National Forum

Club Boundaries

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Hi,
This might be covered in a previous post, I just can't find it if it is. Is there somewhere one can check club boundaries? I've recently moved to just outside Gorey but not sure if I'm in the Naomh Éanna or Castletown catchment area.
My playing days are long past but I'd like to get my children involved in the sport but just not sure which club I should send them to.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Pinewood (Wexford) - Posts: 3 - 19/06/2023 21:07:30    2487620

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You could be opening a bigger can of worms here than you realise :)

If you're in the Naomh Éanna area, then strictly speaking you're in the Tara Rocks catchment area too (since they're the same parish as Naomh Éanna), which means your children could end up playing for Kilanerin as well. It's complicated!

Seriously though, if you want to check and be sure of doing things right, club boundaries in Wexford are defined by parish boundaries. The County Council has a useful list of all townlands in each parish:
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/54312877/county-wexford-catholic-parishes-and-their-townlands
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Have a look under Castletown (page 14) and Gorey (page 27) and see where your townland is. That should give you the answer you're looking for.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 20/06/2023 11:20:13    2487736

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Replying To Pinewood:  "Hi,
This might be covered in a previous post, I just can't find it if it is. Is there somewhere one can check club boundaries? I've recently moved to just outside Gorey but not sure if I'm in the Naomh Éanna or Castletown catchment area.
My playing days are long past but I'd like to get my children involved in the sport but just not sure which club I should send them to.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks."
Ask your neighbours.

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1452 - 20/06/2023 11:21:53    2487740

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Replying To Pinewood:  "Hi,
This might be covered in a previous post, I just can't find it if it is. Is there somewhere one can check club boundaries? I've recently moved to just outside Gorey but not sure if I'm in the Naomh Éanna or Castletown catchment area.
My playing days are long past but I'd like to get my children involved in the sport but just not sure which club I should send them to.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks."
You are parish bound. Parish indicates the club.

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 405 - 20/06/2023 11:34:25    2487745

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Any child can play for any club but once you have played competively you are bound to that club unless u live or move to parish of another club .
Ie in Castletown parish u could start with naomh eanna . If it doesn't work out you could move to Castletown at end of year transfer in befirecend January .
But if u start with Castletown and live abd continue to live in that parish u cannot move ie the parish rule .
Wherever your kids go to school and whichever club it's affiliated with will be ur most likely choice of club . Ie friends of yiur kids they play snd socialise with . Hang on until u get all the unfortunately and which situation suits best maybe try both out first .

Formertownie (Wexford) - Posts: 184 - 20/06/2023 11:45:34    2487750

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Replying To Formertownie:  "Any child can play for any club but once you have played competively you are bound to that club unless u live or move to parish of another club .
Ie in Castletown parish u could start with naomh eanna . If it doesn't work out you could move to Castletown at end of year transfer in befirecend January .
But if u start with Castletown and live abd continue to live in that parish u cannot move ie the parish rule .
Wherever your kids go to school and whichever club it's affiliated with will be ur most likely choice of club . Ie friends of yiur kids they play snd socialise with . Hang on until u get all the unfortunately and which situation suits best maybe try both out first ."
There's both correct and incorrect information in this post.

It's true that strictly speaking, a child can play for any club up to U10. Somebody living in Castletown could even play for Fethard if they wanted to.

But once you play at U12, that becomes your official "First Club", and you can only join your "First Club" if entitled to so under rule. Under general rule and Wexford bye-laws, three main provisions would apply to children:
1 - General rule - the child is living in the catchment area of that club.
2 - Bye-law - the child's parents were living in the catchment area of that club at the time the child was born.
3 - Bye-law - the child is attending or has attended a rural National School in the catchment area of that club.

Note how it specifies rural National School. So for example, somebody living in the Gorey area but attending school in the Castletown GAA area (think Tara Hill NS is Castletown?) would be entitled to join Castletown. However, somebody living in the Castletown GAA area and attending school in Gorey would not be entitled to join the Gorey club, since the Gorey school is not a rural school.

These rules are of course bent and broken all the time, and it's up to the original poster here if he wants to add to the list of people doing that. But the original question was simply how to find out which club's catchment area they're in, and that list of townlands per parish from the County Council should answer that one.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 20/06/2023 14:01:43    2487824

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You should see where your children's classmates play I think. Afterwards they can move between clubs until they start playing competitively, ie while they are playing "go games" up to u12. Once they play competitively for a club they have to seek an official transfer if they want to move club.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12139 - 20/06/2023 14:36:18    2487842

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You should see where your children's classmates play I think. Afterwards they can move between clubs until they start playing competitively, ie while they are playing "go games" up to u12. Once they play competitively for a club they have to seek an official transfer if they want to move club.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12139 - 20/06/2023 14:52:22    2487853

