Community
All of this material was written by David Sneyd and printed in The Star newspaper. Reprinted with permission.
Ronan O’Flaherty
Dave Morrissey
@dave_pats
2021 has been challenging from a community perspective and as we edge towards the easing of Level Five Restrictions, we look forward to recommencing face-to-face community engagement activities in the coming weeks. As these are my first notes of the year, I hope all our supporters are keeping safe and well and fingers crossed we will all be back at Richmond Park together in the near future. In the first edition of The Saint, an article detailing the PreSeason with Pat’s Health and Well-Being programme was published. It was an absolute pleasure to coordinate this programme alongside academy staff Niall Cully, Sean Fogarty and club volunteer Rob Cullen. Leaving the visible health and well-being improvements aside, engaging
with a segment of the Pat’s community every Monday, at a time when many people are feeling isolated, represented a real high point of my week. It was wonderful to be able to facilitate engagement and create bonds between the first team and our supporters in the lead up to the League of Ireland season. The player’s spoke about how dedicated the group were during preseason while offering valuable insights and nutritional advice to the supporters – ultimately taking an interest in the off the field activities of St Pat’s in a manner which simply cannot
be fabricated. The sheer dedication of this team has been evident throughout the early weeks of the season and they ultimately deserve to be supported by a fervent audience at Richmond Park – a revitalised team challenging at the right end of the table has the ability to transcend football and have a real positive impact in the local community and let us all hope those days are not too far away. In the meantime, the following community programmes will be commencing in the coming weeks.
One Club, One Community Family Challenge Creating local pride in Inchicore – St Patrick’s Athletic in conjunction with Frontline MC – encouraging families to create time for physical activity and healthy family meals. This programme channels the power of football and teamwork to reinforce the importance of family resilience and togetherness. One Club, One Community entails •
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Education Programme (May – June) Reconnecting the community through the power of football In May, we intend to build on the success of the Saints and Scholars Football and Numeracy Programme and adapt it in a way that safely meets the needs of local primary schools during the last two months of the academic year. We intend for Richmond Park to become a socially distanced outdoor classroom several days per week with numeracy and physical exercise activities provided for students alongside a healthy lunch for each student. This programme will address the following issues currently being experienced by the local school community: •
Weekly interact fitness challenges encouraging family exercise in the local community
Attendance Issues – Students with poor attendance records have fallen behind on course work throughout the pandemic.
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St Pat’s first team players set weekly nutritional challenges highlighting quick and easy meal with ingredients provided to families
Behavioural Issues – Unfortunately there has been increased reports of anti-social behaviour with local youth lacking focus in their daily lives.
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Covid has caused a disconnect between schools and the wider school community – due to the lack of outreach opportunities – St Patrick’s Athletic is best placed to facilitate community re-engagement as we strive to overcome the societal effects of Covid-19.
Parents to receive a nutritious breakfast at Richmond Park on Friday mornings
2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No. 1 • St Patrick’s Athletic v Drogheda United
2021 Season • Vol. 33 • No. 1 • St Patrick’s Athletic v Drogheda United
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