Oct 8, 2019
MUSCAT – Until yesterday, only 13 cricketers in the world had hit an international century in all three formats of the game. Now it is 14, with Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien adding his name to that list. O’Brien’s scintillating century against Hong Kong was also not only his first T20 International ton, but the first-ever for Ireland too.
O’Brien has had a busy year – not only has he played 30 times for Ireland across all three formats of the game, but domestically he has featured in a double-trophy winning Leinster Lightning side in the Test Triangle Inter-Provincial Series, and his club side won the Clear Currency National Cup for the first time last month.
Cap number 655 for Ireland, O’Brien first appeared in the green on 11 June 2006 in a List A match against Sussex. Now, just over 13 years later, the Dublin-born all-rounder is approaching his 350th appearance for Ireland (currently 349). Along the way he has collected a number of records, including fastest century in the Cricket World Cup (2011), first Test century for Ireland (2018) and now first T20I century for Ireland (2019).
Routinely reinventing his game, he has only this year been elevated to the opening role in T20I this year and the move has seen him flourish. In 2019, O’Brien has scored 583 runs from an incredible 353 balls in 14 innings, an average of 41.64 and a strike rate of 165.16. This is currently the fourth highest number of runs in a calendar year in T20I cricket history, and he still has potentially eight to ten more matches to play before the end of the calendar year.
Speaking from his hotel in Muscat on a rare day off of late from playing or training, O’Brien said:
“It’s obviously a very proud moment to score the first T20I century for Ireland. I’m very happy with the way it’s turning out since moving to the top of the order, and hopefully the form can continue for the next 2 to 3 weeks leading into the World Cup Qualifier.”
“The squad is progressing nicely and, despite a little setback against Oman, all-in-all we’re playing some good cricket. We’re putting up some good totals, we’re fielding very well in most games, and we’re starting to improve slowly with the ball. We’ve still got three games before the first Qualifier match in Abu Dhabi, so if we can continue this trend we’ll be in a good position. Fingers crossed we can use the next three games as good preparation and look to win all three – they’ll be three tough games so we’ll have to play well.”
Oct 8, 2019
7th October 2019: Rhys McClenaghan has qualified to the pommel-horse final at the 2019 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, the first ever world final for an Irish gymnast. McClenaghan scored a superb 15.200 on pommel yesterday during the first of the two-day qualifying rounds and goes into the finals in the hugely impressive 2nd position. In doing so his qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is looking very positive, however the official confirmation will come from the international gymnastics federation (FIG) once the apparatus final draws to a close next Sunday 13th Oct. Rhys will compete in the pommel horse final on Saturday 12th October with finals starting at 3pm.
Commenting on the achievements Ciaran Gallagher, CEO Gymnastics Ireland said:
‘Rhys has done it again! Another historic result firstly for himself and secondly for Ireland as a sporting nation. I can only congratulate Rhys, our national coach Luke Carson and Performance Manager Sally Johnson on faultless preparation for this event following his shoulder surgery in later 2018. Along with the rest of members and staff at Gymnastics Ireland We can wait to see him compete in the World Pommel Final on Saturday!’
Fellow gymnast Adam Steele scored 77.431 in the All-Around competition, ranking 76th in the world concluding competition. Earlier in the week gymnasts Emma Slevin, Meg Ryan and Kate Molloy also finished on the Women’s All-Around qualifiers Friday with the highest score of 13.400 on Vault for both Ryan and Slevin. For the Women’s Artistic gymnasts this competition was focused on gaining experience at their first senior Worlds and continuing in their long-term preparation and development targeted at the World Championships in 2022 and Paris 2024. For full results, live scores and more details of this competition visit the official World Championships website here. https://www.stuttgart2019.de/en/event/finale-geraete-1/
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Editors notes
For more information contact Caroline Ledwith caroline@gymnasticsireland.com
Photography is available FOC to sports desks
Oct 3, 2019
Following on from previous notices in January 2019, the Data Protection Commission issues an important message on personal data transfers to and from the UK in event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit.
