Dear Parents & Guardians,

On behalf of all at St. Joseph’s Boys/Girls F.C., It gives me great pleasure as the new incoming Chairperson to extend a very warm welcome to both new and existing players for the commencement of the new 2024/2025 MSL soccer season.

Last season was an extremely successful year for the club, both on and off the field of play.  The Club continues to go from strength to strength. With the imminent return of our players for pre-season training with their respective age groups, we look forward to another enjoyable and successful year ahead.  With each passing year our player participation numbers continue to grow.  This increase brings with it added pressures on training facilities and coaching resources.  As a club, we will endeavour to ensure that we will nurture and develop all our young players to their fullest potential with the resources we have at our disposal.

Following on from our AGM in June, we wish to bring to your attention a few changes which will come into effect going forward.  Firstly, we have changed our constitution which sees the club name changing from St Joseph’s FC to St. Joseph’s Boys/Girls FC. This change recognises the inclusive aspect role of our club in providing soccer for both Boys and Girls.  Secondly, in recognition of our SFAI National Cup successes over the past two seasons, we have decided to add two Gold stars over our Club Crest to acknowledge the accolade of achieving two SFAI National Cup successes. 

We are indebted to the tremendous work our executive committee members, volunteers, coaches, managers who work tirelessly all year for the benefit of your children.  I want to commend all these groups for the trojan work that they put in behind the scenes to ensure our Club continues to develop and be the success it is.  There have been a few newly elected committee members arising from our annual AGM and some new additional roles created in order to meet the needs of the club. I have included full details of all these changes below.  We will look to continue the great work done last season and strive to continuously enhance all areas of the Club both on and off the pitch.

We are extremely grateful to all our many sponsors in the local and wider community. Without this unwavering support and financial support our Club would not be where it is today.  We look forward to continuing our relationship with you all going forward. The support of our parents/volunteers/sponsors and local businesses is pivotal for a Community Club like ours and we hope that these strong working relationships will continue to foster. 

As a Club we are always looking for more volunteers to help – it is particularly important to ensure that we have the correct coach to player ratio. This ensures that as a club we are fully compliant with all relevant legal requirements.  If you feel that you are able to lend assistance or help out in any way, please feel free to reach out to any of the club coaches or executive committee members.  We will be delighted to have you on board and will assist and support you.

Please find outlined below some important pieces of information for your attention ahead of the new season:

Communications
We will continue to use the ClubZap app for all Club and Team Communications, player and membership registrations and for making online payments. We would ask you to keep a regular check on our ClubZap App for all communications. Please see link 

(https://clubzap.com/dowload)

Registration
It is compulsory for all children to be fully registered with the club in advance of the MSL league commencing in August/September. If you have any queries with regards registration, please bring them to the attention of the relevant manager/coach(es) of the respective age group.

Membership Fees
As per the past few years, we will continue to amalgamate the registration and training fees into one individual amount. The total fee payable remains in line with last season with the addition of an extra 5 Euro. This will mean that all players will get a copy of the annual Club Calendar at Christmas. The optional facility for staged payments will continue to be available to ease the burden of one single lump sum payment.  Please find outlined below the breakdown of fee for the various age groups.

Age Group Fee (Includes Registration Fee & Training Fee)
U6/U7           = €115
U8 – U11      = €145
U12 – U16    = €185
Family           = €355

Non – Playing Adult Club Membership = €5

Please Note: 
The fees for the older age groups takes into account all referee/match fees and for the U12 age group upwards, it covers the cost of two training sessions per week. St. Joseph’s Boys/Girls FC doesn’t own any of its own training or playing facilities and must pay rental costs for the use of the Cushla playing pitches and other facilities nearby. The fees outlined above help cover all these costs and are crucial in ensuring that the Club is financially viable.

Executive Committee 2024-2025
I wish to acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by the outgoing members of the executive committee, Stephen Flynn – Chairperson, Peter Lenehan- Vice-Chairperson, Anthony Dalton -Fixtures Secretary who stepped down from their respective roles after last season.  I’m sure you will join me in expressing our sincere thanks to all three gentlemen for their tireless dedication and effort they both put into their roles for the benefit of the Club.  I have included the full list of the Club executive committee members for the new season for your information along with primary contact details for the Club.  All other relevant information can be accessed on the St. Joseph’s Boys/Girls FC website (www.sjfc.ie). Please feel free to get in contact with any member of the committee if you have any questions or concerns throughout the season.

Executive Committee Members 2024-2025 Season

·       Chairperson – Conor Foley

·       Vice Chair – Davy Cummins

·       Secretary – Olivier Vrain

·       Treasurer – Clare Lennon

·       Managers Representative – David Keenan

·       Fixtures Secretary – Oliver McGrath

·       Child Welfare Officers – Catherine Hogan & Niall Cullen

·       Registrars – Noel Francis (U6-U10) & Edel McCarron (U11-U16)

·       Club PRO – Mark Mulligan

·       Facilities Officer – Oliver McGrath

·       Recruitment Officer – Noel Keleghan

·       Fundraising Officer – Kevin Murray

·       I.T - Niall Kennedy 

·       General Enquiries:  info@sjfc.ie

·       Secretary: secretary@sjfc.ie

·       Chairperson: chairman@sjfc.ie

·       Fixtures: fixtures@sjfc.ie

Finally, I would like to wish all our players, management teams, volunteers the very best of luck for the season ahead.  I hope the players continue to develop their love for football, stay fit and healthy, have fun and make friends for life.  

Yours in Sport

Conor Foley
(Club Chairperson)