Volunteers in Sports Awards
About the Awards
Every year in Ireland over 400,000 people give of their time voluntarily in the cause of Irish sport through their involvement with sports clubs and organisations the length and breadth of the country. Twelve of those individuals were honoured at a ceremony in Farmleigh House on 24th February, when Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr Martin Cullen, TD, presented the 2009 National Awards to Volunteers in Irish Sport.
Among the recipients of the awards was Jim O'Shea from Waterford, who is the father of Manchester Utd's John O'Shea. He received a lifetime award for his work with local soccer club, Ferrybank AFC. Liz Howard, who has been involved with the GAA and camogie in particular for many years, received the award for National Administrator of the Year. The award for Junior Volunteer went to 17 year old Orla Grehan from Ferbane in Co Offaly for her work with Ferbane Belmont Minor GAA Club.
The full list of award winners were as follows:
| Category | Winner | Sport | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior Volunteer of the Year | Orla Grehan | Gaelic Games | Offaly |
| Adult Manager of the Year | Jimmy Corbett | Ladies GAA | Mayo |
| Adult Coach of the Year | Carmel Malone | Special Olympics | Dublin |
| Youth Manager of the Year | Hughie Nolan | Soccer | Wicklow |
| Sports Official of the Year | Joseph Brown | Swimming | Dublin |
| National Administrator of the Year | Liz Howard | Camogie | Tipperary |
| Disability Sport Volunteer of the Year | Joe and Bernie Walsh | Irish Blindsports | Dublin |
| Youth Coach of the Year | Seamus Reynolds | Rowing | Derry |
| Groundsman of the Year | Joe Cullen | Soccer | Dublin |
| Community Administrator of the Year | Joe O'Flynn | Athletics | Cork |
| Lifetime Award | Jim O'Shea | Soccer | Waterford |
The National Awards to Volunteers in Irish Sports is an initiative of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism in conjunction with the Federation of Irish Sports which represents some 68 sports in Ireland. The scheme is being supported by Setanta Sports, the Community Foundation and the Irish Sports Council. This is the second time for the awards to be presented having previously being presented in 2007.
Speaking at the presentation of the awards Minister Cullen said: "Sport at every level in Ireland could not exist without the efforts of the many volunteers who give their time freely to encourage people to become involved in sport and to nurture those people through the important formative years of their sporting careers. The commitment, generosity and contribution of these volunteers to our communities and society is inestimable. It would be difficult to put a real value on what they give to Irish sport and how Irish sport benefits from their efforts".
"In presenting awards to the 12 volunteers today we wish to recognise all of the 400,000 people who give of their time so freely every year. As a country we punch far above our weight on a world stage. That we do is inextricably linked to the efforts of our volunteers who have undoubtedly nurtured most of our stars to take the first steps to sporting success".
Also speaking at the presentation of the awards, Sarah O'Connor, Chief Executive of the Federation of Irish Sports, said: "Ireland has a rich vein of people volunteering in sport at all levels. It is imperative that we never take such volunteering for granted. Without it we would not have the successes in Irish sport that we have today. While obviously today we have many professional coaches and administrators at the highest level really we should always remember that they can only operate at the level they do given the many volunteers who still give so freely of their time at all levels of Irish sport.