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Thanks everyone for the great advice and information.
So according to the The County Council list of all townlands in each parish:
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/54312877/county-wexford-catholic-parishes-and-their-townlands link from pikeman, thank you for that, we are in the Naomh Éanna catchment area. Our kids go to Tarahill NS which is right next to Castletown club. So if I'm not mistaken according to the bye law they can play for castletown being that Tarahill NS is a rural school.
Funnily enough Tarahill as a townsland is under the gorey list of towns lands, but I think the school is linked or affiliated with the Casteltown club.
Am I right in saying then that my children can play for Castletown at any age and remain with them to senior level and or also have the option to change back to Naomh Éanna at any stage say for example when they go to secondary school in gorey and may want to change back if their classmates are playing for Naomh Éanna for instance.
Thanks again for the great advice

Pinewood (Wexford) - Posts: 3 - 22/06/2023 00:20:33    2488295

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Replying To Pinewood:  "Thanks everyone for the great advice and information.
So according to the The County Council list of all townlands in each parish:
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/54312877/county-wexford-catholic-parishes-and-their-townlands link from pikeman, thank you for that, we are in the Naomh Éanna catchment area. Our kids go to Tarahill NS which is right next to Castletown club. So if I'm not mistaken according to the bye law they can play for castletown being that Tarahill NS is a rural school.
Funnily enough Tarahill as a townsland is under the gorey list of towns lands, but I think the school is linked or affiliated with the Casteltown club.
Am I right in saying then that my children can play for Castletown at any age and remain with them to senior level and or also have the option to change back to Naomh Éanna at any stage say for example when they go to secondary school in gorey and may want to change back if their classmates are playing for Naomh Éanna for instance.
Thanks again for the great advice"
One of NE's best players and won them their county final played with a different club his up to adult and went to a rural school half an hour away so I'd say it's possible to change to NE anytime.

grassroots01 (Wexford) - Posts: 169 - 22/06/2023 09:57:55    2488330

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Replying To Pinewood:  "Thanks everyone for the great advice and information.
So according to the The County Council list of all townlands in each parish:
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/54312877/county-wexford-catholic-parishes-and-their-townlands link from pikeman, thank you for that, we are in the Naomh Éanna catchment area. Our kids go to Tarahill NS which is right next to Castletown club. So if I'm not mistaken according to the bye law they can play for castletown being that Tarahill NS is a rural school.
Funnily enough Tarahill as a townsland is under the gorey list of towns lands, but I think the school is linked or affiliated with the Casteltown club.
Am I right in saying then that my children can play for Castletown at any age and remain with them to senior level and or also have the option to change back to Naomh Éanna at any stage say for example when they go to secondary school in gorey and may want to change back if their classmates are playing for Naomh Éanna for instance.
Thanks again for the great advice"
Have just looked at a few things on this myself, and it's actually getting complicated. Anyway, please bear in mind I'm mainly doing here is just trying to explain things according to a strict interpretation of the rules, rather than saying what you should or shouldn't do, or making comment on how fair or unfair the rules themselves might appear to be.

Tara Hill NS is actually the townland of Kilcavan rather that the townland of Tara Hill. But according to the County Council document, both Kilcavan Upper and Kilcavan Lower are Gorey rather than Castletown.

However, the school is only half a mile from the main Castletown pitch, so easy to see why there's a link there. Could be the case that many or most of the children who attend school there actually live in the Castletown parish, but cross the parish boundary in order to attend school. So they'd be playing for Castletown/Liam Mellows on the basis of residency rather than school.

So strictly speaking, if you're living in the Gorey area and your children are attending school in the Gorey area (which is where Tara Hill NS sits, despite its proximity to the Castletown pitch), then the option of joining Castletown isn't actually open to you at all.

Perfectly understandable though that you'd prefer to send them to Castletown if that's where most or all of their schoolmates are going, and nothing stopping you from doing so up to U10 Go Games level. And while strictly speaking they wouldn't be allowed to join to play officially from U12 upwards, realistically, it's unlikely anyone would object. Have already acknowledged that these rules are bent or broken fairly regularly, particularly in the cases involving border areas like this. And quite likely there are several other examples already of children on the Gorey side of Tara Hill NS playing for Castletown anyway.

If you want to send the children to Castletown, maybe have a quiet word with somebody in the club there, and if this is a long-established precedent in the area, go ahead and think no more about it.

Also bear in mind that if they ever do want to transfer to Gorey, there'll be nothing standing in their way, since they'll already be satisfying both the residency and the school requirements!

