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Christchurch Gaelic Football 7's Tournament

North Hagley Park, Saturday 23rd July 2011

The Christchurch Gaelic football 7's tournament took place Saturday last in North Hagley Park. Over 80 Gaelic footballers, both ladies and men, from Auckland, Wellington, Rakaia and Christchurch participated in a very successful tournament. In all 8 men's teams and 3 ladies teams provided hours of entertainment to a large group of supporters and even some stunned passers-by who did a double take, some wondering what sport they were indeed watching.

The first ball was thrown in at 10am with the men's and ladies final all wrapped up by 5pm. Tatum Rickard, our official time-keeper, did a miraculous job keeping the games on schedule. Our 4 fantastic referees - Frankie, Fiona, Mal and Padraig undertook a challenging job officiating 19 games in total. Aside from refereeing Fiona also managed the Christchurch ladies football team, acted as official photographer, undertook the role MC at the social night and carried out a host of other jobs on the day.


Christchurch Ladies (Ladies runners up)	Christchurch Fletchers (Mens Winners)	Wellington Ladies (Ladies winners)

The men's competition consisted of two groups of four. Two Christchurch teams - Christchurch 1 and 2 won through to the semi-finals over the Hutt Valley and Rakaia 1 teams in Group A. The Christchurch Fletchers and Wellington won through in Group B beating Rakaia 2 and Auckland on their way to the semi finals.

Meanwhile the ladies were playing a round-robin with each of the 3 teams playing each other once. Wellington were to the fore in both of their games while Christchurch easily overcame Auckland. This was a momentous occasion for Christchurch ladies as this was their first win since the team was formed just over a year ago.

Down to the semi finals. Christchurch Fletchers showed their strength and youth with a comfortable win over Christchurch 1 captained by Liam O' Gorman in the first semi final. Meanwhile on the second pitch Wellington won a close fought encounter over Christchurch 2, captained by Darren Maher.

The ladies final featured a Christchurch and Wellington rematch. On this occasion Christchurch were much quicker out of the blocks and with some superb performances by captain Lisa McCombs in attack, Niamh O'Malley in defence and Caroline Harvey in goals, they held a 2 point lead at half time. However, Wellington fought back in the second half and with a few well taken goals eventually succeeded with a 3 point win, the scores ending 2 - 7 to 2-10.
The men's final was played at a furious pace, which was a credit to Frankie Fitzpatrick, the referee, who managed to succeed in the difficult task of allowing the play to flow while maintaining a strict discipline on the field. Christchurch Fletchers won through in the end by single point, and hence the Paddy Ward cup remains in Christchurch for the 3rd year in a row.

With the games all played, the action moved to the Irish Society Hall where prize givings took place, and the players were entertained by the Bubblemen. Over 150 people passed through the entrance on the night. Johnny Condon, Kevin Morrisey, Anto Emms and Laoise Condon played a stormer behind the bar. Una Flynn, Lisa McCombs, Susan Murphy and Jeanette Fitzsimons did a great job greeting our guests at the door. Fiona Walsh was a wonderful MC and Jeanette and Laoise managed to feed the hungry masses with pizza.

Thanks to all involved in the organisation of the tournament. It was fantastic to run such an event at a time when many newly arrived Irish in Christchurch are trying to find their feet in this city. Our guests from Auckland, Wellington and Rakaia were very impressed by the facilities both at Hagley Park and the Irish Society Hall. Looking forward to next year's tournament already.