Longford’s Liam Forde to be honoured at the 2021 Federation of Irish Sport Volunteers Awards

Liam Forde, winner of the 2021 Co Longford Volunteer in Sport award, is a founding member of St Helen’s. In his 40 years with the club, he has had a massive impact on both St Helen’s and the wider Longford GAA community. Having served on the committee for many years, Liam is now a dedicated coach, coaching many underage girls teams and giving them a chance to show their skills. 

At the age of 81, he recently undertook the project of reviving the club’s Gaelic4Mothers&Others team. Liam has been instrumental in keeping St Helen’s Ladies section going over the years and has worked tirelessly to ensure the pathways are in place for the future.

 The Volunteers in Sport Awards celebrate the contributions of the band of volunteers across the country who give their time to Irish sport and physical activity every year. This equates to approximately 37.3 million hours of volunteering across Ireland’s 13,000 registered sports clubs and associations and, according to Sport Ireland's 2021 'Researching the Value of Sport in Ireland' report, is worth an estimated €1.5bn to the exchequer.

 Throughout September and October members of the public, sports clubs and governing bodies were invited to nominate an individual whose contribution to sport and physical activity in Ireland has made a real difference to their community, club or county. The nominations and award recipients were selected by a judging panel consisting of 12 individuals drawn from sports administration, the volunteer community and media, and included former Director General of the GAA, Paraic Duffy, RTÉ broadcaster, Marie Crowe and CEO of Gaisce, Yvonne McKenna.

 In addition to the 32 county-level award winners, Amina Moustafa, a volunteer across many different sports including football, basketball and swimming, received the overall Outstanding Achievement Award for her incredible service to the promotion of sport amongst women of diverse ethnic backgrounds, as well as her continued support of Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI).

Máire Allen and Jacqueline McCormack have also received a Special Recognition Award for their amazing work with Roscommon Special Olympics Club. They have dedicated their time tirelessly over the last number of years and more recently, in the face of the challenging circumstances caused by Covid-19, did everything to ensure the club’s members remained fit and active throughout the various lockdowns.

Pádraic Kearney (RIP) has been honoured with a Special Recognition Award for his commitment to Gaelic Games in Adare GAA Club (Limerick). Pádraic was incredibly committed to his community, with his volunteerism going far beyond sport. His untimely passing earlier this year has been felt by everyone in the club, especially the younger members, who Pádraic coached for many years.

The awards will be streamed live each evening from 7pm on the Federation of Irish Sport’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/federationofirishsport/ with the awards schedule listed below:

 Tuesday, December 7th: Leinster and Special Recognition Award
Wednesday, December 8th: Munster, Connacht and Special Recognition Award
Thursday, December 9th: Ulster and Outstanding Achievement Award

 For more information on the awards, visit http://www.volunteersinsport.ie/