National award for dedicated Balrath FC clubman

Meath’s Brian Matthews will receive nationwide recognition for his years of dedicated volunteer work with Balrath Girls and Boys Football Club at next week’s virtual Federation of Irish Sport Volunteers in Sport Awards ceremony, supported by EBS.

The awards ceremony will be held virtually over three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the 7th, 8th and 9th December.

Brian Matthews, it was pointed out in press release issued by the EBS and the Federation of Irish Sport, had identified the lack of opportunities available for young girls and boys to play football in his area and so, in July 2010, formed Balrath Girls & Boys Football Club, and entered the club’s first underage team into the North Dublin Schoolboys League.

Fast forward to 2021, and the club now has 20 teams playing every week with over 300 members. Matthews (above) was praised "for creating an environment for kids to have fun, learn and make friends, while having the chance to be part of a team, and gaining key life skills such as timekeeping, taking instructions, winning and losing."

He is said to be at the heart of the club and whatever has to be done - from marking pitches to putting nets up - he will do. It was also highlighted how he helped to recruit a large cohort of volunteers for the club and without these good people, the club could not operate.

The Volunteers in Sport Awards celebrate the contributions of the band of volunteers across the country who give their time to Irish sport and physical activity every year.

This equates to approximately 37.3 million hours of volunteering across Ireland’s 13,000 registered sports clubs and associations and, according to Sport Ireland's 2021 'Researching the Value of Sport in Ireland' report, is worth an estimated €1.5bn to the exchequer.

Throughout September and October members of the public, sports clubs and governing bodies were invited to nominate an individual whose contribution to sport and physical activity in Ireland has made a real difference to their community, club or county.

The nominations and award recipients were selected by a judging panel consisting of 12 individuals drawn from sports administration, the volunteer community and media, and included former Director General of the GAA, Paraic Duffy, RTÉ broadcaster, Marie Crowe and CEO of Gaisce, Yvonne McKenna.