]]> http://stockholmgaels.com/2011/08/366/feed/ 0 http://stockholmgaels.com/2011/08/arstafaltet-the-venue-for-the-stockholm-round/ http://stockholmgaels.com/2011/08/arstafaltet-the-venue-for-the-stockholm-round/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:09:06 +0000 stockholm http://stockholmgaels.com/?p=353 In a little over ten days’ time, competitive Gaelic football will make it’s debut in the Swedish capital as the city hosts the final round of the Scandinavian Gaelic football championship for 2011.

As well as our friends and rivals from Gothenburg, Malmö and Oslo, we look forward to welcoming the two new clubs from Tallinn and Helsinki who will take part in men’s and women’s invitational tournaments on the day.

More information will be made available soon – you can also check out the Facebook event.

So with ten teams, three competitions and three individual prizes on offer, a bar and food run by the Dubliner and music, craic, a bouncy castle and much, much more, Årstafältet is the place to be on Saturday August 20th!

Be part of it.

A loss in the opening game against the hosts put us on the back foot from the off. With a sluggish Gaels side taking their time before hitting their stride, Copenhagen had gone out in front before being pegged back.

Stockholm got the upper hand in the second half only to be hit by a sucker-punch goal scored by Seán Coogan. A desperate assault commenced and the Gaels clawed their way back to within a point, and when Phil O’Connor was taken down in the square with seconds left, the ensuing penalty should have been enough – but the spot kick cannoned back off the upright and despite getting their hands on the rebound, the Gaels were unable to put it away and victory went to the Danish side by the slimmest of margins.

With two teams involved in the three-team ladies’ tournament, we divided our girls evenly into Whites and Blacks (their shirt colours) and sent them into battle.

The Whites were next out of the blocks, and the story was eerily similar as the girls of the Gaels got their first taste of competitive action. Copenhagen’s girls hit them with a flurry of points and goals in the first half, but the Whites used the break to re-organise and gave a tremendous second-half display. There were commanding performances all over the pitch as the Whites gave it all they had in the hot sunshine and walked away with a draw in their first-ever competitive game.

Meanwhile, the lads were back in the line of fire against old foes Malmö, and again a bad start was to be their undoing as passes flew astray and scores went untaken. Malmö got a goal in the first half to put them in the driving seat but once again Stockholm collected themselves before pulling themselves back into contention. But in a result that was to prove decisive on the day, the lads couldn’t make it over the finish line and a draw was the final outcome.

The two ladies teams were up next as the Whites met the Blacks, with the Whites running out winners in a high-scoring encounter. The Blacks were now under the cosh, seeking a victory against an experienced and technically proficient Copenhagen side if they were to make it to the final.

Meanwhile, the boys were back in town over on the rugby pitch, and with matters now out of their hands they threw of the shackles and put in a performance against Gothenburg that harked back to their debut here a little over a year previously. Guo Guodong made the pass of the day to set up John Carroll for a well-taken goal, and O’Connor should have added a second, only for his attempted lob to cross the bar for a point instead. Some fine, free-flowing football was played, but all that was left was to wait to see if Copenhagen could beat Malmö and give the Gaels a place in the final.

The Blacks had a tough time of it in their second fixture and despite a brave performance they fell to a dominant Danish team- the old saying “goals win games” was to be proved true once more in the Scandinavian sunshine. Still, the Whites would face off against the Danes in the first tournament of its kind in the region for many years.

Meanwhile, Copenhagen gave it all they had and led Malmö for most of their group game, but the Skåne side came back to snatch a victory and book their place in the final, where they would again meet the hosts. After a much-needed rest in the shade, Mark Rattigan’s men came out and completed the job in a tight, tense final to clainm the tournament victory and put themselves well in contention to regain the crown they lost to Stockholm last year.

There was more heartbreak for the club as the Whites gave it all they had in the final, but despite some superb scores and excellent defensive work, the Copenhagen girls won out in the end. Had there been an award for female player of the tournament, Stockholm could have had more than one representative up for consideration.

Once again, gaelic games provided a great backdrop for a great sporting day in the sunshine in Scandinavia, and all credit to the Copenhagen club for their organisation and hospitality. Congratulations too to both clubs on making the final, and especially to winners Malmö, who showed great character to come from behind to book their place in the final.

The results on the day means that it’s all to play for in Stockholm in August, with Stockholm, Copenhagen and Malmö all in the running for the Scandinavian crown, and Oslo and Gothenburg can still have a big say in where the John Aherne trophy spends the coming winter.

The Denmark trip also marks the first time the ladies’ teams travel this year, and with around 20 female players and two of the teams in a three-team tournament, we’re looking forward to a great weekend of Gaelic football!

There’s tons of news on the club front – new pitch, new goalposts, new match and training kit-  but a problem with our website interface is preventing anything other than the most basic updates. We hope to have it fixed in the near future- in the meantime keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates on progress from Copenhagen this weekend!

Keith Hearne, Karl Lambert, Don Conroy and Pär Hellstadius are all on their way to Mora for the 90km cross-country race. Despite never having competed before, the Irish trio have been training hard under Pär’s watchful eye, and they hope to complete the gruelling course in eight or nine hours.

The big challenge will of course be to find somewhere to watch the rugby afterwards!

We wish the lads the very best of luck as they undertake the first major sporting challenge of the year. Those of us left at home are working hard as we prepare for the coming season, where we intend to continue the great success of last year. Be part of it.

Declan Graham under pressure from James Guanci in the Ambassador CUp decider

With the AGM held and a new, expanded committee in place, the club has started 2011 the same way it finished 2010. Indoor training has started for both mens and ladies teams and children’s training sessions are next on the agenda.

Anna Rönngård’s girls are the success story so far- up to 18 girls at each session, and the improvements in the first few weeks have been astounding. We welcome our new members and if the mens’ team were the European success story of 2010, then surely the ladies’ team won’t be far behind in 2011!
The Scandinavian clubs have held a telephone conference and are in the process of finalising the match calendar for the year, and talks are ongoing with our generous sponsors about the financing of the club in 2011. Please pay your membership fee as soon as you can, indicating your name when you do so.

We’ve also introduced the Gaels bond for 2011 where members can volunteer to pay an extra 100 SEK a month- in return for your generosity, we will organise a day out at the Dub with food and drink on the day of the All-Ireland football final.

Our club continues to grow and expand, and as our ladies and junior teams continue to develop, this will be another eventful and exciting year for us and our community in Stockholm, in Scandinavia and Europe. Be part of it.

The Fotbollshallen is located in the grounds of Spånga IP- as you can see from this map, it's a short walk from the tunnelbana station in Tensta on the blue line or the the pendeltåg station at Spånga itself.

In other news, the club committee is meeting soon to set up the AGM and to start the planning process for the year ahead, together with the European County Board and the other clubs in Scandinavia. We are also looking for pictures for a book about our club that is due to be published in the summer, so if you have any good snaps from last season you’d like to contribute, feel free to e-mail them to philip at stockholmgaels.com.

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