Community Games Awarded Investors in Diversity Bronze Certificate by the Irish Centre for Diversity18/4/2023 Community Games, one of the leading providers of sports and cultural programmes for children aged 6 to 16 in Ireland, has been awarded the Investors in Diversity Bronze Certificate by the Irish Centre for Diversity. This certificate recognises Community Game’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in its programmes, policies, and practices.
Achieving Investors in Diversity Bronze shows that Community Games has built a strong foundation that it can use as a platform to begin embedding diversity and inclusion into wider organisational practices. The achievement of the Investors in Diversity Bronze Certificate sends a positive message to all employees, volunteers and participants and is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of every member of the Community Games team. Gerry McGuinness, President of Community Games, expressed his gratitude and pride in the organisation's achievement: "This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our staff and volunteers. We are proud of this achievement and look forward to building on this foundation to embed diversity and inclusion into our wider organisational systems." David Hoysted, CEO of Community Games, echoed Gerry’s sentiments and added; "We are thrilled to receive the Investors in Diversity Bronze Certificate from the Irish Centre for Diversity. This certificate is a testament to our commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our work, and we are honoured to be recognised for our efforts. We will continue to strive towards creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all children." The Investors in Diversity Bronze Certificate by the Irish Centre for Diversity is a significant milestone for Community Games, and it underscores its commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in Ireland's sports and cultural landscape.
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The IRFU and Community Games have agreed a new partnership to help more young people develop active and healthy lifestyles through rugby. A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed and signed by both organisations at an official event in the Aviva Stadium on March 30th. The MoU is effective immediately and is designed to forge new links between the IRFU and Community Games in the coming years. Community Games is an independent voluntary organisation with over 50 years’ success providing sporting and cultural opportunities in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the agreement, X Rugby 7s will be the format of choice for Community Games with their clubs, counties and provinces. X Rugby 7s is a seven-a-side format of the game played cross-pitch. Its popularity within Irish Rugby continues to grow as a way of attracting new players into the sport. It offers all the fun and core skills of rugby union without the need for 30 players or a full-size pitch. The partnership will also provide training and education opportunities for Community Games volunteers who want to develop their coaching skills in rugby. Speaking at the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Gerry McGuinness, President, Community Games, said “We are delighted to enter this historic partnership with the IRFU and are grateful for their commitment to providing expert guidance and training to our coaches.” David Hoysted, CEO, Community Games, added: “We are delighted to provide our participants with a chance to experience the excitement and camaraderie of rugby and we are keen to ensure that this opportunity is available to all our Community Games Areas. Chair of IRFU Youth Committee Robert Deacon said: “This agreement is an important development for rugby in the community. IRFU Age Grade, Student & Rugby Enterprise Manager Eoin Hogan commented: “I’m particularly pleased that X Rugby 7s has such a significant role to play – it’s a proven format for growing the game in developing programmes across the four provinces. This partnership has been a number of years in the making and we are very confident about working with Community Games in the coming years.” Community Games is delighted to announce they have renewed their contract with Bus Éireann and Transport for Ireland as the organisation's official travel partner.
Community Games has a history of connecting communities through a large programme of arts and sporting events aimed at children aged from 6 to 16 years. Community is also very important to Bus Éireann so this partnership is a natural fit bringing thousands of families together. Gerry McGuiness President of Community Games said ‘’this sponsorship is very important to Community Games as we face into a very busy year of events. Everyone is familiar with Bus Éireann and the excellent transport infrastructure they provide all over Ireland connecting communities. We are delighted to have them working with us to deliver the key values of Community Games to communities and families nationwide’’. Achieving 90 million passenger journeys this year, Bus Éireann operates more than 225 million kilometres, representing the largest public transport network in the country. With over 400 registered areas spread all over the Republic of Ireland and 10,000 volunteers, travel is an important and very relevant aspect of Community Games with events at County, Regional and National levels scheduled throughout the year. David Hoysted CEO of Community Games was delighted to see Bus Éireann and TFI stay on as Official Travel Partner acknowledging the great relationship already built between both organisations who successfully overcame many challenges together over the lockdown period. ‘’We are very excited to be able to get back to a full programme of events with Bus Éireann on board welcoming over 9,000 children and their families to our National Final events alone." “Bus Éireann is at the heart of communities throughout the country, connecting people to who and what matters to them every day. We are proud to be renewing our partnership with Community Games as official travel partner for the fourth consecutive year,” said Eleanor Farrell, Bus Éireann’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Operating the largest public transport network in the country, Bus Éireann is the ideal partner to bring together the thousands of children and volunteers who participate in the games in over 400 locations to enjoy such a wide and varied programme of events in arts and sports. We look forward to enjoying this year’s games and wish everyone the best in their chosen endeavours.” To find out more visit - www.communitygames.ie It's great to be back with a complete programme of events for our Community Games children throughout Ireland! Our 2023 full list of Community Games Events is available for download HERE To visit our Calendar of when Nationoal Finals are taking place CLICK ON THIS LINK LtoR Phyllis Farrell, Community Games Director, Paul Doogue, Chairman Carlow Community Games, Mayor of Carlow Fintan Phelan, David Hoysted Community Games CEO, Cllr Brian O'Donoghue Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, Gerry McGuiness, Community Games President, Jane Walsh Community Games Communications Director Community Games came together with Carlow County Council in the beautiful surrounds of the newly refurbished The Exchange building in Carlow town to announce Carlow as the new home for three of the larger finals. SETU, with