Thursday, March 14, 2013

Venturing into the unknown like St. Patrick himself


 

Saint Patrick’s journey to Ireland is similar to that of the four teams who will contest Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland club championship finals. OK, you must use your imagination a little to see those similarities but to those of us who possess an open mind, it is possible.

When Patrick was sixteen he was taken from his home and was sent to Ireland as a slave but managed to escape and return to his family six years later. Now I know what you are thinking, but bear with me and all will be revealed. Patrick remarkably returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop and while little else is known about where exactly he did work or preach, the call he answered was worth the struggle in the end.
Two letters survive which are generally accepted to have been written by Saint Patrick himself. The following is a short excerpt from the most important, the Declaration.

“I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.”

Four teams will open their eyes on Sunday morning knowing that that afternoon, they could be AIB All-Ireland champions. They will have battled and struggled many times before but will have failed to have even come close to where they now are. Ballymun Kickhams of Dublin take on St. Brigid’s of Roscommon and St. Thomas’s take on Kilcormac/K of Offaly. The journey these four teams have made to reach this point is of epic proportion in itself. Whether it is the struggle of St. Brigid’s and legends like Frankie Dolan who have knocked on the door before but failed at the fell at the final hurdle or the majestic rise to glory like a phoenix from the flames of St. Thomas’s. The men of Ballymun and Kilcormac too will hope that they can mimic the feats of their fellow county men in previous campaigns. All four teams deserve to win in their own right but sport does not subscribe to sentiment.

The similarity to St. Patrick’s journey is definitely fitting if a bit far-fetched in reality. But the overall concept of desire and passion for a cause out muscling the struggle is quite appropriate and anyone who has ever played the game will understand this. It wasn’t as if these four teams suddenly decided that they wanted to reach the AIB All-Ireland club finals, no. This has been an epic journey that has spanned decades for most of them and for another a chance to make up for falling short before.

The passion for the club is such that the good will and the encouragement offered to the teams from their friends and family is like the ‘voice of the Irish’ Saint Patrick had heard appealing to him to walk among them. The appetite for success those who have been starved of it for years is immense and the feeling of elation when the final whistle blows will be truly amazing for the eventual winners. The bitterness felt by those who will fall short will also sting in equal measure but the fact that they have reached the summit will give them real belief where once lay wishful thinking. We celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day on the day our patron saint died. We celebrate the AIB Club finals on the same day when we toast the top club teams in our land and take pride in how healthy and well our own games are.

So as you journey to the finals this weekend or watch on at home or in a public house, bear in mind that each and every individual on the field and affiliated to the team have sacrificed a lot to be there and that their journey has been a long and pain staking one. But like Saint Patrick himself as he returned to Ireland and into the unknown, the journey was ultimately worth the struggle.
Gach rath ar na fóirne uilig i bPáirc an Chrócaigh ar Lá Fhéile Pádraig.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Heroes & History Makers


You can find my weekly blog on the Club is Family website here - Cheers, Richie
There will be new names on the AIB Club championship trophies this year. Two lucky clubs will win the right to be known as the best club team in the country for at least a year and they will have certainly earned that right. The beaten finalists will return home disappointed but as heroes in their own communities and will be proud of their achievements once the bitterness of the defeat will have subsided.
The effect of a clubs success runs deeper than just the physical celebrations as the next generation who look on and take pride in their club from a very young, impressionable age are the players of tomorrow.
The greatest marketing tool of any club is success. There are so many sports available to kids nowadays and it’s as competitive a market as any other. Trying to maintain a steady flow of eager young players is a big challenge for any club or organization but the AIB Club championships are definitely something that will keep every generation interested.
When a club is successful in any capacity, the community gets behind them. This is a little unfortunate and ironic in a sense considering clubs with little or no success need the greatest assistance but we are only human and everyone likes to back a winner.
I can recall watching my own club winning the Intermediate club championship when I was a child. It was a dark gloomy day and the rain was falling softly but quite heavily. I vividly remember watching these men and wanting to be there like one of them one day playing for my club. Our club jersey was like a coat of armour and the players like gladiators getting stronger as they fed off each roar the crowd bellowed at them.
My friends and I ran onto the field after the game and celebrated with the rest of our community and family. What a result, what an occasion, what heroes! I remember the smell of deep heat mixed as the steam was rising off the players fatigued bodies and the damp smell of cold fans whose warm hearts kept them from caring about the conditions. This was one of those moments everyone in the community can remember and is often fondly recalled.
My brother played that day and I can remember going through his gear bag when he got home as if to see the tools of the trade or to analyse them in case they differed to what the ordinary lay person like me and my friends wore in our little matches. That success was the first major honour the club achieved and we went on to win one senior county championship to date and losing two more. Winning that intermediate championship was the catalyst and created heroes and history makers.
The joy and confidence that brought to such a small community was immeasurable and is still spoken about today. The first one is always the sweetest and you are always chasing that high from then on. As the clock ticks down to St. Patrick’s Day and the senior finals, heroes and history makers wait to stamp their mark on another chapter in the AIB Club Championships history books. They will influence a generation and possibly many to come which could be argued is the greatest success of all. The competition will be intense and the action immense. Be still our beating hearts

