Community Games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Community Games is an annual sporting competition held in Ireland for children up to 16 that finishes in a national finals every August, where over 6,000 children compete for their area, town, county and province. The Community Games is sponsored by the Health Service Executive
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[edit] History
The community games were set up in 1968 - initially only in Dublin as a way to deal with the problems of the lack of leisure-time activities for young people. In the first games, 3,000 took part at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Santry; the following year it was 5,000 - today, over 500,000 children compete for the chance to make the national finals. For most of the games history, the National Finals were held in Mosney, County Meath. However this will change from 2009 as the former campsite - now a residential area for asylum seekers - will be no longer available to the games.
[edit] Events
The following sports and games are played at Community Games:
[edit] Sports
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Camogie
- Cycling
- Gaelic football
- Gaelic handball
- Gymnastics
- Hockey
- Hurling
- Judo
- Olympic handball
- Pitch and putt
- Rounders
- Tag rugby
- Soccer
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Tennis
- Volleyball
[edit] Other Events
[edit] National Finals
Young people from all over Ireland aim to qualify for the Community Games National Finals each year. These take place over two weekends in August.
In the individual events (including relay races), one competitor from each of the 32 counties of Ireland qualifies for the National Finals. In the team events, one team from each of the 4 provinces of Ireland qualifies for the National Finals. The exceptions to these rules are:
- In judo, one individual from each province qualifies for the national finals.
- In pitch and putt, choir, "culture corner", project and variety, three teams from each province qualify for the national finals.
- In the under-14 quiz, two teams from each county qualify for the national finals.
- In the under-17/over-17 quiz, three teams from each county qualify for the national finals.
Where four teams qualify, semi-finals, a third=place playoff and final are played, except in draughts and chess where medal placings are decided on a league basis.
[edit] Theme Song
"We're singing as one" is the theme song of the Community Games written, sung, arranged and produced by Colm O'Loughlin, an ex competitor of the Games.
[edit] Past Competitors
Many famous Irish Athletes have competed in the games over the years:
- Sonia O'Sullivan
- Niall Quinn - won the poc fada
- Mark Scanlon
[edit] See also
Owen Gleeson. Owen Gleeson won the gold medal in the community games on the 30th of August 1997 . Unfortunately his win in the 100m relay was overshadowed by the death of Princess Diana. Gleeson did make a comeback 3 more times getting to the final every time. Unfortunately injuries took there toll. Gleeson has also played in 3 Munster finals winning two. He was misfortunate not to win a third as he missed the final due to previous engagements. Due too prolonged injuries he had to retire from all sports at the age of 18, he will be sorely missed. Although recently there have been rumours of a comeback.
