The TSDL, the organising body of Junior Soccer in South Tipperary held its Annual General Meeting last week in Cooke Park, Tipperary Town, and outlined the further advances that the league have made in providing and improving soccer in Tipperary over the past year.
The meeting was a very well attended one, with representatives of almost all of the thirty nine junior teams affiliated to the league, along with most of the Youth teams represented also.
In the Secretary’s address to the meeting, Hon. Secretary Mr Tommy Lewis pointed out the large diversity of clubs which won competitions run by the league during the season, and offered this as proof of the diversity of talent available across the spectrum of the clubs. As well as this, he mentioned that once again, TSDL clubs made a huge contribution to the teams qualifying for the latter stages of national competitions, with league and cup winners Clonmel Celtic reaching the semi-final of the FAI Junior Cup, and last year’s winners of the same competition, St Michael’s only relinquishing their national and provincial Munster Cup titles by way of penalty shoot outs.
In the Treasurers report, there was a slight drop in the overall surplus of monies held by the League, but this was attributed to the large number of grants that the league awarded teams for the improvement of their facilities, and also for clubs who fielded teams in the Youths section, encouraging younger players to continue playing soccer beyond the underage leagues. This is regarded as two of the most important functions of the League, and the upgrade in clubs facilities over the past number of years is testament to the hard work of the clubs involved, along with the help for the TSDL committee.
There are still challenges though, and these were expressed by League Chairperson Liam Clohessy in his address. Mr Clohessy again challenged clubs to continue to improve facilities and encourage young players to stay in the game, but also pointed out that the league needed more referee’s, as without “men in the middle”, there could and would be no games for players or supporters to enjoy. He stated that there would be a concerted effort to encourage new referees, especially from the ranks of players who may be coming to the end of their playing careers, but who still have a lot to offer in the running of games.
In any other business, the league also complimented the Burncourt Celtic and Vee Rovers clubs, for arranging a trip of their underage players to the recent Ireland/England friendly international, where they were greeted by FAI Chief Executive Mr John Delaney, who hosted the clubs player of the year awards at the Aviva Stadium. The league told the clubs that this was a very good initiative and not only gave the young players a fantastic day out, but also gave them something to aspire to in the future. The meeting finished and brought to an end, another very successful season for the TSDL.