We have a Men’s game against Dubai this coming Friday, May 29th at 4:30 out at The American School.
 
And this is no ordinary game – it’s a title decider for the Gulf Championship. In this best of 5 series it is currently tied at 2-2!
 
Abu Dhabi have not won this Championship since 2003 so history in the making beckons. Come down on Friday and support the lads in their quest for Championship success! It would be great to bring the cup home in front of a partisan crowd on Friday so get yourself down and cheer on the lads.

Unfortunately, Dubai have pulled out of the proposed Ladies game so there will only be a men’s game on Friday. Sorry girls!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday.
Cheers,
Declan.
 
P.S.

As part of our end of season celebrations, awards are presented for the male and female player of the year.
 
These awards have always been chosen by you the players, and this year will be no different.
 
Guys – can you please text Johnny (050 752 5758) with your nomination for male player of the year – the one player you feel has excelled the most on the field of play for Na Fianna this year.
 
Ladies – can you please text Bríd (050 322 4021) with your nomination for female player of the year – the one player you feel has excelled the most on the field of play for Na Fianna this year.
 
The cut-off date for voting will be next Tuesday, June 2nd at 8:00 pm. At that time all votes will be tallied and a winner announced on the night of the ball – Thursday, June 4th.

Please note:  There will be a final chance to buy tickets at the Box Office on Monday June 1st from 7:00 – 9:00 pm in The Crowne Plaza Hotel outside Cappucino’s Café.
 
Get your votes in asap.
 
Cheers,
Declan.

Our End of Year GAA Ball is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 4th.

Historically, this has always been a great night where we reflect back over the year gone by, honour those who have excelled on and off the field for Na Fianna this year and say goodbye to some old friends destined for pastures new.

• Location: Emirates Ballroom, 9th Floor, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Abu Dhabi.
• Dress: Smart
• Reception: 7:00 – 8:00 pm. (Meals will be served from 8:00 pm onwards).
• Dinner: 4 course meal
• FREE bar until closing.
• Entertainment: DJ Chunky (all the way from Heroes Bar) from 11:00pm til late.

The price is: Members 300 Dhs; Non-members 350 Dhs.

Box Office

There will be a Box Office this coming Wednesday, May 27th from 7:30 – 9:30 pm in The Crowne Plaza (outside Cappucino’s Café at the top of the escalator) for anyone who wishes to purchase tickets. For any of the guys down training Wednesday night, I’ll bring tickets down to the pitch for you to purchase at training.

In order not to miss out on what will undoubtedly be a great night get yourself down to The Crowne Plaza on Wednesday and purchase your tickets straight way.

Looking forward to seeing you all then.

Declan.

Can’t make it to South Africa? We are bringing the Lions Tour to the UAE!

Live screenings of Lions Tour events will be shown at the Crowne Plaza in Dubai. Each one is being hosted by a former Springbok and Lion. The tests are on 20th, 27th June and 4th July

• 1st Test – Werner Swanepoel & Mal O’Kelly
• 2nd Test – Pieter Muller & Colin Charvis
• 3rd Test – Andre Snyman & Gregor Townsend

Kick off is at 5pm with doors opening at 4pm and closing, well whenever the last person leaves!

Tickets are AED 125 per screening or AED 300 of you buy a season pass to all 3 and include free food and great drinks promotions such as 5 bottles of Heineken for AED100. There are also VIP packages available at AED 2,500 which offer guests their own area with seating, waitress service and a personal hostess.

Guests from Abu Dhabi are welcome for an afternoon of great rugby and the biggest party of the summer. We are looking at organising a coach from Abu Dhabi if there are a group of fans looking to come along, I am also in contact with the rugby club so hopefully there will be a good crowd from Abu Dhabi.

Please call Tammy Urwin on 050 104 7206 for details.

Just a reminder about our upcoming games with Oman this coming Thursday night.

The games will take place at The American International School (our training pitch) from 7-9 pm, Thursday 21st. As stated before, unfortunately, Oman will not travel with a Ladies team so our plan for the girls is to have one final game amongst ourselves. The guys will play Oman in an 11-a-side game.

Please can everyone be at the field for 6:45 pm sharp so that we can make the most of our 2 hours and have a number of good, competitive matches.

Just a quick note re. our remaining fixtures for this season.

Thursday, May 21st.

A men’s team from Oman is travelling up Thursday morning for a game Thursday night. At the moment they have 10 players travelling. The game will take place at The American School from 7:00 – 9:00 pm.

Unfortunately, Oman’s Ladies’ team has pulled out of the trip only a couple of days ago. After talking to Brid and Rachel it was suggested that the girls have one last run-out with a game among themselves to compensate for this disappointment. This game will also take place at The American School from 7:00 – 9:00 pm.

Friday May 29th.

It now looks like the decider in The Gulf Championship for the guys will take place on this date. Dubai are not able to make it down next weekend (21st – 23rd) so Friday May 29th remains the only, workable date to get the game played on. Once I hear back from Dubai re. confirmation of numbers I will forward on the details of the match straight away.

We also have to run off our annual Married vs Singles match. This was penciled in for Friday, May 29th but may have to change because of the Championship game.
Our options for staging this game would be, it seems to me, as follows: -

• Play it next weekend after the Oman games, Friday May 22nd?
• Play it on the night of Thursday, May 28th. However, that potentially is the night before our Championship game and may not suit???
• Play it after our Championship game on Friday, May 29th?
• Play it on a weeknight?

All other weekends after that seem to be out so let me know what you think and we can get something organized!

A big thank you to everyone who turned up last Friday night to support our final fundraiser of the year. I think you’ll all agree it was a great night which everyone seemed to enjoy.

If anyone has photos from the night that they would like to share can you please forward them onto me (declan.madden@hct.ac.ae) and I’ll have them put up on our website asap.

I would like to extend my thanks to the following two people in particular – Mike Boyce and Brid Tierney.

Mike, once again, did a great job as our resident DJ and had everyone dancing the night away into the wee hours and beyond. If the sun ever stops shining in Abu Dhabi Mike there may be an alternative profession for you in the making!

Brid, once again, did a great job in organizing the event and liaising with The Club.

Without this work going on behind the scenes such an event is not possible so thanks very much.

Also, a thank you to all those who assisted Brid in the selling of tickets, collecting of money, etc.

Finally, one last date for your diaries – our End of Year GAA Ball which is scheduled for Thursday, June 4th. Further details of this event will follow shortly.

Cheers,
Declan.

A lot more pictures from the Rose Ball on April 30th have been added to our galleries. Check here to see them, and click here if you haven’t seen the first batch.

The photos in this new group were taken by Felix Wilson (050 641 4794).