In a visit to Ireland's newest club last weekend, GAA president Jarlath Burns said the organisation was considering establishing a club support unit to help any future entities that are formed.
Burns said the GAA would heed lessons from Eastern Gaels’ experience of establishing a new set-up.
The Meath club was formed two years ago and speaking at their home grounds in Páirc Réalt na Mara, Mornington, the president reiterated how the GAA recognised the club's rapid growth and the challenges Eastern Gaels faced in that time.
Upon ratification in February 2023, the new club sought to capitalise on an expanding population in the area south of Drogheda and to the north of County Dublin, extending to the eastern coastline.
In the past two decades alone the region of east Meath, incorporating Beamore, Mornington, Donacarney, Drogheda South, Laytown and Bettystown has seen massive development and Eastern Gaels believed there was a need for a new club to cater for people in the area.
That was a viewpoint not shared by everyone, including the local St Colmcille’s club, who were strongly opposed to the creation of a new unit in the area.
A challenging year with hearings, transfer objections and meetings ensued before Eastern Gaels were finally given the green light.
And speaking last weekend, Burns was definite that lessons would be learned from the experience.
"This club was set up by a few people who decided that the population growth in this area warranted a new club – and you are right," he told club members.
"As a result of the experiences of this club, one of the things we are looking at is setting up a club support unit.
"Setting up a GAA club is an onerous task and the fact that you are here and that you are thriving, and that you have a plan, speaks volumes to your leadership.
"There are lessons that can be learned from your experience of creating a new club in an area where it is the most rational, logical thing - that we should be creating new clubs and the GAA should be getting almost ahead of this and locating areas where we need to be having new clubs and finding out if there are people in that area who would like to set up a new club. I wish you all the best and congratulate you so much."
In their strategic plan, Eastern Gaels say that between 2016 and 2022 the region’s population increased by 27% from 22,000 to 28,000, with similar levels of growth forecast for the future.
"It was three years ago this week that we sent our application to Meath GAA and the population here is growing all the time," said Eastern Gaels PRO Tom McLoughlin.
"We just felt that there were a lot of young people - and there still are a lot - in the area that weren't really getting the opportunity to play Gaelic games.
"We were thrilled to be accepted, and we've worked hard on building it, building our club since.
"There were things that could have been simplified and if anyone was in a similar position going forward, I think we can point out how that might be done. We would be only too happy to.
"Benny Hurl from the National Demographics Committee has even touched on this that some of the rules of the GAA are not amenable to starting new clubs. So, we have lots of learnings."
McLoughlin, though, is adamant that the club will grow.
They have already won a Meath ladies football championship and have a thriving academy, catering from five-to-12-year-olds.
"Now we have to keep driving the interest and awareness of our club," he told RTÉ Sport.
"In current society, it's very hard to get a kind of buy-in into things. People are very discerning with their time, and you have to build that whole volunteerism and that model which has served the GAA so well.
"To us, it's all about participation. We want as many kids in our schools playing Gaelic games as possible and girls. We want all of them playing Gaelic games because, you know, that's part of what we are."
