As you are all probably aware by now the Dubai GGG ‘09 is due to take place on the weekend of the 23^rd/24^th of January at the new Sevens Stadium in Dubai. It’s a 7-a-side tournament with games lasting 14 minutes, played, I’m led to believe, on a full pitch. Each squad entered can have a maximum of 12 players.

Players can only be registered on one team, and one team only, so if we have big numbers we can enter two teams in each competition. There is a registration fee of AED 100 per person that each person will have to play themselves.

As Dubai’s nearest neighbours it’s imperative that we field a team both in the Men’s and Women’s competition.

At present we have enough for a Men’s team but are struggling to field a full Women’s team so I’m asking all of you who are in Abu Dhabi on this weekend to please put your name forward to play.  

• Guys, you can forward your name to me by sending me a text on 050 3236804.
• Girls, you can forward your name to Brid by sending her a text on 050 3224021.

As we are heading off on holidays ourselves on the 18^th it’s imperative that names be forwarded before then please!

Buses will be arranged to take players to and from the pitch (details of departure times to follow next week). On the day food and drink will be in plentiful supply with entertainment organized for both nights in Dubai after the games. (Please see yesterday’s e-mail for details of this).

Regards,

Declan

Just got this from Donal in Dubai re the forthcoming games

A chairde,

Greetings from sunny Dubai, today a cool 25 degrees. Only 2 weeks to go, we’re hard at it pulling the strings together to get GGG’09 on the road.

We have 4 pitches continuously on the go, and with over 40 teams this year we need refs for up to 140+ matches. Croke Park are sending out well-known ref Martin Duffy from Sligo, which is most welcome but you’ll appreciate we’ll need a panel of 10 to 12 refs.

For anyone interested in golf, DIGS ( Dubai Irish Golf Society ) + Dubai Celts have an outing arranged for Thursday 22nd., at Jebel Ali Golf Club. Anybody interested let us know this week as numbers are limited, tariff for 18 holes  plus club rental approx. 120 euros (see jebelali-international.com for course details).

Thursday evening after the golf we are arranging a night-at-the-races at Nad Al Sheba. This is a must-do spectacular floodlit racing, viewed from the Gainsborough Lounge on the 4th. floor of the Millenium Grandstand, entry costs 100 dirhams. Dress: smart casual, jacket needed as nights are cool (see dubairacingclub.com)

GGG’09 has a new venue this year, the Emirates Sevens Sports Complex, recently built for the Dubai rugby 7s which attracted 50,000 people on finals day at the end of November, and the Rugby 7s World Cup which is being held in March (see dubairugby7s.com).
To defray some of the additional cost for this venue there will be a registration fee of 100 dirhams per player, and a major raffle will be held, with 50-dirham tickets for a grand first prize of 2 return airline tickets Dubai – London generously sponsored, plus other prizes.

We will be booking buses for each club to be ferried from + to their hotels as follows:

• Wed. night, Irish Village for opening night ( outward trip only ).
• Thurs. night, Nad Al Sheeba race-course  ( outward trip only ).
• Friday + Saturday, Sevens complex for the tournament, ( return trips both days ).

We will let you know the cost for above 6 trips.

You will taxi to & from the airport unless you have separate arrangements with your hotel.

Slan

Donal, DUBAI CELTS

Mike Boyce here: I’m currently trying to organize a Texas Hold’em No Limit Poker Tournament for the middle to end of February.  All are welcome.  Guys, girls, and those not affilated with Gaelic.  It will be a 200 Dirham entry fee, with a small percentage of that going to the premises.  The rest of the prize money will be awarded to the top 5 players.

There will also be beverages available at a cheap rate.   There will also be a Blackjack table for those who do not know how to play poker, and wish enjoy the ‘casino’ atmosphere.

If you are interested in playing in the tournament, or know others that may be interested, please email me me with names and emails.  I will get back to everyone with a time and place as soon as possible.

Mike

Finally, and not before time, our social tops have arrived. My apologies for the delay but that was through no fault of our own  - unfortunately there was a delay in production and that’s why they’ve only gotten to us now.

For those of you who travelled to Bahrain in November you are guaranteed a top (free of charge) as per the agreements of the deal we put in place for that trip. Starting next Wednesday night I’ll be bringing the tops down to training and you can collect them from me there.

Those of you looking to purchase a top/more tops the cost works out at AED 175 per shirt. After setting aside tops for those who travelled to Bahrain it leaves us with 150 shirts to sell in total. Having already worn mine over the holiday period I can tell you that they are very  well designed and made from good material – a steal at AED 175 if you ask me.

One point to note is that tops will only be handed over once the money has been paid – we had a few problems a couple of years back keeping track of who had a top, who paid for theirs, etc. so I would like to avoid that this time around.

Declan.

As you all probably know by now we have a game against Dubai, in Dubai, this weekend. The games are provisionally scheduled to take place at The Sevens Stadium from 3:00 – 6:00 pm.

So far, Colin Quinn, Stuart Lancaster, Ben Kehoe, Chris Fitzgerald, Brett Bowman, Declan Madden, Mick Molnar, Jonathan O’Neill,  Stephen Daly,  Andrew McCarthy, John Mellett, Paddy Wall, Conor Doran have confirmed…

. If you haven’t already contacted me and you do wish to play please contact me by sending me a text on 050 3236804.

I also need to know from people if they plan to go up on the bus or drive themselves up. Can you let me know this asap please as I will need to confirm the bus booking in the next day or two.

The bus will leave from outside Choueifat School (Airport Road & 15th Street) at 1:00 pm sharp on Friday. It would seem that very few of you, who have contacted me so far, are interested in staying around Dubai after the match so the bus will be returning to Abu Dhabi after the games.

Hurling?

Dubai were also hoping to run off a hurling match so if any of you are interested in playing please let James know by either e-mailing him at james.ryan@hct.ac.ae or by calling him on 050 1278560.

That’s everything for now. Just a reminder that training starts back up this Wednesday night – “same bat time, same bat channel” – so looking forward to seeing you all down at the pitches Wednesday night.

Regards,

Declan
Chairman, Abu Dhabi Na Fianna.

Have a look at the e-mail below from Declan in Dubai re. a proposed Veterans game on the weekend of the 23rd/24th Jan as part of the GGG 09.

If you are interested in togging out could you please contact Pat English as to your availability by either e-mailing him at patrick.english@hct.ac.ae or by calling him on 050 6718499 asap.

Regards,

Declan.

P.S. Felim here’s your chance to prove once and for all that you were (as you claim) the greatest player to ever don the Na Fianna jersey!!!

A Chairde,

My name is Declan O’Donovan and I am the Youth Officer for Dubai Celts GAA Club.  As everyone knows, the Gulf Caelic Games 2009 are fast approaching and scheduled to take place at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai on 23rd and 24th January.  We are looking at getting a fix on numbers for the different events and being an old fossil I’d still like to participate in the tournament so am trying to get a veterans section added to the tournament.  If this does not materialise we will still be having a Socials Section (with oxygen and rubs for the old fogies if required).

The proposed format and makeup of the teams will be as follows… (more…)

Just a quick reminder that Abu Dhabi will be playing Dubai on Friday next in Dubai. Declan will send on more information tomorrow when we receive it from Dubai regarding the venue and time. A bus will be going.

James