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Public Relations - Easy when you know how

Love them or loath them, you really have to take your hat off to McDonald's when it comes to their marketing and public relations strategies. Their ability to deal with negativity is top drawer and can often help them communicate with their target market. Negativity towards the golden arches is nipped in the bud fairly promptly and the enormity of the organization enables them to respond with considerable weight and a double helping of creativity.

If public relations is "managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public" then that flow of information must be clear and unambiguous and delivered in a way that will make those receiving it happy that their query or complaint is answered to their satisfaction. The use of YouTube has become a huge asset to organizations of all sizes when trying to use the direct communication method of reaching their audience.

McDonald's is exemplary in this type of PR and marketing. Below is an example of how they manage to turn bad into good. They take a potentially sticky and negative situation and turn it completely on its head and use it as a way to highlight or showcase the lengths they go to in providing the customer with as much detail as possible. They are using a potentially tricky question sent to them by a member of the public to feed the public with more positive information about McDonald's. Have a look.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Just One Second

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting an MEP from the Czech Republic Edvard Kožušník and a former Chief of Staff to the President of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka. Edvard is a very interesting man who is passionate about his family, his country and about Europe. I must say he impressed me anyway and I think that was the general feeling among those who had gathered to watch his video, Just One Second.


This video portrays a second in each day of his life from January 30th 2012 to January 30th 2013. It is an interesting idea which stemmed from promising that if elected as an MEP he would cycle from beautiful Prague to Strasbourg for one of the plenary meetings.

He is also campaigning for a one seat of power in Europe. I applaud his ingenuity and his appetite for new, fresh approach to politics. Here is that video.























This is not a promotion of Mr. Edvard Kožušník's by me. 


Monday, January 14, 2013

Tada Againn

(Ceol & liricí le Richie Ó hEadhra)

Chun scéal fada a dhéanamh gearr, tosóidh mé ag an deireadh. Fuair mé tweet ansin ó Úna-Minh Caomhánach atá ag obair (sílim) le www.worldirish.com ag fiafraigh orm an raibh sí in ann cóip do líricí m'amhrán 'Tada Againn' a fháil agus an scéal taobh thiar den amhrán sin.

Rís ag seinm Tí Mholly Lá Stiofáin 2012
Sílim go bhfaca sí tweet a sheol @ireland ag inseacht do dhaoine faoinár ngrúpa ceoil Rís agus an tógra a bhí ar siúl againn ó mí na Samhna go Nollaig ina raibh muid chun deich amhrán nua a scríobh, a thaifead agus a léiriú ós comhair an phobal i ngig beag.

Sin é an mór sprioc atá ag Rís mar ghrúpa, ceol nua-chumtha comh-aimseartha den scoth a scríobh agus a chuir ós comhair an phobal agus daoine eile a spreagadh chun an rud céanna a dhéanamh. Is féidir teacht ar an méid a rinne muid agus an chaoi go ndearna muid é anseo ag Blog Rís

Tada Againn - An scéal taobh thiar de

Ach ó tharla gur chur Úna an cheist chomh deas, seo chuici é. Tada Againn an t-ainm atá ar an t-amhrán agus is scéal é faoi lánúin nach bhfuil ag réiteach chomh maith lena chéile mar gheall ar easpa airgid agus go bhfuil an bhean ag iarraidh bóthar a bhualadh thar lear chun saol nua a thosnú. Síleann sí, mar a shíleann go leor eile agus rudaí go dona gur glas iad na cnoic i bhfad uainn.