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 22/06/2023 12:33:10    2488383

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Replying To grassroots01:  "One of NE's best players and won them their county final played with a different club his up to adult and went to a rural school half an hour away so I'd say it's possible to change to NE anytime."
I wouldn't use that particular transfer as an example to anybody. :)

The player in question was granted a transfer to the Gorey club on the basis of residency in the town, as he produced specified documents to show residency at a Gorey town address.

Think it's well known that at least some people had certain suspicions over the whole thing, but I'll make no specific comment about that particular case..

What I will say more generally though is that if I wanted to transfer to Gorey myself, I could get such documents too. For example, say I had friends living at 1 Main Street, Gorey:
- I can tell my bank that I want to change my address to that. Now I'll have bank statements to show that I'm "living" there.
- I can also tell my mobile phone provider that I've changed address, and I can get my friends to put my name on their ESB account. Now I'll have utility bills to show that I'm "living" there as well.
- I can do the same with anything else that I trust my friends with.
- I present all these documents to the Transfers Committee, and hey presto, I become a Gorey player too.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 22/06/2023 12:46:07    2488389

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "I wouldn't use that particular transfer as an example to anybody. :)

The player in question was granted a transfer to the Gorey club on the basis of residency in the town, as he produced specified documents to show residency at a Gorey town address.

Think it's well known that at least some people had certain suspicions over the whole thing, but I'll make no specific comment about that particular case..

What I will say more generally though is that if I wanted to transfer to Gorey myself, I could get such documents too. For example, say I had friends living at 1 Main Street, Gorey:
- I can tell my bank that I want to change my address to that. Now I'll have bank statements to show that I'm "living" there.
- I can also tell my mobile phone provider that I've changed address, and I can get my friends to put my name on their ESB account. Now I'll have utility bills to show that I'm "living" there as well.
- I can do the same with anything else that I trust my friends with.
- I present all these documents to the Transfers Committee, and hey presto, I become a Gorey player too."
Surprised at you Pikeman!

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12139 - 22/06/2023 13:16:42    2488400

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Id be looking at the club with the best set up and structure to be honest.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 1919 - 22/06/2023 13:26:35    2488407

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Replying To Viking66:  "Surprised at you Pikeman!"
Lol.

I tend to know about rules and procedures, through various positions I've held over the years.

But that means I also know about ways people use to get around them. :)

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 22/06/2023 14:20:26    2488435

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Replying To veterngaa:  "You are parish bound. Parish indicates the club."
Not necessarily. Parish in Cavan Town has 3 clubs . Next door neighbours are often from different clubs.

Breffni1969 (Cavan) - Posts: 510 - 22/06/2023 14:26:38    2488438

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Replying To Bon:  "Id be looking at the club with the best set up and structure to be honest."
Both the clubs in question are excellent clubs with great facilities. Both have large underage playing numbers with 2 teams in u12 at least, and likely through the other age-groups also. 1 is Senior in football and Intermediate A in Hurling, and the other is Intermediate in football and Senior in hurling.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12139 - 22/06/2023 15:19:01    2488459

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Replying To Breffni1969:  "Not necessarily. Parish in Cavan Town has 3 clubs . Next door neighbours are often from different clubs."
Yes, but would expect that in a case like that, somebody in the Cavan Town Parish only has the choice of the three clubs within that Parish, so they're still Parish-bound.

Similar applies in Wexford town, where there are four football clubs. Anyone living there can choose any of the four clubs as a First Club, but all sorts of county bye-laws have had to be introduced over the years to restrict what was the practice of big numbers of players moving wholesale between the clubs almost every year.

Or even the example of Gorey, being discussed here. As alluded to in my first post, anybody living anywhere in the Parish of Gorey can join either Naomh Éanna (the main club there) or Tara Rocks. Tara Rocks traditionally only draws from a small number of townlands, but it's still within Gorey Parish, so the option to join there is open to all in Gorey Parish. But again, they're still Parish-bound, in that they can't go outside to join a club in a different Parish.

You're right though about not necessarily being Parish-bound everywhere, as some counties don't operate a traditional Parish Rule at all, and have other systems in place instead.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 22/06/2023 15:31:55    2488462

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All very interesting, thanks for all the information, I probably know more than most locals on the topic now ;-)
I know exactly where I stand now at least and have all the info I need to decide which club my kids should play with. They are both excellent clubs.
Thanks again

Pinewood (Wexford) - Posts: 3 - 22/06/2023 20:05:22    2488518

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Replying To Pinewood:  "All very interesting, thanks for all the information, I probably know more than most locals on the topic now ;-)
I know exactly where I stand now at least and have all the info I need to decide which club my kids should play with. They are both excellent clubs.
Thanks again"
Hope they get on well wherever they go anyway.

Both you and Viking are correct that they're both excellent clubs, very well run and with very good facilities. You're spoiled for choice, really!

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2258 - 23/06/2023 08:52:53    2488555

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