We know the Mayo seniors will be fighting fit for the Connacht Final on July 19th, but what about you?
If you fancy stretching the legs, getting some fresh air and doing some hiking in one of Mayo’s most scenic areas, we have just the thing for you.
A group of Mayo people are planning a climb of Bengorm in the Nephin Beg range with an experienced local guide the day before this year’s Connacht Final. In what is now becoming a time-honoured tradition on mountains around the county (and beyond) before big games, they will plant a Mayo flag at the summit to support the ‘Drive for Five’.
The climb is part of a plan to develop a new Mayo Walking Group, and over the coming months the new group will seek to attract people from all over Ireland to walk and climb in the beautiful surroundings of Mayo.
Anyone interested in joining the hike is welcome to turn up on the day.
Arrangements as follows:
The group will meet in Kelly’s Kitchen in Newport at 11am on Saturday 18th July, leaving for Bengorm at approximately 11.20am. There will be short drive to the start point, but if you don’t have a car, there will be transport provided to and from Newport.
There will be an experienced local guide present
There is no need to register and anyone interested can just show up on the morning.
There is no cost involved.
Bring everything you would need – good boots, waterproofs, suncream, lunch, water etcc – for a long hike. There will be no walking equipment provided on the day.
Please Note:
Participants are advised that the hike is a four-hour round trip, and will be challenging, but if you are reasonably fit, you will be well able for it. If the weather isn’t great, there is a back-up walk arranged – called the Letterkeen loop, which is enjoyable in any kind of weather.
Any queries, please give us a shout here on the page or on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll put you in touch with the organisers.
Mayo and Club ’51 were well represented at the GAA World Games in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
Marie Sweeney from Bangor along with her mother Pauline and Imelda Mullarkey (who won the shield with New York ladies) were flying the flag as it continues its way across the globe.
They are pictured here under the arch with two members of the South African Gaels team who had visited Castlebar and attended the Monaghan game the weekend before.
Please get in touch with us if you live near one of the worlds great wonders and would like to be preserved forever behind a glass frame with the Club ’51 flag outside the Eiffel Tower in Paris , Taipei 101 in Taiwan or the Big Banana in Coffs’ Harbour.
As the dust settles on our first FBD campaign under Noel and Pat, it’s time to start looking ahead to 2015 and to the first real competitive action of the season. With that, we turn our faces towards Killarney and the first Allianz National League game against the Kerrymen who broke our hearts below in Limerick last August. The less said about that the better, and as a new era begins, we will be getting behind our lads more than ever. On that note, it’s time for a quick update on the Club ’51 front on our plans for that game and for the subsequent games in the League.
Seating groups are a good way of getting groups of supporters together in grounds with allocated seating. They were a great success last year and more and more people are either setting up or joining groups as the club grows. This year, you can use either your Croke Park or your Cairde Maigh Eo season ticket to join a seating group, and we have all the latest information and have started the list of 2015 groups in our post over here. We’ve had loads of enquiries already from people interested in joining a seating group this year, so if you already have one with vacant spaces or would like to set one up, let us know and we’ll put you in touch.
Getting To Away Games
We’ll be doing our usual car pooling posts (keep an eye on our forum here or contact us on Facebook,Twitter or email). Anyone with space in a car or a bus that needs filling over the coming weeks let us know! We’ll have information on parking etc. on the site too in due course. Don’t forget the ‘fiver for the driver’!
Your car doesn’t have to look like this, but it helps
If anyone is organising buses to Killarney for 1st February, let us know and we’ll post them here. We have one so far:
The Sea Rod Inn, Doohoma are hoping to organise a bus – for queries contact Sean on 0851698851.
Pre-Match Meetups
From the first meeting in the Liffey Arms, Newbridge on 2nd Feb last year to various days out in Jury’s across from Croker these were a great success last year, so looking ahead to 2015 we’ll be continuing the new tradition of picking a pre-match meeting point close to the grounds for Mayo fans to congregate before games and grab a cuppa/lunch/tipple/whatever tickles your fancy. We’ll be announcing these here the week before games and are looking for suggestions for Killarney, Cork and Derry.
Similarly, there will be a good crew making their way to away game venues the night before so what better excuse to go for a couple of scoops and psyche out the opposition fans? We’ll also be making a weekend of the Dublin game so expect some Castlebar festivities to be announced close to St. Patrick’s weekend.
Sea of Green And Red
Image: Sean Óg Cafferkey
Part of the inspiration for Club ’51 came from these guys on Facebook who joined forces with us and were instrumental in making the Mayo support as loud and colourful as it was in 2014. We’re aiming for more of the same in 2015 and starting as we mean to go on. Last year Mayo revived an old tradition and we saw a huge increase in the number of flags at matches. Nowhere was it more evident than in the video below from the first Kerry game (scroll to 1.51). We want recreate the incredible atmosphere of that game many times again this year and you can play your part. If every household brings a flag, think of the spectacle we’ll create! So up you get into that attic and dig out the flags.
We have a number of Club ’51 flags, and if you’ve seen them in the grounds and want to get your hands on one of your own all the information you need is here.
Other Stuff
We’ll also be attempting to do the following over the coming months:
Organising more charity events after the success of our inaugural table quiz last year
More competitions – watch this space
Some more displays. This could be in the form of stick flags, banners or any other sort of visual display. We are eager to get people’s ideas on this so please don’t be shy, and if you’re feeling creative don’t hesitate to make your own flags or banners.
‘Everything’s Coming Up Mayo’ by Lorraine Kelly and Mike Kelly
How You Can Get Involved
Making Club ’51 a success takes time and effort, but it’s also great fun and the more people involved, the better. So if there’s anything you’d like to get involved with, or if you feel you can lend some expertise, we’d love to hear from you. Be that writing some guest posts, helping us on our social media sites, volunteering at our table quizzes or sponsoring some competition or quiz prizes, we’d be delighted to welcome you on board.