Níl sé bunaithe ar aon lánúin áirithe ach sílim go bhfuil go leor daoine timpeall na tíre a bhí níos fearr as le linn an Tíogar Cheilteach agus atá ag streachailt anois agus go bhfuil sé topaiciúil go maith sa gcás sin. Is maith leis an bhfear a bheith ag ól agus níl seisean sásta dul ar imirce léi mar sin gan pingin ina bpóca acu agus lena gcaidreamh i gcontúirt, níl tada mórán fágtha acu. Is scéal brónach atá ann ar shlí cé nach gceapfá é sin le luas an amhráin féin.



Tada Againn


Aifeal fadó an lá
Braon eile ón mbuidéal
'S brón ar an mbás
Scaoil amach an uaigneas
Agus scaoil isteach an ghrá

Siopa eile dúnta 1,2,3
Tada istigh sa mbanc agam
I dtraipisí
Ach seo'd é'n méid atá againn
Scaoil amach ós ard

Solas i do shúile Oh oh oh
Pilliúr leat sa mbaile
Solas i do shúile
Ach níl tada fágtha againn

Níl tada fágtha ach dul san arm
Plean ar bith i mo ghloic agam
Ach tiocfaidh an t-am
Ó a chailín fan liom is beidh muid slán

Ná labhair liomsa faoi do thodhchaí a léamh,
Mar theastódh míorúilt chun do chroí sa théamh
Póigín an bháis 's gan tada eile fágtha againn

Solas i do shúile
Pilliúr leat sa mbaile
Solas i do shúile
Anois níl tada fágtha againn

Friday, October 26, 2012

AIB Club Championships

Launch of the Hurling Club Championship


I'm working with the team at Cybercom on the AIB Club Championship's social media campaign at the moment and I have been posting some blogs recently.

You can have a read of my last two contributions It's a Tribal Affair and Club is community, Club is Family at those links.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Bringing it all back home

Eoin Kelly brings Liam back to Thurles

What a feeling it must be on a Monday morning packing your bag as a winner and gearing up to head home. Bringing Sam or Liam home is a special moment in Irish life, not just in the sporting sphere but in a deeper and more meaningful sense. It is something uniquely Irish when the trophy is brought back to every parish and village in the county hoisted aloft like the Holy Grail.

This ceremonial procession could be a once in a lifetime occurrence and must be celebrated with adequate reverence, well, unless you hail from Kerry or Kilkenny that is.

The week after an All-Ireland final is one of mixed emotions. Depending which side you're on those emotions will range from joy to devastation. For the champions, it's when the sweet feeling of victory really begins to sink in. Lifelong ambitions fulfilled, a dream come true.

Those involved in such a victory bring happiness to so many though they may never realise the significance of that gift. They lift the spirits of their people and their families at home and abroad and of course their clubs also, the place where they kicked or pucked their first O'Neill's football or sliotar.

For the losers, they too will return home. They will find comfort in familiar faces at a reluctant homecoming. Faces and characters who have shaped who they have become and have contributed in bringing them to the highest point in their sporting lives.

Get the head right
It is testament that the clubs are regarded so highly in the GAA when the players are eager to head back as soon as they can win, lose or draw to celebrate or take solace from their own people after a devastating defeat. It is testament also that the people turn out to welcome back their unsuccessful heroes to how much they appreciate their gallant efforts. Life goes on; you are still one of our own being the philosophy.

The GAA and especially its club structure are of Ireland and belong to the people who made it what it is today. That is why it means so much to so many in every corner of the globe. When Jim McGuinness and Michael Murphy cradled Buan Chorn Sam Mag Uidir across the border at Pettigo for the first time in 20 years they were bringing it all back home. Not just the cup itself but the joy and confidence that it brings to every man, woman and child in the county.