Conan Byrne Charity Golf Tournament
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
In November of 2009 Conan Byrne won an FAI Cup winners medal with Sporting Fingal when they beat Sligo Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on what was a savagely wet and windy Sunday afternoon. The next day he boarded a plane at Dublin airport and flew to Zambia where he had chosen to experience a very different side of life.
He brought €15,000 with him, raised at church gates, quiz nights and at the bagging counters of various supermarkets across north County Dublin. He took the money to the Presentation sister's in Mongu, a poverty stricken district of Zambia, and spent two weeks with them, watching the work that the sisters did with the sick and disabled children of the area.
When he came back, Byrne knew that he wasn't going to be able to simply put that experience behind him and he immediately set about planning a return trip which he will make at the end of the 2012 League of Ireland season. But this time he hopes to be taking a lot more money with him, as well as a group of Irish students who he hopes will be as effected as he was by what he saw.
As part of his campaign to raise funds Byrne has organised a Golf Classic at Swords open golf course which will take place on Friday 27th May and which promises to be something of a League of Ireland open day.
“It's an all day event so any team that wants to participate can go along at any time”, said Byrne. “We're hoping all the League of Ireland teams put in a team as we have a competition between the League clubs within the Golf Classic itself. The response from the players has been very positive towards that and all the clubs that were at the launch yesterday are going to be putting in a team. The FAI are putting in a team or two as well, as are the soccer writers, and Extratime are putting in a team.”
“It's €200 for a team of four, you get a goody bag on arrival, there's food at the ninth hole, there'll be spot prizes throughout the day, and you'll get finger food as well afterwards. So for €50 a head it's very good value”
Presentation Sisters in Mongu, Zambia (Image by Cian McLeod)
Asked if football fans could get involved Byrne was unequivocal. “Oh yes, we'll be taking anybody and everybody that wants to put a team in. There are no domestic games that Friday so maybe instead of going to a League of Ireland match supporters will come and have a day out with us. There'll be lots of players there that they can meet up and have a chat with afterwards. We're hoping that it will be a really social event and hopefully it's something that we can run annually.”
“It's in Swords open golf course which is a sister club of Roganstown and they've done a great deal for me so I'm very grateful to them. We're also looking for sponsorship of €100 for a tee box or a green but that's only a minimum. It's up to each sponsor how much they actually want to contribute.”
The overall target is to raise €100,000 by the end of 2012 which Byrne knows only too well is optimistic in “this climate”. “I have eighteen months to do it and I have the support of the school that I'll be bringing with me. Obviously I have support from my fellow players in the League of Ireland and the FAI, and I'm hoping to get support from other Irish sports as well. I'll be trying to get the Dublin GAA involved and Leinster rugby too. I know a couple of people from those circles as well so here's hoping.”
In terms of the golf event itself Byrne's initial estimates are quickly being revised upwards. “When I started this off I was looking for about twenty teams and hoping to raise maybe two or three thousand but it's wild the amount of interest I've received from the League of Ireland clubs, the players and even some of the fans. Local businesses in my area have expressed interest and I have help from a local councillor, Tom Kellegher, who is helping me to run the event. So I'm hoping now to get maybe thirty or forty teams, especially if the League clubs put twenty in themselves, then I would hope to get another twenty at least.”
“If I can get maybe six or seven thousand from this it would go a long way. Any more would be a bonus. If I can get every tee box and every green sponsored that would be €3,600and that would be great. I'm just to build awareness of the event and get the interest up”
It all sounds like a great day out, where supporters, players and even the football press can meet up and share a beer and a laugh. But there is no doubting Byrne's commitment to the cause that lies behind it, the Cheshire home run by the sisters of Mongu.
“It's basically like a boarding school”, he explains, “in the sense that kids can go there for a term, maybe go back to their families for Christmas, and then go back to the home afterwards. The children there would range from two to three years old up to sixteen. Seventy three per cent of them have cerebral palsy, a lot of them are physically disabled, and some are mentally disabled. A lot of them have to be spoon fed, some of them are blind, some of them have dwarfism and ringworm, diseases which are uncommon here but very common over there. A lot of the kids have suffer these things due to complications at birth. The local hospitals there wouldn't be up to the standard we take for granted here and a lot of the children would be born at home too.”
“The sad thing is that when children are born with these conditions their families often disown them because they're struggling themselves to survive. So often they put their eggs in the basket of the kids that are healthy and the other kids would then be left to survive off scraps. Some starve and some die unfortunately. Some of the kids are orphans, some of them have Aids, it's very difficult. The place I'll be going to is a lovely place to be but it's very difficult to see all these kids the way they are. Yet, every single one of them will have a smile on their faces when we see them so it really is a heart warming experience to go there.”
“I went there in 2009 after the FAI Cup final. I brought four students and two teachers with me and once I had seen it I vowed to myself that I would always go back. I'm hoping to make it maybe once every two or three years and in the meantime do as much fundraising as possible. Because at the end of the day the kids over there need the money more than they need us going over."
But I wanted to create an educational trip for the kids here to go over and experience life over there. I wouldn't do it every year because it's just too expensive and I think then that the money wouldn't be going to the right place. It's important that kids here see what it's like out there and develop their own awareness so that the will to help grows up with them.
