Alan ‘humbled’ to pick up Volunteer of the Year Award
THE important role that volunteers play in sports organisations in the county was recognised with Sacred Heart Football Club chairperson Alan Gibbons named the Active South Dublin Volunteer of the Year.
Alan has been involved with the Killinarden Park club since 1992 when his dad Ned and Joe Maughan managed his teams, and he has been involved ever since on and off the pitch.
When The Echo contacted Alan this week, he was in the middle of organising club administration and day-to-day club duties involving club maintenance, schools programme and helping to organise teams for the week.
Over the past 18 months, the club began a new chapter with the unveiling of their newly resurfaced all-weather pitch facility at a cost of €220,000, which Alan played a key part in getting over the line.
“I’m absolutely humbled to receive this award. This award is in recognition of all the hard-working committee in Sacred Heart Football Club.
“They make my job so much easier by the amount of work they do daily.
Volunteer of the Year Alan Gibbons, with members of Sacred Heart Football Club and Edel Clancy, Senior Executive Officer, Housing, Social & Community Development, SDCC, Elaine Leech, Director of Services, Housing, Social & Community Development SDCC, Paddy Markham (AWS Dublin Operations Leader) and Mark Stewart from Amazon Web Services
“Without our volunteers we simply would not have a club for our area, so I’m delighted for everyone involved that we received this award,”.
“We have a small committee but a hard-working one and we are always looking for other people to get involved.
“We have a successful academy, teams at every age group up to U18s, four senior teams and a girls U14 side.
“It’s fantastic that we have grown over the last couple of years, but volunteers play such a huge role in our community and our development.
“We have fantastic facilities, and our plan now is to focus on the development of a clubhouse, with help from relevant stakeholders, which will be a massive boost for the Killinarden Community.
Castle Golf Club members Colin Clancy, James Beehan, Harry Scott and Arthur McEvoy at the awards night
“It’s so hard to get new volunteers involved but we would encourage as many people to come up to our grounds and play their part”.
Alan explains how he got involved with committee at a very young age.
“I was basically roped in to take up a job and one thing led to another, and I have been involved ever since.
“Marking pitches, managing teams and helping out with sports grants along with many other people”.
“There is a great community spirit at the club and we hope to build on what we have today and have state-of-the-art facility for everyone to enjoy,”.
