Good day Parents, Players, Volunteers and all associated with Park Celtic. I hope this message finds you well and that you and your families are all in good health. The feeling is that Spring is finally here - hope I didn’t speak too soon!

THANK YOU
As we enter the second half of the 2024/2025 season, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support of Park Celtic, and secondly to congratulate all the players (& parents) and coaches on what is turning out to be a very successful season to date on the footballing front. Keep up the great work

There are simply so many great things happening in this great Club of ours. 

We continue to grow, both in terms of players (574 and counting) and teams, both in girls and boys categories across all age categories.  

Our camps have never been so well attended, and we have added another one in February mid-term this year. A major shout out to the continued work of John Thompson in this regard, without which these events simply would not happen.

Our facilities continue to improve, with the continued support from DLR. Anyone up in Cabinteely Park will see the great job they’ve done on the cages, and it is very difficult not to get excited about the prospect of having our very own Clubhouse, scheduled to be completed in May 2026. 

On the point of facilities, one of the pitfalls of being based in South County Dublin is the severe lack of astro pitches for training (& matches). Instead of being very vocal in a negative way like some of our neighbours, this is simply something we have to deal with, and continue to work with DLR and the local schools to ensure we maintain and grow our slots. The gradual move to summer football will help massively in this regard and is something we look forward to.

There is so much going on in the club at present. To name but a few : 

We are massively under-resourced from a Committee and an Admin point of view in running a club this size. We have ongoing tasks that are simply not getting done as resources are too thin. All the things we could be doing, both in terms of making us a more professional outfit & growing our profile, are too many to mention here.   

We are respectful of people’s time, everyone has busy lives, but I speak for the whole Committee here (plus one or two others who do unbelievable work) when I say that the time has come where our volunteer base simply has to grow - “somethings gotta give”  

Ideally we would like new Committee members & volunteers to come from academy / small sided game age groups as they are not very well represented at the moment. We are not asking for much here - a few hours here and there, run with an ad-hoc project or event or simply be on call as a club representative 

Again to reiterate the above, the managers within the club do unbelievable work and we are extremely lucky to have such a hardworking & committed group. We are also extremely grateful to all of the parents who week in week out come and support the club, getting the kids to training and matches. Within our network of managers and parents there are a multitude of skills and abilities that would be of huge benefit to the running of our club. Park Celtic FC is a community club where your kids get to enjoy football in a fun environment. With this mind it is now time to step forward and give a few hours here and there. The more hands the lighter the load.   

You just have to look around at other clubs - they have a minimum of between 10 and 20 people involved in running the club. We are in the single digits and too much is expected of too few. The time has simply come to step up!

Many Thanks
Richard Wheatley
Chairman