Festival of Football Visit to the Harps
The sun was high in the sky making Tuesday 23rd July a memorable day for Ratoath Harps as they welcomed the FAI festival of football to CityJet Park.
The large FAI delegation put forward their lead ambassadors Richard Dunne, Megan Campbell and Paul Osam to meet our members and more importantly our players with many participating in the FAI Summer Soccer Schools on our magnificent all weather pitch on the day.
The 20 piece Garda band led by Pat Kenny welcomed the delegation in style as the visitors were taken on a tour of our €820k capital expenditure project. The committee explained to a very interested delegation the current status of the project with 90% funding in place and a solid drive to move forward to complete in the project in full.
The FAI in combination with UEFA used the Harps facilities to hold a press conference chaired by Noel Mooney giving details of a recent study which shows the financial benefit of grass roots football within the community. The conference received national press coverage with the Harps tagged in many publications including the Meath Chronicle, the Irish Times, the Irish Examiner and the Star to name a few.
Over 240 people attending the event. They were treated to plenty of refreshments and various sandwiches followed by a slice of cake from the Harps 50th anniversary cake which was cut by Noel Fitzroy, outgoing Vice President of the FAI. Janice, Grainne and Gillian worked tirelessly on the day in our kitchen keeping all the guests going with food and drinks.
The FAI made a presentation to the Harps of a plaque and some funding towards the purchase of day-to-day items to help run the football side of the club.
The club sends out a special thank you to all the volunteers and local businesses who contributed to make this a very special day for our members.
