By Alex Robinson
A Gaelic football club is hoping to build its field of dreams in College Point.
The Shannon Gaels Gaelic Football Club is raising funds to develop 7 acres in Frank Golden Park into home grounds, where the club can host its games.
The club signed a 15-year lease on the space with the city Parks Department in April after spending many years without a regular field to train on. The team was founded in 2002, but was not allotted a patch of grass in Frank Golden Park, which sits just south of 14th Avenue, until 2009, when they reached out to Parks.
The Queens club is now in the process of fund-raising for the project and hopes to break ground on the new facilities this year. Club organizers anticipate that once work begins, it will take a year to complete the new facilities.
Once built, the grounds will include a full-sized field, an additional scrimmage field, bleachers, parking facilities, fencing and lighting. The area has also had drainage problems in the past, which the development will alleviate.
Shannon Gaels has raised more than 20 percent of its $2 million goal through private donations and has applied for public funding through the borough president’s office.
Some of the project’s details have not been ironed out yet as the club still does not know how much money it is going to be able to raise, said Sean Price, club chairman.
“The money will dictate where we go and how fast we get there,” he said.
The Parks Department estimated the whole project could cost approximately $3.8 million last year. The club has already met with Community Board 7 and Parks officials to start to apply for all the necessary approvals.
The club serves 600 members, mostly from Queens and half of which are children. Shannon Gaels currently has teams for girls and boys aged 6 to 18 in competitive leagues in the spring and fall.
Gaelic football, one of Ireland’s most popular sports, is played with 15 players on a side who score points by advancing a round ball up the field through the opposition’s goal posts.
Shannon Gaels also offers opportunities to play hurling and camogie, sports of Gaelic origin.
Shannon Gaels organizers were honored at City Hall on St. Patrick’s Day by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Enda Kenny, the prime minister of Ireland, for their work in the community. The club’s leadership was then also given a proclamation by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) and the Council March 19.
The club plays under Gaelic Athletic Association rules and is the second largest minor Gaelic football club in the tri-state area.
Shannon Gaels is always looking for new members and is open to any young people interested in playing Gaelic sports, said Colin Mathers, one of the team’s trainers and chairman of the club’s Field of Dreams initiative.
“While Shannon Gaels gives the community an outlet for their identity, it is the community that sustains the club,” he said. “We welcome players of all ethnicities, It is our goal to continue to make Shannon Gaels more inclusive and to continue to reach out to the local communities even more and encourage all to join us and play some of the best games in the world..”
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