All-Island NGB’s may find this relevant.
https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/news-media/latest-news/dpc-issues-important-message-personal-data-transfers-and-uk-event-no-deal
Please also see below a list or digest of information on general queries relating to Brexit. “Getting Ireland Brexit Ready”, which contains a series of guidance notes and other website references for nearly all of the areas mentioned above:
- Getting Ireland Brexit Ready
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/a7ba02-brexit-info/
- Administration and Banking
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/52c5c4-administration-and-banking/
https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa
- World Trade Organisation – VAT, Tax Customs
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tariffs_e/tariffs_e.htm
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/bf5200-data-management/
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/a09c0f-brexit/
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/7feff3-brexit-business-useful-contacts/
Oct 3, 2019
For every €100 invested in sport by Government, Exchequer receives up to €195 in tax revenues – new report
Research findings published by the Federation of Irish Sport in partnership with Investec
- Research into economic value of sport in Ireland represents first major evaluation study since 2010
- Key findings include: sports volunteerism valued at €1.1billion; sport supports €2.7 billion in consumer spending and directly employs 39,500 people
- Sports tourism is worth €500m annually, rising in years when the country hosts major sports tournaments
- Research represents first phase of a comprehensive body of research into the value and impact of sport in Ireland.
For every €100 invested in sport by the Irish Government, the Exchequer receives up to €195 back through taxes on sports-supported expenditures and incomes, according to new research published by the Federation of Irish Sport in partnership with specialist bank Investec.
The Federation of Irish Sport is the representative organisation for the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and the Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in Ireland. The Federation’s membership consists of over 100 NGBs and LSPs from all 32 counties, including the GAA, FAI, IRFU, Swim Ireland, and Athletics Ireland.
The research partnership represents the first phase of a larger body of research aimed at evaluating the economic value and impact of sport to the Irish economy, government and volunteering, as well as its health and social benefits. The research is drawn from a range of EU-level and Irish-level data sources*.
Key findings from the report include:
- Employment: Sport contributes approximately 4% of gross added value in Ireland. It directly employs 39,500 people, accounting for 1.7% of the workforce. This is a greater number than the total number of primary school teachers in Ireland.
- Household expenditure: Sport accounts for 7% of total consumer expenditure. This equates to an average of €30 per household per week, putting it on a par with clothing and footwear, and alcohol and tobacco.
- Volunteering: The economic value of sports volunteering is approximately €1.1 billion per year, should the average industrial wage be applied to this unpaid work.
- Sports tourism: Sports tourism generates €500 million per annum, and more in years whereby Ireland hosts major international sports events.
- Government funding: State investment in sports has not kept pace with the improvement in the public finances during the economic recovery. Central Government expenditure on sports and recreation is lower than 2009 despite a 77% increase in tax revenues during this period. This is at odds with the beneficial impact of sports investment on the public purse.
- Government return: The State may recoup approximately €195 in tax revenue for every €100 it spends on sports-related goods and services. An active sports-related economic policy can also help counter unemployment.
- Health costs: In addition to a positive revenue impact on the public finances, increased investment in sport could reduce public health expenditure. An estimated 62% of the population are overweight or obese. This is believed to cost the State over €1 billion annually. Separate research estimates that there are 4,000 preventable deaths in Ireland each year due to physical inactivity.
National Sports Policy 2018–2027
Last year, the Government launched Ireland’s first ever National Sports Policy, a comprehensive ten-year plan to get even more people participating in sport and physical activity.
Within this, the Government pledged to double sports funding from €111 million per year to €220 million per year over a ten-year period, including an 11% increase in capital funding in the 2019 Budget.
In light of the publication of the National Sports Policy, the Federation of Irish Sport made a Budgetary Submission in August this year asking that the Government again deliver on its commitment to increasing investment in current sports funding.
FOIS Comment
Speaking at the publication of the report, Mary O’Connor, CEO of the Federation of Irish Sport, said:
“Sport is central to the Irish story. It’s also an essential contributor to the Exchequer, social inclusivity and participation, health, and tourism. Critically, as our research shows, investing in sport makes economic sense.
“The last significant body of economic research undertaken in Ireland was the Indecon Report published by the Irish Sports Council in 2010. Thankfully, nearly a decade later, the Irish economy and our public finances are in a far healthier place. Tax receipts are up 77% on ten years ago and the general economic sentiment is cautiously confidence, despite Brexit and other international challenges.