I brought four kids the last time and now I'm bringing ten. They are all from the one school and they want to make it an ongoing project within the school. With only four kids going the last time, two each from two different schools, it kind of got lost but I'm hoping if ten go this time then those ten kids will have a lot of friends that can help them with fund raising and creating the awareness that we want. We also have three teachers, one parent and myself going so with fifteen people that should create a big project within the Rush area. It's a local project but I'm hoping to make it national in terms of interest and coverage.”
He brought €15,000 with him, raised at church gates, quiz nights and at the bagging counters of various supermarkets across north County Dublin. He took the money to the Presentation sister's in Mongu, a poverty stricken district of Zambia, and spent two weeks with them, watching the work that the sisters did with the sick and disabled children of the area.
When he came back, Byrne knew that he wasn't going to be able to simply put that experience behind him and he immediately set about planning a return trip which he will make at the end of the 2012 League of Ireland season. But this time he hopes to be taking a lot more money with him, as well as a group of Irish students who he hopes will be as effected as he was by what he saw.
As part of his campaign to raise funds Byrne has organised a Golf Classic at Swords open golf course which will take place on Friday 27th May and which promises to be something of a League of Ireland open day.
“It's an all day event so any team that wants to participate can go along at any time”, said Byrne. “We're hoping all the League of Ireland teams put in a team as we have a competition between the League clubs within the Golf Classic itself. The response from the players has been very positive towards that and all the clubs that were at the launch yesterday are going to be putting in a team. The FAI are putting in a team or two as well, as are the soccer writers, and Extratime are putting in a team.”
“It's €200 for a team of four, you get a goody bag on arrival, there's food at the ninth hole, there'll be spot prizes throughout the day, and you'll get finger food as well afterwards. So for €50 a head it's very good value”
“It's in Swords open golf course which is a sister club of Roganstown and they've done a great deal for me so I'm very grateful to them. We're also looking for sponsorship of €100 for a tee box or a green but that's only a minimum. It's up to each sponsor how much they actually want to contribute.”
The overall target is to raise €100,000 by the end of 2012 which Byrne knows only too well is optimistic in “this climate”. “I have eighteen months to do it and I have the support of the school that I'll be bringing with me. Obviously I have support from my fellow players in the League of Ireland and the FAI, and I'm hoping to get support from other Irish sports as well. I'll be trying to get the Dublin GAA involved and Leinster rugby too. I know a couple of people from those circles as well so here's hoping.”
In terms of the golf event itself Byrne's initial estimates are quickly being revised upwards. “When I started this off I was looking for about twenty teams and hoping to raise maybe two or three thousand but it's wild the amount of interest I've received from the League of Ireland clubs, the players and even some of the fans. Local businesses in my area have expressed interest and I have help from a local councillor, Tom Kellegher, who is helping me to run the event. So I'm hoping now to get maybe thirty or forty teams, especially if the League clubs put twenty in themselves, then I would hope to get another twenty at least.”
“If I can get maybe six or seven thousand from this it would go a long way. Any more would be a bonus. If I can get every tee box and every green sponsored that would be €3,600and that would be great. I'm just to build awareness of the event and get the interest up”
It all sounds like a great day out, where supporters, players and even the football press can meet up and share a beer and a laugh. But there is no doubting Byrne's commitment to the cause that lies behind it, the Cheshire home run by the sisters of Mongu.
“It's basically like a boarding school”, he explains, “in the sense that kids can go there for a term, maybe go back to their families for Christmas, and then go back to the home afterwards. The children there would range from two to three years old up to sixteen. Seventy three per cent of them have cerebral palsy, a lot of them are physically disabled, and some are mentally disabled. A lot of them have to be spoon fed, some of them are blind, some of them have dwarfism and ringworm, diseases which are uncommon here but very common over there. A lot of the kids have suffer these things due to complications at birth. The local hospitals there wouldn't be up to the standard we take for granted here and a lot of the children would be born at home too.”
“The sad thing is that when children are born with these conditions their families often disown them because they're struggling themselves to survive. So often they put their eggs in the basket of the kids that are healthy and the other kids would then be left to survive off scraps. Some starve and some die unfortunately. Some of the kids are orphans, some of them have Aids, it's very difficult. The place I'll be going to is a lovely place to be but it's very difficult to see all these kids the way they are. Yet, every single one of them will have a smile on their faces when we see them so it really is a heart warming experience to go there.”
“I went there in 2009 after the FAI Cup final. I brought four students and two teachers with me and once I had seen it I vowed to myself that I would always go back. I'm hoping to make it maybe once every two or three years and in the meantime do as much fundraising as possible. Because at the end of the day the kids over there need the money more than they need us going over."
But I wanted to create an educational trip for the kids here to go over and experience life over there. I wouldn't do it every year because it's just too expensive and I think then that the money wouldn't be going to the right place. It's important that kids here see what it's like out there and develop their own awareness so that the will to help grows up with them.
I brought four kids the last time and now I'm bringing ten. They are all from the one school and they want to make it an ongoing project within the school. With only four kids going the last time, two each from two different schools, it kind of got lost but I'm hoping if ten go this time then those ten kids will have a lot of friends that can help them with fund raising and creating the awareness that we want. We also have three teachers, one parent and myself going so with fifteen people that should create a big project within the Rush area. It's a local project but I'm hoping to make it national in terms of interest and coverage.”
About Simon O'Gorman
Simon O'Gorman began reporting for Extratime in 2010. He remembers Milltown and Flower Lodge and, back in the mists of time, saw Diego Maradona play at Lansdowne Road. He now lives in Co Kildare and … View Full Profile