National Club Draw provides significant benefits
By Cian O’Connell
Tickets for the 2023 National Club Draw are now available to purchase.
During the past decade €14.5m has been raised for clubs throughout the country, illustrating its importance to the GAA.
In the capital Clontarf GAA club continues to use the draw to generate funds. “It is one of the primary fundraisers certainly for our club, and I suspect that is the case for many other clubs,” acknowledges Clontarf GAA coach Aidan Conlon, who won first prize in the 2022 draw. “We would be huge supporters of it and keen to see it continue."
Connecting with the local community is critical, and the draw offers an opportunity to do so, according to Conlon. “That is the nature of our club,” he says. “If you look at other events - we have created a community event. The club is quite close knit even though it has nearly 2,500 members now.
“It is a great opportunity for us to raise money and that the money is ploughed back into the club. It is great opportunity from our perspective just interacting with members and parents. Obviously parents, particularly of the juvenile membership, are buying most of the tickets.
“The club executive has taken the opportunity to promote things like the nursery by posting videos on YouTube and Instagram.
“It is very visible to the parents, whether they are new parents or parents with kids in the juvenile section for a number of years. We know with the size of the club growing so much the cost of running multiple teams, raising funds is essential in that.”
Conlon, who claimed top prize in the draw earlier this year, is adamant that clubs can benefit significantly too. “I was extremely fortunate and absolutely delighted,” he says about the win.
“I have been buying tickets in the club draw for a long time. I'm a mentor for 10 years, buying tickets and selling tickets, indeed with the club draw for all of that time. So it was fortunate.
“We had two winners in the club, we were very fortunate to get two in the top 10 prizes. I was delighted getting first prize, it was unexpected, but very enjoyable.”