“However, as our research demonstrates, Government investment in sport has not kept pace with growing tax revenues. The National Sports Policy 2018 – 2027 signalled a very positive step forward in demonstrating the Government’s renewed commitment, and critically, the €2.5 million increase in core funding in Budget 2019 represented the first budgetary increase in a decade. While this increase was a relatively small sum of the money in the overall Budget spend, it had a hugely positive impact on the Irish sports community.
“Our single biggest ask ahead of next week’s Budget is that it provides for further investment in people and programmes. We believe it is essential that Budget 2020 takes the second step on the road to meeting the National Sports Policy’s very laudable goal of doubling sport funding over the ten-year life of the policy.
“Sport needs this to happen on a year-on-year basis if it is to meet the challenging participation targets set out in the National Sports Policy.”
Minister Griffin comment:
The Minister of State for Sport, Brendan Griffin TD, also welcomed the publication of the report:
“The value and significant contribution of sport to Irish society comes across very clearly in this research. The Government is acutely conscious of the importance of sport and we have spelt that out very clearly in the 10-year National Sports Policy that was launched last year. We have committed to increasing sports investment over the next decade and we will progressively deliver on that commitment”.
The Federation of Irish Sport’s ‘An Assessment of the Economic Benefits of Sport in Ireland’ report is available to download at IrishSport.ie.
ENDS
For media enquiries, contact:
- Paddy O’Dea| paddy@pr360.ie | 01 637 1777 | 086 357 3365
- Barry Murphy I barry@pr360.ie I 01 637 1777 I 087 266 9878
Notes for editor:
*The entire research bibliography and methodology is detailed in the report. The report is available for download here
Sep 25, 2019
As part of European Week of Sport, Cara in conjunction with Sport Ireland coordinated a day of inclusion training at the Kerry Sports Academy for the network of Sport Inclusion Disability Officers based in the 29 Local Sports Partnerships nationwide. They were also joined by a dedicated team of Cara tutors who deliver over 100 inclusion workshops nationwide.
The inclusion training was facilitated by two international leaders in Inclusive Sport and Physical Activity. Dr Lynn Anderson is a Distinguished Service Professor in the Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies Department at State University of New York at Cortland, and the director for the Inclusive Recreation Resource Center. She has been active in the field of therapeutic recreation, inclusion, and outdoor recreation for over 40 years. Dr. Lauren Liebermann, is currently a Distinguished Service Professor at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, and teaching adapted physical education. She is the leading authority in the world on physical activity and sports for children who are blind or visually impaired.
Speaking at the training day Cara CEO, Niamh Daffy said: “We are delighted to have both Dr Lynn Anderson and Dr Lauren Lieberman here with us today to further upskill the network Sports Inclusion Disability Officers and Cara Tutors who are all doing fantastic work at community level to bring about more inclusive practice with the aim of increasing sport and physical activity participation opportunities for people with disabilities. ”
More information can be found at www.caracentre.ie or by contacting Michael Gilroy at mgilroy@caracentre.ie.
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Sep 25, 2019
There was a record-breaking day on September 8th along with three thrilling Finals as new winners were crowned across all three grades in front of a record crowd of 24,730.
Kerry got the day off to a start with a bang as they claimed the Premier Junior crown for the very first time, in what has been a remarkable rise over the last decade for the Kingdom. Midfielder Patrice Diggin was the star of the show as she drove her team on to see off a valiant effort by Limerick, eventually beating them by 0-11 to 0-8.
The Intermediate Final then saw Galway face Westmeath and it was the Leinster side that prevailed having overhauled what looked like a seemingly unassailable lead of seven points for the Tribeswomen at half-time. Spurred on by stalwart Pamela Greville they roared back in the second-half to claim their maiden Intermediate title and seal promotion to Senior Camogie in 2020 by a scoreline of 1-11 to 1-9.
The main event more than lived up to expectations as Galway produced a barnstorming performance including three stunning goals to eventually beat Kilkenny by 3-14 to 0-17 to claim only their third Senior All-Ireland title and their first since 2013. In a high-scoring affair Galway led for much of the game but it wasn’t until the closing minutes that they finally put the tie beyond doubt. An electric performance from the experienced Niamh Kilkenny in midfield was key in their attacking display as she caused problems for Kilkenny all afternoon.
The final act of the day was therefore for captain Sarah Dervan to collect the O’Duffy Cup on the steps of the Hogan Stand as it began its journey west across the Shannon!
