News
Killarney Valley AC launch exciting new ‘match’ event for kids

Kerry’s budding athletes are set for some real excitement over the coming weeks thanks to an innovative new style of competition created by Killarney Valley AC.
Eager to expose their stars of the future to the thrill of team events, KVAC have issued an invitation to other local clubs to face off in a two-hour, multidiscipline contest. These “matches” will be staged at Killarney Valley’s state-of-the-art arena with juveniles from U9 to U14 taking part in events ranging from 60m sprints to field events.
Athletes will earn points for their clubs based on their performances and the club with the most points at the end of match will take home the Ahern’s BMW Cup, as well as a set of gold medals.
Speaking to the Killarney Advertiser this week, Tomás Griffin of KVAC explained the concept of these fun-filled match-ups, and how the idea first came about.
“Usually kids prepare for County Championships or Munster Championships, but that stuff happens later in the year,” Griffin said. “Their opportunities to build confidence and experience in competition, or something that looks like competition, are very limited.
“As a club we said, ‘we have the facilities, let’s try to be creative and see what we can do’. Our goal was to give the kids a glide path into the bigger competitions that will come along, and also to reinvent the sport in terms of how kids and parents view athletics in general. That’s really how the idea for the matches came about.”
Following on from the club’s participation in the recent National Indoor Track and Field Championships, which is an adult/over 16 team event, KVAC decided to mimic this format for their younger athletes.
Match 1 of this series has already been scheduled: KVAC will take on St Brendan’s Ardfert this coming Saturday. Griffin is hopeful that more clubs, from Kerry or beyond, will put their names forward in the coming weeks.
“We have sent an open invitation via Athletics Ireland and our own social media channels,” Griffin explains. “We’re hoping that other clubs will come to us and challenge us to a match. We will then schedule the matches as the requests come in.
“Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Ahern’s Motor Group, we will be hosting these matches free of charge for all the participating clubs. Parents can come and watch their kids enjoying a team competition and team environment.”
There is a perception that some full-day athletics events can be a little drawn out, so to combat this KVAC’s matches will be completed in two hours. This, Griffin says, will add to the entertainment value for children and parents alike.
“We’re hoping to have somewhere in the region of 50 of our kids participating on Saturday. For a lot of them, it will be their first experience of a track match. They will all be contributing – every athlete’s score in every event matters.
“We believe the format will keep the children and the spectators engaged.”
If your club is interested in taking on Killarney Valley AC in a match, please email killarneyvalleyac@gmail.com.
News
Fossa School says ‘bonjour’ to French classes

Fossa National School is giving its pupils a headstart in learning a new language.
The school signed up to Language Sampler scheme as part of the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ initiative in primary schools organised by Post Primary languages Ireland in 2021. This is the school’s third year running the module.
Hélène Olivier-Courtney, the school’s French teacher and director of French For All Killarney School of French, covers ten schools in Kerry over the three terms.
The success of the initiative relies on an all-school approach and the active involvement of class teachers and management.
“The whole staff in Fossa certainly helped make this new journey a special and enjoyable experience for the children as we learnt French through art, songs, games and food tasting! This year, we also organised a catwalk on our last day. Our sixth-class students will have such a head start before secondary school and most importantly will have develop curiosity interest and love for the language,” said Hélène.
News
Opinion: Silent majority needs to stand up and call out far-right hate

By Chris Davies
Last Friday’s Dublin Riots should not have come as a surprise to anyone. It has been bubbling under the surface of Irish society for a good number of years now. The actions of a small minority last week was a culmination of years of racism, hatred and misinformation shared online by far-right groups.
Late on Friday night a disturbing WhatsApp voice note was doing the rounds on social media where a far-right actor could clearly be heard encouraging violence on the streets of Dublin.
“’Seven o’clock, be in town. Everyone bally up, tool up…Any foreigner, just kill them”
Watching the Riots unfold on social media brought me back to when I was working in Dublin a number of years back. My morning commute from Skerries to the city centre involved a dart to Connolly Station followed by a short trip on the Luas to the Jervis. Every week, without fail, I would witness at least one racial slur or attack on someone who didn’t fit the narrow minded view of what an Irish person should look, dress or talk like. I don’t know if it is the eerie silence of public transport that seems to amplify the situation, but that’s where I found it to be most common. The abuse was usually perpetrated by a group of youths or someone who was clearly under the influence of drink or drugs. The victims were always of colour, often dressed smartly enough to presume they were on their way, or coming from work. A far cry from the perpetrators who you could tell were roaming aimlessly around the city looking for trouble.
While shameful to admit, I would often look on and watch the abuse unfold, only to spend the rest of my work day thinking about the poor person who was told to “F*&K off back to your own country”. I would sit at my desk questioning why I didn’t step in and say something. There were one or two occasions where I did step in and call it out, but not nearly often enough.
This disgusting behaviour is much more visible in our cities. Since moving back to Killarney I wouldn’t witness as much direct abuse on the streets but working with the Killarney Advertiser I would be tuned in to local news and some of the comments I read on our social platforms are far worse than anything I witnessed during my time in Dublin.
There is a significant group of people in Ireland that I would call the ‘silent majority’. We are not as outspoken on issues we care about. We tend to observe and consume the news quietly, and only speak of our support or disgust on certain issues in close circles, too afraid we might offend someone. The problem with this is that we are leaving these far-right groups unchallenged, to become louder, more aggressive and more hostile as seen last week.
The past week Sinn Fein and the Social Democrats have been busy in the media expressing no confidence in Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris but I would suggest that there is a large percentage of the Irish population that bears some of the responsibility. We witness racism in our communities and online every day and we need to start speaking up and calling it out.
On the issue of immigration in Killarney, there is no doubt resources are being stretched and our tourism industry is suffering as a result of an influx of immigration. Locals have also raised concerns in relation to the placement of so many male international protection applicants in one setting and we only have to look back on the incident in Hotel Killarney last year where a number of men were involved in a harrowing stabbing incident to see how that played out.
However, being concerned around immigration is not the same as anti-immigration. It is important to raise these issues with local representatives and Kerry TD’s but also to separate ourselves from far-right groups who are only interested in encouraging violence.
The anarchy we witnessed last week should never be the answer and research shows it is completely unnecessary. Harvard University have looked at hundreds of protests over the last century, and found that non-violent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns and that it only takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.
Let’s continue to protest peacefully for issues we believe in, but stand up and speak out against people and movements in our community that incite hate and violence.