Underage in Rathpeacon

Underage

The term underage is used to describe children’s teams in the GAA. The team that a child plays with is determined by their age on the 1st of January that year. E.g. a child born in 2016 will turn 7 in 2023 and therefore was 6 on the 1st of January which means they will play with the U7 team.

Coaching

We hold football coaching sessions for our underage children on Monday nights in the pitch in Kilcully during the school term. It’s always a great evening with the buzz of activity between 6:30pm and 7:30pm. These sessions are very important to the future of Rathpeacon GAA, as they help to embed a feeling of belonging to Rathpeacon GAA and our community.

Monday Nights

In 2022 we had four groups, each of which are mixed gender:

• Junior Infants*

• Senior Infants*

• First and Second Class

• Third, fourth and Fifth Class

* We ask that parents/guardians of children of this age stay in Kilcully for the duration of the session.

Official Standing

In 2022, Rathpeacon GAA started a Ladies Football club (LGFA), though we are operating in a “One Club” model. We field girls football teams at U8, U10, U12 and U14 this year, and each year as the girls get older we will enter older teams. The U14 and U12 teams play formally fixed matches in the East Cork division with the LGFA. The U10 and U8 teams participate in blitzes and ‘Go Games’. This caters for our underage girls who want to play football.

For girls who want to play camogie and for all our boys, Rathpeacon GAA have joined forces with Blarney GAA.

Blarney GAA have:

• Club Beag – hurling/camogie and football for boys and girls age 4 (once a month)

• Club Na NÓg – hurling and football for boys age five to eleven

• Underage – hurling and football for boys (U12, U13, U14, U15, Minor)

• Camogie – camogie for girls aged five and older

This means that our boys and girls play for the Blarney GAA club up as far as Minor (U17). This club is known as Blarney/Rathpeacon.

We strongly encourage all of our children to join the appropriate team in Blarney.

Coaches

All of our coaches are fully compliant with GAA policies, are Garda Vetted and have attended the Child Safeguarding Course. Due to the strong link with Blarney GAA, you will see many of our coaches looking after teams in Blarney as well as taking the Monday evening sessions.

GAA Child Welfare and Protection page:

https://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/child-welfare-and-protection/

GAA Code of Behaviour Booklet (applies to children, coaches and parents)

Parents/Guardians

You will see in the GAA guidelines that having enough coaches is vital to the proper running of the club. We strongly encourage you to get involved with the training. Please speak to any of the coaches or Rathpeacon GAA club members to get more information. The more people that we have involved the easier it will be for all.

Graduating from Underage to Minor

Once a male player is too old for the Minor grade we are delighted to welcome them back to the Rathpeacon GAA adult club*. At present there is no female adult team in Rathpeacon GAA, but we are looking forward to that changing in the not-too-distant future.

*A separate joint club has been set up to allow players to play for both an U20 Rathpeacon-Blarney team AND Rathpeacon GAA.

Membership

Membership of Rathpeacon GAA works differently for different children:

U14 and U12 Girls Football Teams: €42* – Register and pay using www.foireann.ie

U10 & U8 Girls Football Teams: €24* – Register and pay using http://www.foireann.ie

All others who attend Monday Night Football: €1 per person per night

Blarney GAA charge their own membership and due to the fact that Camogie and LGFA are separate organisations, a separate fee is payable to Blarney for girls that play camogie.

*These costs are solely for registration and insurance.

Mouth Guards

Mouth guards are compulsory for anyone playing Gaelic football. Have a look at the official G.A.A. stance here.