Clontibret Welcomes North London

Clontibret Welcomes North London to Féile  who will  be playing in Division 4

The London County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was created in 1896 and has provided a home away from home for many generations of Irish people in London ever since. Many illustrious people have been involved in London GAA such as Sam Maguire, Liam McCarthy and Michael Collins. Due to our proximity to Ireland and the ease of access to transport routes to and from London, it has always been a destination that has attached plenty of Irish dating back centuries and as result the GAA is very much engrained within the London Irish community as well as the wider community as there are many other nationalities playing GAA in London. London GAA has always been and continues to be the largest overseas unit of the GAA as it has 32 Adult Football and Hurling Clubs, with 11 of these clubs having an underage structure.

The North London panel consists of players from St Clarets, Tara, Parnells, St Kiernans, Tir Chonaill Gaels and North London Shamrocks. Our U14 players are delighted to be able to participate in the John West Peile na nOg 2017 and are looking forward to demonstrating their enthusiasm and skills at this prestigious tournament. The tournament will be a wonderful experience for all the players taking part and will be an honour for those boys representing North London.

There is a lot of great work being undertaken by the London Youth Board and the clubs in London with underage coaching of Gaelic football and hurling which has seen the numbers of kids playing increase year on year and with the tremendous work being done at underage level to promote the game and develop players who are London born and bred. Many young players are of Irish origin but in recent years we have seen a new breed of player as there are now hundreds of young people playing our games from the wider London community.

There are many hardworking and dedicated volunteers operating within all London GAA clubs and this will continue and lead us into a bright and beautiful future for London GAA. For all the boys selected on the North London team this it is a reward for all their hard work and training as most of these boys have been playing Gaelic Football from eight years old and this is a testament of the hard work which is being undertaken within the clubs in London.

The North London management team of Barney Breen, Tony Griffin and Declan Ryan are delighted with the way the preparations have gone and are looking forward to the tournament as it is an opportunity for the boys to showcase their skills and talents.

London GAA Youth Board would like to express gratitude to the Berkeley Foundation who are sponsoring the London GAA Development Squad for 2017. Finally, we would like to wish the best of luck to all teams participating in the 2017 Feile na nOg, all our players, parents, coaches and volunteers from all over London travelling to the North of Ireland for this fantastic event and want to thank all the people who give up their time to support our games and cultivate a culture for our young people to grow and prosper within the county.

Panel