Calgary Chieftains Looking Forward to An Exciting 2008 Gaelic Season
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
Adrian Lagan is the chairman for the Calgary Chieftains Gaelic Football Club and I spoke to him on my recent visit to Calgary about upcoming events for the club in the coming year.
Afer their annual dinner dance and awards night in November, they will hold their AGM on December 1.
Adrian said, "the Seattle Gaels have expressed an interest in taking part in our tournament in 2008, and if I am still on the board I will most certainly suggest that we make ourselves available and invite them to Calgary.
"Seattle has a strong hurling team and if they come to Calgary we would put together a hurling team made up of players from Edmonton and Calgary.
"I'm not sure if they have a men's Gaelic football team at the moment, but Seattle certainly has a strong ladies Gaelic football team.
"If the Seattle team comes to Calgary, we would again combine players from the Calgary and Edmonton ladies teams, which would make for a very interesting tournament."
Last summer, Rory Lynch along with four or five other experienced Gaelic football players and some soccer and rugby players formed a men's Gaelic football team in Red Deer, Alberta. In a very short time they soon became a force to be reckoned with.
Speaking about how quickly it all came together, Adrian said, "the Red Deer team came to Calgary this year and played in our tournament, and they beat the Australian team in both games. They played in the Edmonton tournament and beat the Edmonton Wolfe Tones team...an eye opener to everyone."
Red Deer have a very good young team and Lagan said it is understood that in 2008 they will be part of the Western Division and participate in the Western Division Championship, which can only add more excitement and interest to the league.
He said, "we're already thinking of starting up a league between ourselves, Edmonton and Red Deer and playing every second week-end in Red Deer in order to help Red Deer become more established.
"When you just train every week and are waiting for a tournament, it's not as interesting as playing games. So the more games you play, the more interest. Also, whenever we do have tournaments, we'll be much better prepared.
"Our number one priority now is to increase the membership in the men's team but we really need recruitment for the ladies team. We also want to work at increasing the knowledge of Gaelic games in Calgary."
For more information about membership in either the men or women's Gaelic football teams, call Adrian Lagan at (403) 998-5664 (cell) or (403) 257-3068 (home). Check out their website at: www.calgarygaelicfootball.com.
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