Springfield Ramblers Awards 2009/2010

Joe Stromsoe accepts the Hall Of Fame Award from John Coughlan & Cathal Rasmussen

At the end of another long season the Springfield Ramblers Schoolboys Football Club held their annual Player of the Year awards on Saturday 29^th May in the Cobh Community Centre. Special invited guest on the day was long time member of Springfield AFC Joe Stromsoe.

Club chairman Cathal Rasmussen chaired the ceremony and having welcomed everyone to the ceremony he congratulated all the players for their efforts throughout the year. He paid particular tribute to the coaches of all the teams who give of their time voluntarily throughout a long season. The club he said was immensely grateful to all the parents for their help in assisting the coaches during the year especially for the provision of transport for the players to away games.

Cathal spoke of the challenge he set for the club last season to move on and be more successful. He stressed to all the players present to persevere with their games and to try and emulate the successes of Steven Ireland, Steven O’Halloran, David Meyler and most recently Stephen Mulcahy. In this vein he continued by congratulating the players currently representing the club at Cork Schoolboy and International Schoolboy levels.

Cathal thanked the Club Committee John Coughlan, Kieran O’Callaghan, Anthony O’Donovan, Wim VanWijnen, Frank Collins, Willie O’Hanlon, Niall Abbott and Martin Deady for their hard work throughout the year. the club extends particular thanks to Wim VanWijnen for sourcing and purchasing the fine awards that were on display for the ceremony. Cathal also thanked the sponsor for the day Cobh Credit Union and Club sponsor Derek Corcoran from Fanatics. He also extended his thanks to local media Great Island Newsletter, Inside Cobh and The Cobh Edition for all their assistance in publishing the Club match reports.

Thanks were also extended to Frank O’Donovan and Cobh Community College for the use of their playing field for Club matches and to Frank Collins, Niall Abbott and Paul Roche for looking after the cutting and maintenance of the Club’s three playing pitches along with Adrian O’Donovan, Niall Ahern and Ollie Geasley of the Community employment scheme for their continued assistance.

Cathal finished with some good news in relation to the Club’s plans to provide first class training and playing facilities in a new development at the rear of the Community College in Carrignafoy. The Club is at an advanced stage of planning and it is hoped to begin work later in the summer and have it completed in time for play in October. This he continued is an exciting and challenging time for all connected with the club and in due course meetings will be held with parents to explain a number of proposed changes in how the Club structures payments and subscriptions for the coming season.

Prior to the official awards a number of people were rewarded for their services to the club for a number of years. Under 14 coaches Frank Jones & Joe Keating and Under 16 coach Mick Nolan were presented with gifts by the players of their respective teams as they are stepping down from their positions this year. Long term former officers of the club Dan Wyatt and Martin Deady were both presented with gifts by on behalf of the club by the chairman. There was a special acknowledgement for Josie Ellard who was stepping down after a long number of years as the club’s Child Protection Officer.

Though all the players deserve huge credit for their commitment and performances throughout the year it is traditional to reward some of the players who have made outstanding contributions to their respective teams’ cause. To this end the coaches of each team select players in three categories to receive awards at the end of each season. These are: Player of the Year, Clubman of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year. These were awarded as follows:

Clubmen Of The Year - Photo: Anthony O'Donovan

Players Of The Year - Photograph by Anthony O'Donovan

Most Improved Players (Missing: Sam Stapleton) - Photograph by Anthony O'Donovan

League & Cup Success

It was a successful season for the club on the field of play with two of the teams achieving runners up places in their respective league competitions. These were the Under 11 Premier League Team and the Under 13 Premier League Team. The Under 13 team were beaten finalists in their cup competition while the Under 11 team reached the semi-final of the cup. All these players received their medals at the ceremony.

International Tournament Victory

The Under 15 Premier League team achieved a great honour for the club by winning the International Sporting Events Cork Cup in a weekend tournament by defeating Cork and Dublin opposition in a round robin format, defeating Ringmahon Rangers in the final.

Cork Schoolboys Representatives

More success was garnered for the club in the form of players representing the club at Cork Schoolboys Level as follows:

• Under 11 level;

Adam Horgan, Dave Coffey, Charlie Fleming, Adam O’Sullivan, Neil Harte, Niall Abbott.

• Under 12 level;

Ryan Scanlon, Jordan Tarrant, Rob Hughes.

• Under 13 level;

Cathal O’Hanlon, Sean McLoughlin, James Stoat.

• Under 15 level;

Shane Hallahan, Jason Abbott.

• Under 16 level;

Cian Spriggs, Dylan McNamara, Niall Griffin, Peter Nolan, Alan O’Flynn.

All players who achieved representative status received awards from the club.

International Honours

Further honour was bestowed on the club when three of our players achieved the honour of being selected to play for the Republic of Ireland Emerging Talent Squads. One of these was Jason Abbott at Under 15 level. Two players Peter Nolan and Ross McCarthy were selected at Under 16 level. The club extends its congratulations to these players in achieving this great honour for themselves, their families and the Springfield Ramblers Club.

All players who achieved representative status received awards from the club.

Special Club Awards

There were three special Club Awards during the ceremony. These were:

• The Pat O’Brien Award for outstanding commitment to the club ethos by a player during the year. This was presented to Derek Keaney.

• The Clubman of the Year Award which was presented to Frank Collins for his outstanding contribution to the running of the Club particularly for his work in preparing and maintaining the club’s playing pitches.

• The Hall of Fame Award. This prestigious award was presented to Joe Stromsoe, long time servant of Springfield AFC. The club extends its thanks to Joe for attending the ceremony and helping in the presentation of some of the awards.

Skills Awards

Further awards were presented as follows:

• Schoolboys Overall Top Goalscorer:             Neil Harte.

• Schoolboys Most Clean Sheets: Shane Hallahan.

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More of the Award Night photographs taken by Anthony O’Donovan can bee seen here at: http://cobhedition.com/?page_id=823&album=4&gallery=9

Cobh Edition also took many photographs during the awards and should anyone require a copy of any particular photograph then please email info@cobhedition.com and we can email you the photo. There is no charge for this.