf which lies outside the terms of any sponsorship agreement.
Grounds
On 1st January 2010 new licensing laws in relation to sports grounds became effective in the
Six Counties, with each county afforded the opportunity of nominating two venues to become
known as ‘designated grounds’. In Tyrone, Healy Park Omagh and O’Neill Park Dungannon
were selected for this designation under the Safety at Sports Grounds legislation.
A rigorous inspection has been undertaken at each location to ensure that the county’s two
grounds comply with the legal requirements for the Physical and Safety (P & S ) factors of
this legislation ; all aspects relating to the health and safety of spectators, players, employees and
voluntary workers have been examined. The physical structures, including stands, toilets, crush
barriers and terracing have been inspected and tested; there has been a requirement to provide
policies on, and demonstrate their implementation in relation to, crowd control, stewards’
training, car-parking, CCTV usage, entry and egress, ambulance cover, communications systems,
reporting procedures, risk assessments.
At the beginning of November we were granted an official General Safety Certificate by Omagh
District Council for Healy Park determining its capacity as 16,610, and by Dungannon & South
Tyrone Borough Council determining the capacity of O’Neill Park as 3945.
In order to achieve these, a massive of amount of work was undertaken to satisfy the needs of
a wide range of interest groups whose representatives were brought together under the title of
a Safety Advisory Group; this body included representation from the Ulster Council, the Fire
Service, the Ambulance Service, the PSNI, the Order of Malta, Building Control, Environmental
Health (ODC), SportNI and the County Committee.
It is pleasing to report that Healy Park was one of the highest-scoring venues within the Six
Counties, in terms of meeting the requirements of this new legislation, due in the main to the
modern and high standard of facilities in place, but also due to the significant and thorough
work undertaken by the County Safety Officer, Michael McCarney, in the preparation and
drafting of the many policies and procedures that were essential. We are sincerely grateful to
Michael for time, his effort and his outstanding expertise.
Stewards’ Training
Two programmes of Stewards’ Training have been initiated for all counties in the province in
2010; in Phase 1, members from Tír Eoghain clubs availed of all places on the course open
to them. The second phase commenced at the start of November and will run through until
the end of February 2011 at a range of venues, including Omagh’s South West College; this
comprehensive training programme, which is open to all Clubs to participate in, is being
facilitated by Comhairle Uladh and is being funded by SportNI.
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