Bredagh Club Chairman named as GAA President Award winners for 2022

Thursday 10th February 2022

The GAA has confirmed the recipients for Gradaim an Uachtaráin 2022. Bredagh GAA Club Chairperson Malcolm MacFarlane has been named as the Ulster Award Winner.

These prestigious annual awards, organised with the support of AIB and broadcast by TG4 on Friday, February 11th at 10.20pm, affords Uachtarán CLG with an opportunity to acknowledge outstanding commitment and long service across the club and county network. 

The 11 awards are a cross-section of people who have shared the common theme of making an inspirational impact on their code and also their club and community.

Uachtarán CLG Larry McCarthy said: “The GAA is about Games, but it is people who make the GAA what it is. The GAA Presidents’ Awards is an opportunity for the Association to acknowledge a group of inspirational people who have made an outstanding contribution towards the success of Gaelic games.”

“They are, in many respects, ambassadors for the tens of thousands of volunteers who dedicate themselves to the promotion of Gaelic games at club, school and county levels and who we are so fortunate to call our own.”

“Their work is not motivated by recognition – but that is why it is all the more important to appreciate the work that they do and celebrate the fact the GAA is the better for it.

I’d also like to thank AIB for their support of these awards and their long-standing support of the GAA and also acknowledge TG4 who since their foundation have played a crucial role in the promotion of our games.”

The 11 awards are made on a provincial and code basis. As well as Gaeilge, Education and International Awards, the presentation of the annual Dermot Earley Family Award will also be made. 

The GAA Presidents’ Awards (Gradaim an Uachtaráin 2020) will be broadcast tomorrow night on TG4 at 10.20pm.

LEINSTER AWARD: TOMMY MURPHY, Round Towers GAA Club and Kildare Kitman

ULSTER AWARD: MALCOLM MACFARLANE, Bredagh GAA Club

Celebrating their golden jubilee, Bredagh GAA Club in South Belfast has 30 teams and 1,200 members and Malcolm MacFarlane is their inspirational chairperson, with a phenomenal appetite for work.

Malcolm has a strong sense of community and the potential for our games and the local club to reach out beyond the more traditional boundaries and activity. He organised exchange visits for members of the Bredagh club and the local Ballynafeigh Unionist Forum and Cultural Society in 2018.

At the start of lockdown, Malcolm and Bredagh teamed up with Rosario Football Club and Youth Centre and the Ormeau Boxing Club to distribute food worth £70,000 to elderly and vulnerable people in the Ormeau area. Over three months, they delivered to around 130 houses per week.

Having led a club fundraising drive for St Vincent de Paul last winter, he recently took the lead in initiating (along with SVP, the Salvation Army and the Ormeau Business Association) a 'Fuel Bank' to help ease winter poverty. He is also encouraging other sports clubs and trade association across the city and beyond to replicate the initiative. Malcolm has also served on the East Down Divisional Committee and was recently elected as the new Vice Chairperson. His drive and passion for the community are exemplary.

MUNSTER AWARD: PAT ENGLISH, Galtee Gaels GAA Club

CONNACHT AWARD: JAMES HOLOHAN, Drumreilly GAA Club, Co Leitrim

CAMOGIE AWARD: MARIE O’BRIEN, Four Roads GAA Club, Co Roscommon

HANDBALL AWARD: BILLY LOVE, Clogh GAA Handball Club, Co Kilkenny

LADIES FOOTBALL AWARD – FIONA CROTTY, Laffan Ballymacarbry LGFA

EDUCATION AWARD – JOHN LENIHAN, UL Limerick 

INTERNATIONAL AWARD – BRENDIE O’BRIEN

GRADAIM GAEILGE – SEÁN MACCANNA, Wolfetones, Derrymacnash CLG, Co Armagh

DERMOT EARLY FAMILY AWARD – THE ROCK FAMILY, Dublin