Continental Youth Championships: A GAA Report from San Francisco
By JOHN O'FLYNN
VANCOUVER - Earlier in the year, I had the privilege of being nominated by the Canadian Board of the GAA to serve as a referee at the second annual Continental Youth Championships (CYC) in San Francisco, along with Mark Lennon and Noel McGuinty from Ottawa, and Sean Harte from Toronto.
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GAVAN CONNOLLY and Denis Walsh as Gavan is the first recipient to be presented with the award for fair play both on and off the field.
PHOTO: Brendan Flynn
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It was amazing to see, upon arrival at Sea Cloud Park in Foster City, the youth from GAA organizations in places like New York, Chicago, Boston, Denver and Ottawa to name a few. Many dignitaries from Ireland were in attendance and it was truly a festive weekend for families who had traveled from near and far.
Jarlath Connaughton from Ottawa served on the CYC Steering Committee and was extremely busy each day. I’m sure his roommate for the weekend, well-known Ottawa Gael and friend Pat Kelly, noted how demanding the work was for Jarlath each day.
For myself, I was assigned to referee 11 matches over three days that spanned the age groups of U-6 to U-12. Clubs from San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia were the games I had to officiate.
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GAVAN CONNOLLY and Denis Walsh as Gavan is the first recipient to be presented with the award for fair play both on and off the field.
PHOTO: Brendan Flynn
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I was pleased to be assigned to the U-10 A Boys Final between two fierce rivals from New York ( St. Barnabas and Rockland), but uncertain about the added “privilege” of reffing two U-6 matches that reminded me of the movie Daddy Day Care!
The CYC will move to Boston in 2006, Chicago in 2007 , Philadelphia in 2008 and hopefully to Ottawa in 2009. No doubt there is time available for the development of youth games in our cities, whereby more Canadian teams might participate in the CYC in our nation’s capital.
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