LEINSTER LGFA PRESIDENT EMPHASISES UNITY, HERITAGE AND GRASSROOTS SUPPORT
By DAIRE WALSH
There was a proud moment for Arthur Corrigan on January 18 of this year when the Kildare native was announced as the new President of the Leinster Ladies Gaelic Football Association at their 2025 Convention in The Grand Hotel in Moate, Co. Westmeath.
Having previously held a number of positions within the association, Corrigan has now assumed the provincial reins from Trina Murray – who took over from Mícheál Naughton as National President of the LGFA at an Annual Congress held at The Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny at the beginning of March.
On the day of his inauguration in Moate (the hometown of the aforementioned Murray), Corrigan was joined by his wife and three daughters. As he explains, family has always been at the heart of his involvement in the LGFA.
“They’ve all played a part and even in my inauguration piece, even though I don’t remember it all! Growing up all the years, I started in club and one of my daughters was playing. Then there was the jersey washing and there was all of that. Then it was moving onto gates and programmes. Folding programmes and getting ready, all the little jobs,” Corrigan said.
“Folding jerseys, getting jerseys into bags in the right order, while they were learning their numbers. Little memories like that and they remember them as well. It has always been a part of the family.
“They’ve grown up being reared on sport as well. Coming from Kildare we’re covered with sport. Be it football, hurling and camogie, racing. Any sport at all and I’ve played quite a few of them too. I’ve been lucky enough.”
After being approached at a birthday party around the turn of the 21st century about the possibility of getting involved, Corrigan became heavily invested in the LGFA section of his local club Naas.
Eager for those within the club to receive as much playing time as possible, he got in touch with the Kildare county board to see what could be done. From there, he helped those within the Kildare LGFA to ensure the sport remained vibrant in the county and he subsequently found himself occupying a number of positions – including that of county chairperson.
“My club is Naas. It was up and running [ladies football], but it was hit and miss. There wasn’t enough numbers, but we got in at the time when numbers began to start and it suddenly began to become cool for girls to be playing football and they were beginning to play it in the schools and everything like that.
“From there you’re looking to see, okay we need matches for these girls that we’re training. So how do we get matches? Then we found out about the county board. You go to a county board and there was only six or seven people trying to keep everything going. Fixtures were hit and miss.
“My ethos has always been ‘don’t give out, help out’. People are always giving out ‘oh, we can’t get fixtures’. Well my ethos is ‘get involved, see what I can do to help’. It started from there. I helped with fixtures, helped with registration, took on many roles and eventually was county chairperson then as well.”
Over the course of his time as Leinster LGFA President, there are a number of key areas that Corrigan – who will present a provincial title to the winner of today’s final between Dublin and Meath – will be looking to focus on. Perhaps the biggest topic on the agenda over the next few years is the planned integration of the GAA, the LGFA and the Camogie Association, and Corrigan believes it is important that his association maintains a strong identity during this transition.
“The one big caveat that is sitting out there is integration and how that is going to work. We’re not quite sure yet, there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. It will come to a provincial and county level. We hear a lot about the one club model and all the codes within the clubs working together. Trying to get that to work,” Corrigan added.
“How’s that going to look then when it comes to provincial or even the county level as well. So we’re going to have to work on that and make sure that the most important thing is ladies football don’t lose their identity. We’re all moving into a new GAA and that’s the most important thing for the girls playing everywhere.
“It’s not just the inter-county, it’s the club members as well. That’s the most important piece. Development is a passion of mine as well, so we’ll work with the development team as well. That we go to all the counties and we find what are their challenges. Try and learn some of the things that they can share maybe with others that are tackling something that they’ve already done. It’s just to spread the word a little bit more.”