their range of top class facilities and running track, will be the home for the athletics and outdoor teams national final events after their successful management of the athletics finals in 2021/2022. Community Games is delighted to be back with a full programme of events for 2023 following the covid break. An estimated 160,000 children will take part in Community Games events across the year from all over the Rep of Ireland with an estimated 9,000 children making it to National Final events throughout the year. The VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art and George Bernard Shaw Theatre will be the home for the highly acclaimed Community Games Arts National Finals where children from all over Ireland will represent their County in a host of events from Art, Handwriting, Model Making, Music, Singing, dance and much more. This lively and colourful event will be open to the public with lots of entertainment on offer. Cllr. Brian O'Donoghue - added ‘As Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council it’s a source of great pride for me, the council and the County at large to be the new home of some of the largest Community Games finals. A partnership between the local authority and community games makes absolute sense. We proudly put forward the councils own Visual and George Bernard Shaw Theatre, our world class contemporary art centre as a fitting host and as a University town, our county town is ready and able to host and welcome all our guests and huge thanks must go to Veronica Campbell and all at SETU Carlow. It is my hope that this partnership can be reflected across the whole country in the years to come. Speaking at the announcement in the Carlow Exchange building, Mayor of Carlow Fintan Phelan said the following ‘This is an incredibly exciting time for Carlow with the arrival of three large Community Games National Finals for the next three years! As Mayor of our Town I am looking forward to welcoming young people and their families from all across our Country to Carlow, they won’t be disappointed with what we have to offer in particular the excellent facilities in the South East Technological University and Visual Carlow’. Gerry McGuiness President of Community Games also spoke at the announcement and thanked Cllr. Brian O'Donoghue Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council and Fintan Phelan Mayor of Carlow for their valued support and all the hard work done behind the scenes to bring these very large events to one County. The facilities on offer and the support of all the host venues has made this move a seamless one and I am personally looking forward to welcoming the larger Community Games family to Carlow later in the year. David Denieffe – Vice President South East Technological University was in attendance at Carlow Exchange and shared the following - ‘We are delighted that Carlow has been chosen as the home for the Community Games Arts, Athletics and Outdoor Team National Finals. At South East Technological University we are building a great relationship with Community Games after successfully hosting the Track and Field Championships in 2021 and 2022. We now look forward to growing this partnership by adding the Outdoor Team events to the list of events hosted on our state of the art facilities at our South Sports Campus.’ David Hoysted CEO of Community Games acknowledged the ground work done by everyone in Carlow County Council and by Carlow Community Games in bringing these large events to Carlow and complimented the facilities on offer and the support they provided for the 2022 Arts Finals in Carlow College, St.Patricks, The Visual and Athletics finals in SETU. We look forward to this new collaboration making the 2023 even larger. Nerilie Duffey said Carlow College, St Patrick's is proud to be one of the host organisations for the Community Games for the coming years. The College has a long history of working closely with community groups and promoting arts and culture within Carlow. We are looking forward to welcoming the range of events that will be hosted on our campus. Emma Lucy O’Brien – CEO & Artistic Director, Visual Carlow made the following valid points ‘The health and happiness of our communities relies on initiatives like Community games, as a cultural experience it recognises the importance and interconnectedness of physical, mental and social wellbeing. VISUAL is very proud to be one of the host organisations for the coming years and looks forward to working with the Community Games team and to welcoming thousands of participants from all over, to Carlow.’ Paul Doogue - Chairman of Carlow Committee Games closed the announcement by saying ‘Carlow Community Games are honoured for some of the National finals to be held in Carlow for the next three years. As chairman I’d like to welcome everyone to Carlow and looking forward to seeing all of you’ 2023 promises to be a very busy year for Community Games with an estimated 9,000 children expected across National Final events representing their County in everything from Soccer to Singing to Swimming to Skittles. Find out how you can get involved at www.communitygames.ie/counties The full 2023 calendar of Community Games National Final events for is now available at www.communitygames.ie/calendar with details for all National finals including Indoor team events, swimming and more. Come along to our online training session on including EVERYBODY in Community Games - facilitated by the Irish Centre for Diversity
This training session is on January 11th at 6:30pm and is FREE for our volunteers and parents but places are limited! Register by clicking here: https://www.communitygames.ie/edi.html County Draw 2023
1. LIMERICK 2. LOUTH 3. CLARE 4. WICKLOW 5. KILKENNY 6. CAVAN 7. CORK 8. MAYO 9. CARLOW 10. KERRY 11. WATERFORD 12. ROSCOMMON 13. WEXFORD 14. DONEGAL 15. LEITRIM 16. OFFALY 17. LONGFORD 18. MEATH 19. DUBLIN 20. KILDARE 21. LAOIS 22. WESTMEATH 23. TIPPERARY 24. SLIGO 25. MONAGHAN 26. GALWAY Team Draws: Semi Final 1 Connaught v Ulster Semi Final 2 Leinster V Munster In the event of only 3 teams being entered from provinces, Ulster will be asked to provide their runner up to ensure full participation. We were delighted to host an online panel event together with our friends in Move2B, the brilliant Niamh and Orna and the exceptionally talented Sarah Quinn and Maeve Gallagher to talk about expanding the horizon for girls/women in sport! Have a watch and hear directly from the girls about what it is like to take part at an elite level in sport and listen to them talk about how Community Games played such a big part in their journey! One thing we learned for sure - be undeniable! There are no limits just endless possibilities! What a super day out in Limerick on 24th September at our National Outdoor Teams, Swimming, Marathon and Cycling on Grass Finals in University of Limerick! Well done to everyone for taking part! Dan Morrissey (Limerick Hurler) and Maria Cooney (Galway Camogie Player) were our special guests on the day and they were truly awestruck by the talent and enthusiasm of the children! Sincere thanks to all our Volunteers! Our Outdoor Team, Marathon and Cycling on Grass Results are available for download by clicking HERE and our Swimming Results are available HERE. Tickets for our Finals this Saturday in UL are now on sale.
To find out more about each event and purchase tickets please visit the links below. Best of luck! |
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