Limerick soccer club awarded prestigious clubmark one-star status

ABBEYFEALE United have been awarded a prestigious Circle K Clubmark One-Star status by the FAI this week. 

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The FAI has a clubmark award system to recognise clubs that are performing at a high level under a variety of categories.

Abbeyfeale United was awarded entry level status a number of years ago and this year the club engaged in the process of seeking to attain the highly-coveted One-Star accolade.

Having good governance and administration, especially financially, ensuring that all coaches and committee members meet safeguarding requirements, getting all coaches qualified at the correct level in relation to their team and having clear and progressive plans for coach development and player development are all prerequisites for the award.

Abbeyfeale United were informed by the FAI in mid-October that the club had achieved excellence in all these categories and so were awarded the Clubmark One-Star award. Out of 1063 clubs in the country, only 77 have been recognised as worthy of the One-Star, which puts Abbeyfeale in the top seven percent of clubs.

On Monday night, the club was presented with their Award by Barry McGann, the FAI Club Development co-ordinator, and Ger McDermott, the FAI Director of Grassroots Football. The FAI is grateful to Barry and Ger for travelling from Galway and Dublin, respectively, to present the award.

The club is especially grateful to Patrick O’Donovan, Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, for making time to attend the presentation.

Before the presentation, the Minster spoke to the gathering of players, coaches, parents, ground staff and committee members, highlighting the importance of the award and paying tribute to the club for its achievements to date.

Also in attendance were local Councillors Liam Galvin and Francis Foley, both of whom have always been supportive of the club, especially in the aftermath of the serious flooding that took place in the ground a year ago.

After the presentation, the Minster and FAI officials were taken up to the top pitch and shown plans to turn it into a full-size artificial pitch by this time next year. This will cost in the region of €450,000 and a fundraising Movie Night will be held in the Devon Inn in April to help cover payment.

Having a floodlit full-size artificial pitch will be another huge landmark for the Abbeyfeale United and will help the club to push for the ultimate award, Clubmark Two-Star, in the coming years.