Home is usually away for Navan club
Navan Hockey Club hosted a promotion evening tonight at the Mercy Conveny Phoenix Theatre to launch the 2018 /2019 Leinster League season.
Unusually, Navan plays the majority of home games in Dublin once the weather rules out use of the current facility at Mercy which the club hopes to upgrade in a joint initiative with the school.
A lot of the training has to take place in Dublin also - Navan is a team without a permanent home but the success of the Ireland team at the World Cup has boosted the popularity of the game and more demands have to be met by the club if it hopes to develop into the future.
Tonight, club chairperson Bronagh Markey introduced members of the committee and a number of local elected officials were present including Cllr Tommy Reilly, Cllr Jim Holloway, Clrr Noel French and Cllr Wayne Forde.
Cllr Forde pledged a donation of €1,000 to the club and Cllr Holloway suggested that a meeting could be arranged to discuss the
club's plans. This was welcomed by the club's officials and Cllr Forde was thanked for his pledge.
Proposed plans for the future of the club were announced ahead of the new season in which Navan will probably have to play most of their games in Dublin due to the lack of a hockey-standard astro pitch in the town.
It is the intention of the club to pursue the idea of developing the current hard surface pitch they have use of at Mercy Convent in
what they hope will be a joint-venture with the school but discussions on this are only at the preliminary stage.
BRONAGH MARKEY ANNOUNCES NAVAN HOCKEY CLUB PLANS
COST OF DEVELOPMENT
Navan Hockey Club committee member John Dooley, in response to a question from the floor, explained that the cost to develop an astro pitch would be in the region of €450,000 and he also added it is his ambition to see this become a reality.
"Our biggest problem in relation to the identity of the club is that for the men's first team we have to play all our 'home' games in
Dublin and that's a big drawback," he said.
"It also means that there is very little opportiunity for talented local players to progress without having to joing a Dublin
club," he added.
TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
Last July Navan Hockey Club won the Helensburgh and Loch Lomond Hockey Fling in Scotland.
They were the only Irish team in the competition and played teams from England and Scotland on both grass and astro pitches.
Navan finished with a very tense and dramatic decider against top Scottish side Oban.
Navan won the qualifying game 3-0 but the final ended 0-0 and went to penalty flicks which Navan won 4-2.
LEINSTER HOCKEY LEAGUE FIXTURES
Navan will have two men's and two women's teams in the Leinster League with the season set to start this month.
Navan will play two friendlies against MUllingar this Saturday - The Mullingar club has access to an astro pitch in the town.
SATURDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER
MEN
Pembroke Wanderers v Navan.
Dublin UNiversity v Navan 2nds.
WOMEN
Navan v Naas - scheduled for Mercy
Navan 2nds v Naas 2nds - scheduled for Mercy
FUNDRAISING
The club will host ABBAfest Disco, Bingo & Karaoke Night from 8pm on Friday 9th November in The Central
"Dressing up as the iconic Swedish superstars is ABBA-solutely essential," said Bronagh Markey tonight.
Tickets are €10 each and are available from The Central or from Bronagh (085) 152 9164.