School league history
The story of the now famous Seachnalls School Leagues began way back in 1979. Having just arrived in the school a year or two earlier, Mr. Gilligan decided to start up an internal school league for pupils in the middle and senior classes who were interested in playing Gaelic Football. At that time the school population was a lot smaller than it is today and the first leagues run were indeed only in Gaelic Football. The whole purpose of these leagues was to allow pupils of the school to compete against each other in mini sided games. It gave every player a great chance to experience match like conditions as well as being used as a springboard for young emerging talents to be spotted for the school Gaelic teams.
As the school numbers increased over the year and the popularity of English soccer clubs grew, it was decided to add soccer leagues to the bill. With all the leagues today, captains are chosen initially and the battle for vice captains thus begins. There are a lot of discussions and even a few arguments before teams are fully finalised and printed out. Both captains and vice captains must adhere to strict rules in terms of touches / solos. Great excitement always revolves around the Junior Leagues each year as for many it is the first taste of the school leagues. For sixth class pupils they get valuable experience of refereeing these games and they soon realise how tough a job it is being the man / lady in the middle.
Indeed times have changed in that all the school leagues are held on our school field out the back today. This was not the case in the early years as all league hopefuls would land en masse in the local GAA pitch. Today the school runs four league competitions Senior Soccer, Junior Soccer, Senior Gaelic and Junior Gaelic.
As the school numbers increased over the year and the popularity of English soccer clubs grew, it was decided to add soccer leagues to the bill. With all the leagues today, captains are chosen initially and the battle for vice captains thus begins. There are a lot of discussions and even a few arguments before teams are fully finalised and printed out. Both captains and vice captains must adhere to strict rules in terms of touches / solos. Great excitement always revolves around the Junior Leagues each year as for many it is the first taste of the school leagues. For sixth class pupils they get valuable experience of refereeing these games and they soon realise how tough a job it is being the man / lady in the middle.
Indeed times have changed in that all the school leagues are held on our school field out the back today. This was not the case in the early years as all league hopefuls would land en masse in the local GAA pitch. Today the school runs four league competitions Senior Soccer, Junior Soccer, Senior Gaelic and Junior Gaelic.