Both rural and urban GAA clubs face increasing challenges as demographics in Ireland change. This is one of a series of articles exploring the issues clubs face and what they are doing to adapt
Ballygunner (Waterford)
Founded: 1954. Membership: 900. Teams: 20
Travel the road from Waterford city to Dunmore and roundabout by roundabout and you can see how Ballygunner went from being a rural to a suburban club, as the expanding city strode out the three miles to meet it.
Last year was gilded, as they won a dramatic first All-Ireland club title in February and went on emulate the record of nine successive Waterford titles.
Clubs around the country have found themselves swept up by population growth just as others become pressured by migration but few find themselves being officially re-categorised.
“It really was a rural club that punched far above its weight in the early stages,” says club chair Gerry Cullinan. “They won the minor championship in 1954, the first year and within another 12 years had won a first senior. At that time we were actually in the county of Waterford but by the 1980s, the boundary of the city had expanded.
“In a report it was said of us that ‘we seem to have difficulty in transferring from a rural club to an urban club’.”
They got the hang of it, though, helped by a history of inclusiveness and welcoming outsiders – their founder, Jimmy McGinn, was a soccer enthusiast from Dundalk who simply believed hurling would work better with the youth of the area.
Cullinan is originally from Tooraneena in west Waterford, which, he points out, is the home place of golfer Séamus Power.
“Everyone who moved here no matter where they were from was always very, very welcome. Teams often had someone from Ballygunner involved in coaching as well as a more recent arrival. I’m a blow-in myself! Then, most importantly, our most recognisable players got involved with teams.”
The club has a symbiotic relationship with the longer-established Gaultier, located “out the road” and which provides established hurlers such as Dessie Hutchinson with a football outlet.
In deference to their neighbours, Ballygunner take girls for camogie only up to under-12, at which stage they graduate to Gaultier, which also offers women’s football.
With two new housing developments in the pipeline, a soaring population brings its own challenges.
“Waterford has expanded too much on our side and not enough in other directions.
“Some people worry there could be another club out here. I’m not sure about that. Yes, there could be – and maybe should be – but starting a club isn’t easy. You need a lot of people who are interested.”
