Who are we?
Our club is based on the Tyrone Monaghan border, founded in 1970. Our senior men's team will contest the Junior County Final this coming Sunday 13th October! As a club, we provide GAA, sporting and leisure opportunities for the communities and inhabitants of the Parish of Aghaloo and Carnteel.
Our home grounds and pitch is based on the Monaghan Road, Aughnacloy, directly located on the Tyrone Monaghan border. This significant area covers 120 townlands and stretches northward across the B34 Ballygawley Dungannon road.
The club plays a significant role in rural community-driven sport, leisure, cross-community, culture, and well-being within our catchment area across the rural community of Aghaloo. Our main aims, objectives & remit are to provide GAA activities and broader community health & well-being, education and cultural initiatives for everyone in our rural community of all ages and backgrounds.
We achieve this by providing facilities, programmes, and initiatives for all in and around our surrounding rural catchments. Our Club is a community-based volunteer organisation promoting Gaelic Games, Culture, Sport and Recreation and lifelong participation for those living in rural Aughnacloy and surrounding townlands across the parish of Aghaloo and Carnteel, stretching from Caledon to Favour Royal and from the Brantry to Golan.
We have recently developed an additional pitch, walking trail, stand and community health and wellbeing hub called the "Hut". We have three adult GAA teams and 14 underage teams, both male and female, catering for over 250 children.
Why are we Crowdfunding?
We are Aghaloo O'Neills GAA Club, and we are excited to launch this new Crowdfunding Campaign to get more people into sport and exercise in our rural community of Aughnacloy, on the border here with Monaghan.
This autumn and winter, we’re launching a new programme of community sports and exercise over 10 weeks 5 hours per week, which is different to our previous Crowdfunder (that focused on supporting minority ethnics specifically). The programme is designed to offer fun and active winter sports and physical activities for rural, isolated residents, in particular, to get more people active more often!
Our goal is to create a sporting environment where everyone can enjoy staying fit and healthy while accessing sporting programmes in our rural community, regardless of where people come from, and despite rural isolation faced.
We also want to use this crowdfunding to encourage more of our volunteers to become active in coaching, and in particular to target wider female participation at all levels. We will use our current facilities, such as our walking track, to deliver a new "every step counts" programme to encourage people to get outside and walk more.
We will use our indoor facilities and new Health and Wellbeing Centre, "The Hut", to deliver an introduction to fitness programmes for older people and "teen gym" initiatives for young people over 10 weeks, 2 hours per week.
We will deliver 10 weeks of "Every Step Counts” on our walking trail, 2 evenings per week to get more people in our rural border area walking in a safe fully lit environment (away from the busy A5 road).
We will also bring in expert facilitators to deliver a physical fitness programme for young people for better mental health in our rural border community- over 4 sessions. To make this happen, we need your support through our crowdfunding.
Your donations will help us cover the costs of project specific equipment, upskilling opportunities for our volunteer coaches, external coaching and expert facilitator costs, refreshments, and promotional costs to ensure the programme reaches extensively throughout our rural community.
How we’ll spend the money raised
We want to raise £10,000 from this Crowdfunder. With every pound donated, Sport NI will match it up to a max of £5,000. Every donation is crucial therefore, and your support will have a huge impact on our community here in rural Aughnacloy, getting more rural residents active and into sport!
More specifically, we will spend the money raised on the following:
Project-Specific Equipment - £4,000
Purchase of sports and exercise equipment such as yoga mats @ £200, light weights @ £1000, resistance bands @ £100, Multi Sport 10 x Coaching Packs @ £250 each= £2,500 and walking trackers @ £200 for the "Every Step Counts" programme.
2. Coaching Costs and Expert Facilitators - £2,500
Fees for expert facilitators to deliver the mental health fitness programme for young people @ £1,000 for 4 sessions (£250 per session).
Payment for external coaches for the fitness initiatives, such as the teen gym and older adults' fitness programmes over 10 weeks @ £30 per hour 5 hours per week direct coaching (across the various elements).
3. Coach Education and Upskilling - £3,000
Funding to support at least 8 new volunteers in gaining coaching qualifications, particularly for new coaching roles within the Club. This will also help in upskilling for volunteer coaches in areas such as fitness training, mental health awareness, and inclusivity in sport.
4. Promotional Costs - £250
Creating awareness specifically for more older people, youths and females to get involved in the project, through posters in local businesses, social media campaigns, and local press to ensure the programme reaches all rural community members across our parish
Costs associated with designing and printing posters and banners.
5. Refreshments for Participants - £250
Community impact
A key focus of our programme is addressing rural isolation in our parish, a rural border community. This aligns with Sport NI's objective to increase access to sport and physical activity for individuals living in rural areas. By offering a programme tailored to our community, we are directly addressing one of Sport NI's target groups, helping to reduce the barriers to participation that rural residents face.
Our programme is designed to create an inclusive sporting environment, ensuring that everyone—regardless of background—can participate. This resonates with Sport NI’s goal of creating opportunities for people traditionally excluded from sport, including women, young people in our rural area and older people. The inclusion of a diverse range of participants ensures that our club helps “level the playing field,” aligning with the programme’s broader inclusion aims.
A key element of our programme is encouraging more girls to join the club. This aligns with Sport NI’s focus on increasing participation among women and girls, a traditionally underrepresented group in sport. Providing a supportive and structured environment for female athletes will help grow participation in this target group in our Club, meeting Sport NI’s objectives of fostering gender inclusion in sports clubs.
By offering initiatives such as our 10-week introduction to fitness for older adults, our project directly addresses Sport NI's target group of people aged over 65. The programme will provide older residents in our rural parish with a structured, supportive way to become more active, improving their physical and mental health while fostering social interaction.
Our project aims to deliver a fitness programme for young people, with a specific focus on improving mental health through sport. This supports Sport NI's objective to engage children and young people (especially those aged 11-18), ensuring that they not only participate in sports but also benefit from the positive mental health outcomes associated with physical activity.
By using the funds to upskill volunteers and develop new coaches, particularly by helping them gain formal qualifications, our project is building the capacity of the club to offer more sporting opportunities. This aligns with Sport NI’s objective of developing leadership roles in underrepresented groups, including women and people from rural areas, further diversifying the leadership base within our club.
Our programme is not just a continuation of regular activities but introduces new, targeted initiatives such as “Every Step Counts” and mental health- sport focused programmes. Sport NI specifically supports innovative and new projects that engage traditionally excluded groups, and our project’s introduction of fresh opportunities for rural, isolated residents fits well with this objective.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!