Who are we?
St Macartans Ladies GFC was formed in 1992 and we currently have 200+ members, fielding girl’s teams from U10 to Senior level. Our reach covers rural areas of Eskra, Clogher and Augher County Tyrone.
We are a constituted voluntary Ladies Gaelic Football Club, with a committee elected each year at our AGM. Our Club is focused on providing health, social, educational, sporting, and physical activity outlets through sport for females living across our rural catchments, playing a significant role in rural community driven sport for beneficiaries by providing leisure, culture, social and wellbeing activities in our area.
Our programmes promote inclusivity to all regardless of their background. We do this by providing initiatives that address various societal issues girls face, providing opportunities for our local rural residents in a non-competitive, more inclusive way.
For example, we have facilitated Gaelic for Mothers and Others as well as mental health and wellbeing workshops. The club is based in a rural community, where deprivation figures are high and the lack of opportunities for girls hinders the progress of many, primarily younger girls to reach their full sporting, health, and social potential in life.
Why are we crowdfunding?
We are launching a new girls'Future Sporting Stars. programme to inspire, empower, and engage more girls in sport across Clogher Valley this winter.
We want to provide new opportunities for girls to take up sport and be more physically active. So, we are focused on encouraging more girls to take up sport. Therefore, our initiative is a new targeted approach to supporting more girls to be encouraged again to play sport after maybe not playing for many years (such as older woman) and also younger girls who have never tried sport before.
Crowdfunding will allow us to have a more focused approach to encouraging girls to take up sport, stay longer in sport, encourage more girls into coaching as well as more girls into leadership roles such as team management and committee positions going forward thanks to our Crowdfunding efforts.
Crowdfunding, will help us to cover costs to deliver the programme over 12 weeks from November 2024 to Feb 2025, such as facility hire (because we don't have our own facilities), external coaching costs, equipment, marketing materials to promote the programme etc.
Your donations will also enable us to receive extra funding from Sport NI, because our new programme directly supports girls to take up sport, and it supports rural children & young people – especially those aged between 11-18 years to take up and stay longer in sport, and people living in rural areas for example participants will be those living in rural Eskra, Clogher and Augher County Tyrone.
Our Girls' Future Sporting Stars programme is designed to level the playing field by addressing the specific barriers that have traditionally excluded girls and young women from participating in sports within the Clogher Valley. By targeting both older women who may have stepped away from sports and younger girls who have never engaged in sporting activities, we aim to create an inclusive environment that fosters equal opportunities for all.
Focusing on girls aged 11-18 in rural areas such as Eskra, Clogher, and Augher County Tyrone ensures that those who might lack access to sporting facilities and programmes receive the support they need.
Offering a variety of sports and activities that cater to different interests and skill levels encourages broader participation, ensuring that every girl finds something she is passionate about.
Creating a safe and welcoming space where girls can develop their physical abilities, confidence, and leadership skills helps to dismantle the social and cultural barriers that often prevent girls from engaging in sports.
By covering costs related to facility hire, coaching, and equipment through crowdfunding, we remove financial barriers that may prevent girls from participating, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to join regardless of their economic background.
Our project specifically targets groups that have been traditionally excluded from not only participating in sports but also taking on active roles within sports clubs. This initiative is both new and additional to our regular club activities, focusing on attracting new target groups and developing new initiatives to sustain long-term engagement.
Re-engaging women who may have previously played sports but have stepped away, providing them with opportunities to return in a supportive and structured environment.
Introducing sports to girls who have never participated before, fostering a lifelong interest in physical activity and teamwork.
Encouraging participants to take on coaching and leadership roles within the programme, thereby creating role models and paving the way for future leaders within the club.
Developing a volunteer and coach development programme to ensure that there are qualified individuals to support and mentor the girls, enhancing the overall quality and sustainability of the initiative.
Focusing on rural areas such as Eskra, Clogher, and Augher County Tyrone to reach girls who may have limited access to sports facilities and programmes.
Offering a structured 12-week programme from November 2024 to February 2025 that provides consistent opportunities for girls to engage in sports, build skills, and form lasting connections.
How we’ll spend the money raised
If you make a pledge to our Crowdfunder page, all money raised will go directly towards delivering our new girls programme across Augher, Clogher and Eskra. For example- External facility hire (we dont own our own facilities), coaches over 12 weeks to deliver introduction to sport coaching for girls, allow us to purchase new sports equipment such as balls, bibs, multi sport coaching kits, cones etc to support our female coaches delivering programmes in the community, as well as help us to market the programme through leaflets, posters, sponsored social media posts etc.
Money raised will also allow us to support girls who want to embark on the coaching ladder by doing foundation level coaching awards.
Funding will go towards the following:
- 12 weeks External coaching x 2 coaches, for new sessions such as Strength and Conditioning introductions for girls, Yoga, aerobic fitness for football etc across rural Augher, Clogher, Eskra @ £17.50 per hour per coach, 12 hours per week x 12 weeks= £5,040 total for 2 coaches
- Facility Hire at Clogher GAA, Augher GAA and / or Eskra GAA (£10 per hour x 12hrs per week x 12 weeks)= £1,440
- New female sports equipment such as GAA footballs, bibs, multi sport coaching kits, @ £1,000
- Team kits for new female players @ £1,045
- Market the programme through leaflets, posters, sponsored social media posts @ £250
- Coach Education Budget for female GAA coaching pathways @ £1,225
Community impact
The main impact our Crowdfunder will have is that it will provide more girls in our rural community to access sport, where they cant currently- both younger girls new to sport and older woman who maybe played it previously and want to get back into exercising and learning football skills again.
Another impact our Crowdfunder will have is that it will encourage more girls in our rural community to get active again.
Our project will introduce lots of new elements for girls in fitness such as strnegth and conditioning, yoga, aerobic fitness training for football and so on.
Our Crowdfunder will have a positive effect on girls mental health within our rural community as it will provide them with confidence to take up sport, get active, get fit and healthy.
Our Crowdfunder will have a positive impact because it provides pathways for girls to progress into volunteering, coaching and committee roles in the community in future if they wish. It will also provide opportunities for more girls to access coaching awards.
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!