GAA Handball was represented last Thursday at special event in Áras an Uachtaráin which celebrated volunteerism in Irish sport, with a particular focus on refereeing across all codes.
Gavin Buggy and Michael Finnegan attended the event on behalf of our sport and described it as a “fantastic experience”.
“It was a fantastic day, we really enjoyed it. We were very well looked after and we got to meet loads of different people,” stated Buggy.
“The whole day was framed around community organisations but part of that was the role that referees play in Irish life and sporting circles.
“Michael D did make specific reference to that in his few words. He spoke about the accountability in Irish life and sporting organisatons from the perspective of dealing with people in your organisations being open and receptive to all walks of life, all ethic backgrounds, and the people in the sporting organisations.
“He stressed that we are obligated to treat everybody across the board with respect and dignity. That was what I took from his few words, people in positions of authority should be held accountable for their decisions and they should be made for the greater good of the club and the organisation. It was about respecting one another and respecting people who have gone before us.
“It was about making our clubs accessible and open to people from all backgrounds. He complimented all the referees on their volunteerism and impartiality. I thought he spoke really well.”
There was a large crowd in attendance for the event, which began at 2pm and ran on until the early evening. The handball representatives made a number of useful contacts with officials from other sports.
“There was a cross-section of people there, there was some high-profile GAA referees and Michelle O’Neill from Wexord who is going to be an assistant at the women’s World Cup in Australia,” said Gavin.
The Áras itself is pristinely well kept, the house is immaculate and you get that sense of Irish history and tradition. The gardens are fabulous, we were on the lawn, we were talking to a few different people from different sporting backgrounds.”
Finnegan, who is the chair of the Refereeing Committee, stated: “It was a great event and it was especially great to see GAA Handball represented among many other sports and made very welcome. It was really well organised.
“The Áras itself is a magnificent place with a great aura of history so it was nice to be in attendance there. The President spoke very well and he only singled out two sports for special mention, one was soccer and the other was handball which he said was the only sport he played at inter-county level.”
Music on the day was provided by chart-toppers BellXI and there were delegations there from most of the major sports.
“A lot of top referees from different sports were there on the day. We were made very welcome and spent time chatting to different people from the world of sport including Jacqui Hurley from RTE who has a great interest in handball and was absolutely lovely,” said Finnegan.