By John Harrington

Crossmaglen Rangers in Armagh have joined the growing number of GAA clubs to offer a weekly GAA For All training session for children with additional needs in their local area.

The first such session took place last Saturday and was a huge success with 12 children taking part.

It’s just the latest worthy initiative in a long line of them by the very active Crossmaglen Rangers Healthy Club Committee.

“A local teacher, Sarah Cairns, is a player with the club and she decided that she'd spearhead it with directions from the GAA’s Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Geraldine McTavish,” says Crossmaglen Rangers Club PRO and Healthy Club Officer, Róisín Murtagh.

“She went to St. Peter's GAA club in Warrenpoint, Co. Down to see how they roll out their own GAA For All initiative and then she organised a coaching team here in the club and got them all vetted.

“A number of the coaches are ex-players and a number of them were managers before so it's really taken off well and they're now in the process of buying more equipment.

“It was a fantastic day. We had 12 kids and we're now in the process of getting them jersies. We had a couple of enquiries since from Monaghan clubs so we'd hope to have more than 12 next week. I think once the word spreads it'll grow and grow.

“It's a great outlet for kids who can't take part in conventional games and it wasn't just kids from our own club who took part. We had kids from across South Armagh and North Louth. Crossmaglen Rangers are spearheading it with our own coaches, but we're welcoming children from right across the border region and a number of clubs were represented on Saturday.

“The kids had a brilliant time and all of them really took part in it. We had it in the main field so the parents could watch from the stands because obviously they would be anxious how their child with additional needs would adapt to a new environment.

“I also shared the pictures of the coaches who would be involved beforehand with the families taking part so the children would already be familiar with the faces before they arrived and we would have let the parents know too exactly what would be taking place.

“It just all fell into place really well, the sun was shining, and everyone had a great time. Hopefully we can build on that now.”

Crossmaglen Rangers are one of the best know clubs in the country for all they’ve achieved on the football pitch, but they’re now also quickly earning a well-deserved reputation for being very proactive in their community off the pitch too.

Their Healthy Club Committee has rolled out a number of really well received initiatives that have made an appreciably positive difference to the lives of many people in the community.

“It's just been fantastic,” says Murtagh. “During the lockdown everyone in the club really embraced the Healthy Club initiative. We quickly identified what the needs were in the community and we had a This is Your Life event with Oisin McConville as the host and a number of famous people as guests. An awful lot of people logged in from home to watch that.

“Then we had a colouring competition for the wee ones at home. Then we had a 'Rangers has Talent' show. People couldn't go out and socialise so they performed at home and sent in the videos and I'd share them on a Sunday night.

“The Healthy Club Initiative has just taken us on a great journey. The most successful initiative we had was an addiction awareness evening that Oisin McConville and myself organised and Oisin was the host. (Offaly footballer) Niall McNamee took part, and we had two ex-players who spoke of their own experience with addiction as well as representatives from Cuan Mhuire (Addication Treatment Centre).

“We got Armagh TV to video it and it went out live and we had something like quarter of a million hits on it. Our following on Facebook has gone up an awful lot. In the last 28 days we've reached 400,000 people. So as well as being known for what we achieve on the field, we're also beginning to be known for what we do off the field as well because we're such a community oriented club.

“A number of people have reached out for help since that evening so we're delighted with that.”

The club continue to put a big effort into enhancing the emotional health of their club-members by partnership with organisations such as Samaritans and the Magnet Young Adult Centre.

“We have the Magnet Youth services coming in every week for seven weeks and each team at underage level will go and have a session that covers areas such drug awareness, alcohol addiction, and mental health problems," says Murtagh.

“We have also partnered with the Samaritans and will have a Mental Health talk later in the year and we're also taking part in Darkness into Light. So we're extremely busy, but it's all good. The need is there in the community for support, especially after Covid.

“We've noticed an awful lot of children were quiet, even children who weren't quiet previously. They seemed to lose some of their social skills and it's great to have them back out on the field.”