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BRIEF HISTORY AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLUB
| In 1973, after the demise of Tuam
Town F.C., a group of players would meet at the old
racecourse in Parkmore for a game of football. The two
jumps at the Dublin Road end were used as goals. Seamus
Sweeney and Tommy Coleman decided to call a meeting with
the idea of forming a new club. A meeting was held in Tuam C.B.S (now St. Pats.) on Monday 18th February 1974 to start a new club. It was attended by the following: Mattie Coleman, Eugene Coleman, Seamus Sweeney, Pat Byrne, Jarlath Keane, Frank Keane, Noel Henderson, Josie Kelly, D. Quinn, Brian Carty, Leo Joyce, Michael Mulryan, Tommy Coleman, Billy Gilmore and A. Tierney. The meeting agreed to form a football and Seamus Sweeney proposed vthe name 'Tuam Celtic A.F.C.'. The name was adopted. The first committee was elected under the chairmanship of Tommy Coleman, with Seamus Sweeney as secretary and Leo Joyce as treasurer. The other committee positions were filled by Eugene Coleman, Frank Keane and Tommy Fleming. A fee of 25 pence was set for membership cards to be sold to players and supporters. Registered players had to pay £1 with a fee of 10 pence per week. The first team captain was elected on 4th March, 1974 - Tommy Fleming having the honour. The following Sunday - 10th March, 1974 - the club played it's first match. Mountbellew provided the opposition and ruined the day by beating us 2-0! I a meeting held on 1st October, 1975, it was decided that it was high time that the club investigated the purchase of it's own grounds. Harold Campbell proposed that a Board of Trustees would be formed and each would invest £1000 over two years in the Tuam Celtic Development Fund. The grounds wre eventually purchased at Cloothue Road, Tuam which is now our permanent home. In July 1976, the club purchased it's own mini-bus for £200 - a 1969 VW. Tommy and Eugene Coleman painted it green and white - the club colours. The eighties was a period of massive fundraising for the club with the development of our grounds a constant spur. Discos were a regular event at The Sportman's Inn and this was the major reason we now have the grounds we do. In this period, the club was invited to join the fledgling Connacht Senior League but sad to say did not make much of a success of it. During this period the underage system started to erode for many reasons and the club started to struggle. The first team reentered the Galway & District League in the bottom division and eventually forced it's way back into Division. In the 1995/96 season, the first team missed a golden opportunity of gaining promotion to the Premier Division. The following year there were several retirements and defections and the team was relegated to Division to Division 2A. Relegation to Division 2B quickly followed. In season 2000/01 the first team were defeated only twice but failed to secure promotion due to the many draws during the season. The underage system has been redeveloped over the last few years. Several of our underage stars have gone on to represent the league in the Kennedy Cup and also star for Connacht. With many of our young players now starting to bleed into the first team and improving our future prospects, this is an area which will continue to receive a huge investment in time and resources. In 1996 the club built dressing rooms at the grounds at a substantial cost. Our grounds and dressing rooms are wholly owned by the club with no debt outstanding on them - a fabulous achievement and a tribute to the hard work and dedication put in over the years and to the generosity of the Tuam people. At the moment, in conjunction with FÁS, we are doing a lot of work on the grounds. This work can be read about elsewhere on this site. Club Information: |
