Community Games
Encyclopedia
The Community Games is an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 independent voluntary organisation and National Governing Body providing opportunities for children and young people to grow and develop in a positive and healthy way while experiencing a wide range of sporting and cultural activities. The National Finals are held over 3 weekends every year, one in May and two in August where on each weekend 3, 000 children compete for their area, town, county and province. The Community Games is sponsored by the Health Service Executive
Health Service Executive
The Health Service Executive is responsible for the provision of healthcare providing health and personal social services for everyone living in Ireland, with public funds. The Executive was established by the Health Act, 2004 and came into official operation on January 1, 2005...



"Community Games can be quite proud of its immense achievements in a wide range of interests and, indeed, positive community developments. Community Games is a truly developing organisation spreading good-will and healthy involvement for the benefit of all."
Joseph Connolly, Founder and Honorary Life Patron (1922 - 2008).

History

The community games were set up in 1968 - initially only in Dublin as a way to deal with the problems of the lack of leisure-time activities for young people. In the first games, 3,000 took part at the John F. Kennedy Stadium
Morton Stadium
Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Santry, in the north of Dublin City. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Ireland, and home track of Clonliffe Harriers. It was home to Sporting Fingal FC...

 in Santry
Santry
Santry is a suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin and Ballymun. Today it straddles the boundary of Dublin City and Fingal County Council area....

; the following year it was 5,000 - today, over 500,000 children compete for the chance to make the national finals. For most of the games history, the National Finals were held in Mosney
Mosney
Mosney Accommodation Centre, formerly Butlin's Mosney, and Mosney Holiday Centre; in County Meath, Ireland, is situated approximately from Dublin. It is probably best known as the site of a Butlin's holiday camp in the second half of the 20th century and as the site for the National Finals of the...

, County Meath
County Meath
County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...

. However this will change from 2009 as the former campsite - now a residential area for asylum seekers - will no longer be available to the Games. The Games will be held at AIT in Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

Sports

  • Athletics
    Athletics (track and field)
    Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

  • Badminton
    Badminton
    Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

  • Basketball
    Basketball
    Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

  • Camogie
    Camogie
    Camogie is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women; it is almost identical to the game of hurling played by men. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and world wide, largely among Irish communities....

  • Cycling
    Cycling
    Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

  • Futsal
    Futsal
    Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and mainly played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón , which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football"...

  • Gaelic football
    Gaelic football
    Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...

  • Gaelic handball
    Gaelic handball
    Gaelic handball is a sport similar to Basque pelota, racquetball, squash and American handball . It is one of the four Gaelic games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association...

  • Gymnastics
    Gymnastics
    Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

  • Hockey
    Hockey
    Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

  • Hurling
    Hurling
    Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...

  • Judo
    Judo
    is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

  • Olympic handball
  • Pitch and putt
    Pitch and putt
    Pitch and putt is an amateur sport, similar to golf. The maximum hole length for international competitions is with a maximum total course length of . Players may only use three clubs; one of which must be a putter...

  • Rounders
    Rounders
    Rounders is a game played between two teams of either gender. The game originated in England where it was played in Tudor times. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a round wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by...

  • Tag rugby
    Tag Rugby
    Tag Rugby, also known as rippa rugby, flag rugby league or flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt that has two velcro tags attached to it, or shorts with velcro patches. The mode of play is based on rugby league with many similarities to touch rugby...

  • Skittles
    Skittles
    Skittles may refer to:*Skittles , a small candy made in many flavors*Skittles , the game from which bowling originated*Skittles , a casual chess game in chess jargon...

     (Irish version)
  • Soccer
  • Swimming
    Swimming (sport)
    Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

  • Table tennis
    Table tennis
    Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

  • Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

  • Volleyball
    Volleyball
    Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...


Other Events

  • Art
    Art
    Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

  • Chess
    Chess
    Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

  • Choir
    Choir
    A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

  • Culture Corner
  • Draughts
    Draughts
    Draughts is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque...

  • Model making
    Sculpture
    Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

  • Project
    Project
    A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams...

  • Quiz
    Quiz
    A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly. In some countries, a quiz is also a brief assessment used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills.Quizzes are usually scored in points and many...

  • Variety show
    Variety show
    A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

  • Disco Dancing
  • Singing
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

  • Traditional Set Dancing
  • Comedy Sketch/Drama
  • Music
    Music
    Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

  • Recitation
    Recitation
    A recitation is a presentation made by a student to demonstrate knowledge of a subject or to provide instruction to others. In some academic institutions the term is used for a presentation by a teaching assistant or instructor, under the guidance of a senior faculty member, that supplements...


National Finals

Young people from all over Ireland aim to qualify for the Community Games National Finals each year. These take place over three weekends one in May and two in August.

In the individual events, one competitor from each of the 32 counties of Ireland
Counties of Ireland
The counties of Ireland are sub-national divisions used for the purposes of geographic demarcation and local government. Closely related to the county is the County corporate which covered towns or cities which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their counties. A county...

 qualifies for the National Finals. In the team events, one team from each of the 4 provinces of Ireland
Provinces of Ireland
Ireland has historically been divided into four provinces: Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. The Irish word for this territorial division, cúige, literally meaning "fifth part", indicates that there were once five; the fifth province, Meath, was incorporated into Leinster, with parts going to...

 qualifies for the National Finals. The exceptions to these rules are:
  • In judo, one individual from each province qualifies for the national finals.
  • In pitch and putt, choir, "culture corner", project choir and variety, three teams from each province qualify for the national finals.
  • In the under-14 quiz, two teams from each county qualify for the national finals.


Where four teams qualify, semi-finals, a third-place play-off and final are played, except in draughts and chess where medal placings are decided on a league basis.

Theme Song

"We're Singing as One" is the theme song of the Community Games written, sung, arranged and produced by Colm O'Loughlin, a former competitor at the Games.

Past Competitors

Many famous Irish Athletes have competed in the games over the years:
  • Sonia O'Sullivan
    Sonia O'Sullivan
    Sonia O'Sullivan in Cobh, County Cork. She began her running career in Ballymore Running Club which is located in the eastern side of Cobh Town. She was one of the world's leading female 5000 m runners for most of the 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century...

  • Niall Quinn
    Niall Quinn
    Niall John Quinn honorary MBE is a former Irish international footballer, and the ex-chairman of Sunderland AFC. He still works at the club as an overseas manager. He is also heavily involved in the management side of horse racing...

     - won the poc fada
  • Mark Scanlon
    Mark Scanlon
    Mark Scanlon is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. Scanlon came to prominence when he won the junior race at the 1998 world road race championship, on his 18th birthday.-Amateur career:...

  • Frank O'Mara
    Frank O'Mara
    Frank O'Mara is a retired Irish runner who specialized in the 1500 and 3000 metres. He became World Indoor Champion in 3000 m twice, but never achieved the same success on the outdoor track....

  • John Treacy
    John Treacy
    John Treacy is a former Irish athlete and Olympic medalist, who represented Ireland at four Olympic Games between 1980 and 1992.- Career :...

  • John Hayes
    John Hayes
    John Hayes may refer to:In academia:* John Hayes , British art historian and museum director, expert on GainsboroughIn entertainment:* John Hayes , American director of low-budget films...

  • Paul O'Connoll
  • Ronan O'Gara
    Ronan O'Gara
    Ronan John Ross O'Gara is an Irish rugby union player, playing at fly-half for both Munster and Ireland. He is the all time highest point scorer for both Munster and Ireland. In addition to his prolific point-scoring, he has captained Munster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions...



Famous Competitors:
  • Colin Farrell
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