Bring your own flags, but we are also looking for 4-5 people to become flag custodians and wave our flags on match days. We have a good few people on this front but still have some that need a good, caring home with regular matchgoers – and an energetic arm!
That’s it for now …
.. but keep an eye out for updates, and spread the word ( you can share our posts on Facebook, retweet us, get our logo tattooed on your face, or just tell people you meet).
And most importantly, get out those flags, warm up the vocal cords and play your part in becoming the 16th man this year.
Damien Kelly, Boffeenaun, Ballina & the flag in Tiananmen Square with General Mao & the Forbidden City in the background.
Route 51 just got a little bit longer. We sent Damien Kelly from Bofeenaun to China to get us these iconic photos at Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall*. Mayo people overseas who wish to have a photo with our flag in some exotic place preserved for all time on this site please get in touch with us.
Many Thanks to Damien and to Tanya Culleton.
*Damien may have had other reasons for making this trip.
Damien Kelly, Boffeenaun, Ballina & the flag on the Great Wall of China.
At the beginning of June the crew here at Mayo Club 51 decided to hold a primary schools competition for our younger ’51er’s. One of our main aims is bring as much colour as we can on match day. Our collection of flags is constantly growing and we’re always on the look out for new ideas!
After much deliberation, heated discussion and many cups of tea and even an existential crisis, we’ve managed to pick a winner! We were delighted at the response to our call for entries. The creativity and quality on display made the task of whittling it down to the final few very difficult! We’re going to try and find a way to show off all of our favourite entries online so keep an eye out here. We’d like to thank those at Castlebar Cycle Store and T-Rex Clothing for sponsoring the great prizes but most importantly, we’d like to thank all the schools who took part and especially all the kids for their fantastic efforts!
Right, no more messing around! The winner of the Mayo Club ’51 Flag design competition and a brand new (green and red!) BMX is Chloe Courell of St. Angela’s National School, Castlebar. We loved the clarity and bold form of Chloe’s design and we think it’s going to look cracking flying on a flag at this Sunday’s Connacht final and hopefully much further into the summer!
Chloe Courell of St. Angela’s National School, Castlebar receiving her prize from Castlebar Cycle Store. Also pictured is main sponsor, Brian Cawley, of Castlebar Cycle Store.
We’d also like to take the opportunity to make one last call for you to join us tomorrow beside the media tower for both games. Look out for our new flag, you can’t miss us!
If you’re a regular attendee at Mayo games, you might have seen our flags flying from various places in the stands and terraces. A few people have already asked us how they can get their hands on flags like ours. Well, the good news is – anyone can get one!
But firstly, some background on how we got our flags. When we set up Club ’51, with the aim of bringing some noise and colour to games, quite a few of you got in touch to contribute a few pence or pounds, and we are delighted to say that your cash has gone towards making a number of different flags and banners. To date, we have 11 large “tifo” stick flags, which you’ll have seen at the games, as well as one very large banner with the team, and two smaller ones with our crest (one of which is currently winging its way around the world on Route ’51). These are your flags, and we hope they’ll be flying at Mayo games for many a year, even decade to come. The Club ’51 crew are simply their guardians 🙂
We keep full records on our website of any contributions we’ve received, as well as all our receipts, so anyone who has signed up to the site and has contributed can see where their money has gone. Club ’51 is, has always been, and intends to always be, an unofficial supporter’s club. It does not operate to make a profit.
We get our gear from Flag Man Ireland, having done our supplier research, and he has provided us with a fantastic service – we only have good things to say about him. The flags are made quickly and made well, and they are not your standard Mayo flag. They are of exceptional quality, made with lightweight printed polyester, a strong, versatile fabric that is used to achieve the vibrant colours you’ll have seen, and which is also much stronger and more resilient than your normal flag material. If you invest in one of these flags, you’ll have it for a long, long time. We have not been able to find custom flags of this quality, with the level of service we’ve received, anywhere else in the country.
For those of you interested in getting your hands on one of these, they are available to buy directly from Flag Man Ireland. We don’t have infinite funds – and neither do we have infinite hands to fly any more flags we get made! – so if you want to invest in a flag to fly yourself, we can highly recommend these. And the the more flags dotted around any given stadium, the better! In terms of prices, the standard stick flags we have, which are 4×4, cost €40 each (including the wooden dowel – €35 without). They are of excellent quality that will last a lifetime if you mind them. They are also available in other sizes at other prices – just ask when you’re ordering. He has the designs, so just give him a description of the Club ’51 flag you want (we’ve shown them all below) and he’ll take it from there. And you can even get car flags.
Club ’51 (contrary to any rumours you may hear or read on social media), is not profiting in any way from the sale of any flags you may wish to purchase. Rather, you’ll be dealing directly with our supplier and will have your own Club ’51 flag to have and to hold, ’til Sam do we win.
We’ve put in a lot of work over the past few months to get Club ’51 off the ground, and the enthusiasm from Mayo supporters for the idea has been brilliant. (Thank you!) It’s been a great experience and we hope it continues that way. Disappointingly, there will always be one or two who, without making the effort to establish the facts, are happy to make false (and legally questionable) claims about what we’re about. That makes us sad, but we hope we’ve clarified our position here. If you do have any queries, don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll answer any questions you might have.
Now, how to get a flag. You can contact Flag Man (who goes by the name of Mark!) via phone or email (details below) – be sure and tell him we sent you.
Square Club ’51 crest on white background
Current Mayo Crest
Some of the Mayo Club 51 crew flying the flags!
The 1951 crest (this is our favourite!)
The new flags make their colourful debut at Mayo v Derry.
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