Kildare football captain, Mick O'Grady, left, and team-mate Mark Donnellan pictured at Kildare GAA's blood donation clinic for the Irish Blood Transfusion Services.
By John Harrington
Kildare GAA county players and staff literally bled for the cause yesterday by organising their own Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) clinic.
Over 60 people made up of Kildare GAA players, staff, their friends, family members, and clubmates donated blood at a time when to do so is more important than ever.
The IBTS recently issuing an urgent national appeal for blood donations, and Kildare manager, Glenn Ryan, was more than happy to answer the call because it’s a cause that’s very close to his heart for personal reasons.
“What we're trying to do is to create an awareness around the importance of donating blood,” Ryan told GAA.ie
“People I don't think realise how important it is. It's part of everyday medical routine, whether it's through loss of blood through an operation or an accident.
“Or, from my own experience, my brother Liam had a blood cancer, multiple myeloma, and he regularly required blood transfusions for his own treatment.
“I suppose the cancer issue is something that probably not too many people are aware of. Anyone who gets cancer treatment, the likelihood is they're going to require a blood transfusion and different cancers require a greater emphasis on that more than others.
“When it lands on your own doorstep you become acutely aware of it and realise how important it is. This is something that Liam and I would have hoped to get going a couple of years ago through our club, Round Towers.
“But then Covid arrived and then everything obviously had to be put on hold. It was a pity because we had a couple of other clubs lined up as well to take in part of what we were calling a blood donation challenge where the challenge was for Round Towers and the other clubs to fill a clinic each.
“Unfortunately Covid came and we then lost Liam in the mean time as well. I wanted to do something and this is a good opportunity through the players at senior level to be able to create an even greater awareness around it really.”
Kildare football team manager, Glenn Ryan.
It wasn’t their primary motivation for undertaking this initiative, but coming together as a group to donate blood has been a powerful team-building initiative for the Kildare county players who took part.
“The lads have really taken this on board,” says Ryan. “They actually came to me about it. They would have heard that I was planning to do something previously before Covid. Mick O'Grady, our team captain, would have worked with Liam in Pfizer so he would have been aware of the initiative as well at the time.
“They were looking to do something that I suppose was essentially a way of giving back. I was delighted when Mick mentioned this to me in regard to it maybe being something that they could do in relation to it.
“As a team, there's no doubt that when they all contribute to it in whatever way that might be whether it's donating themselves or encouraging others to donate it, maybe there will be a greater awareness among them and I certainly feel they will have a good sense of giving.
"The lincic is mainly been filled by players, both through their own donations by volunteering to do it themselves, and we've also asked each player to bring somebody with them or get someone else to commit to doing it.
“If someone isn't eligible to donate, we've asked that they ask a family member or a club team-mate to go along in their place. That's the commitment the players wanted. To try to create something that they're able to give because they're always getting the whole time.
“There's big commitments on county teams now and requests for supporters to help out financially or otherwise to give players the best opportunity of getting access to what's considered to be required in order to improve them as footballers.
“The lads are conscious it's important to give something back as well, you know.”
Kildare footballer, David Hyland, pictured at the Kildare GAA blood donation clinic.
Ryan hopes this initiative by Kildare GAA will inspire other GAA units to follow in their footsteps and and further boost the Association's 'it's in your blood' partnership with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.
“I'd love if it led to maybe even a day or a couple of days around this time of the year that we could push nationwide within the GAA calendar whereby this is our blood donation day or week or whatever the case may be,” says Ryan.
“It'll be interesting to see how this goes. There's obviously a huge appetite within the Irish Blood Transfusion Service for something like this. But, at the moment, it's a local initiative that hopefully will evolve into something that will create more awareness and lead to more clinics.
“Anything you can put the weight of the GAA behind is always very well received. I suppose most of the initiatives we do, it's around sponsorship or looking to get money in or signing a jersey. I won't say that they're easy things to do, but this requires a little bit more. It requires an actual giving of yourself.
“It requires, I won't say an element of bravery, but getting over maybe preconceived ideas about how this whole process goes. It takes a bit of drive to go and actually do it. And I think there's a great feel-good factor for the individual who does it and wants to get up and commit themselves by donating blood and hopefully then that will lead to them donating blood further down the line into the future.”
If you’re interested in donating blood to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, go here - https://www.giveblood.ie/can-i-give-blood/
If you're interested in registering your GAA club for upcoming blood donation clincis, go here - https://www.giveblood.ie/find-a-clinic/register-interest/