The leaders of tomorrow are being shaped and moulded in the here and now. The lessons we teach the youth of today will be with them for the rest of their lives, and there is no better place to teach children about this than through the field of sport. Competition teaches more than just how to win and lose, it teaches a person how to win with class and at the same time be gracious in defeat. It promotes respect for your opponent and teammates, i.e your co-workers or partners, encourages teamwork and a willingness to work with others towards a common goal. All of these traits can be beneficial in the every aspect of life, not just in the sporting arena. Growing children need inspiration and physical stimulation, and community football is a great way to provide such things.
For over 50 years, the St John Bosco Football Club has been successfully making the best use of their resources to meet the needs of the youth of Drimnagh, including some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society. There are exciting and challenging times ahead for community football clubs in Ireland. As the external environment becomes increasingly complex and ever-more regulated, the need for organisational support will grow. The quality of what happens on the ground at local level depends, at least in part, on the availability of centralised support in areas such as governance, human resource management and finance.
St John Bosco Football Club will be at the forefront of devising appropriate strategies to help develop their club for the future and this plan charts that path for the Club. The aim is to bring on board a partner who can share our passion and vision on the journey ahead. The club is at a crucial stage of development where a successful implementation of the strategic plan will define, not only the success of the last fifty years but will provide a blueprint for the future. Over the next five years, the Club will be focussing on increasing access to its services, providing a recognised development programme for our coaches and players, promoting policy to assist in the structured development of the club to maximise their effectiveness, and diversifying its own funding streams.
By doing this we believe that we can achieve improvement in our ability to provide meaningful responses to the range of vital needs of our members. Furthermore, in doing so we will help to carve out a channel through which the talents and energy of all managers and players can be more effectively engaged in the task of creating a better and more enhanced football club.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the assistance of the Football Association of Ireland, the St John Bosco Youth Centre, Dublin City Council and the many organisations, local businesses and individuals who have supported this Club over the lifetime of the club and to encourage them to invest further in this growing, and most active community football club. I would also like to thank the committee for the hard work they have put in to the development of the club’s strategy to 2014 and beyond.
In particular, a special thank you for the commitment, skills and passion of our volunteer managers, the parents and most importantly the players.
Derek Nolan Chairperson
Please Feel Free to Download our Code of Conduct and our Strategic Plan
