COLLEGE POINT — A Queens field is one step closer to becoming a state-of-the-art Gaelic football field thanks to $1.6 million from private donors, organizers said.
The Shannon Gaels, a youth Gaelic football program, announced last week that they'd raised $1.6 million to fund the first phase of construction at Frank Golden Field on 133rd Road in College Point, where the team has played for five years, according to Colin Mathers, the chairman of the league's fundraising initiative, Field of Dreams.
Since the team launched its fundraiser to build a state-of-the-art field in 2013, they received a $500,000 boost from private donors including Navillus Construction, and funding from Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Gaelic Athletic Association.
"Everyone on both sides of the Atlantic and all sides over here have come together," he said.
The privately-funded phase is the first portion of a planned $5.2 million renovation for the field, which will eventually include a parking lot and plaza area to host cultural and field day events and a flood-light system in addition to a modern playing field, according to the Parks Department.
Elected officials have also allocated public dollars to fund the second phase of the project, according to the Gaels.
Gaelic football is a traditional Irish ball game, similar to Australian Rules Football, and one of the four Gaelic Games that includes hurling and camogie, the women's version of hurling.
While the games are most popular in Ireland, immigrants formed the Shannon Gaels in 2002 with 12 players to help share their culture, Mathers said.
They now have 23 teams with players from Under-8 to Under-18, with more than 300 children playing Gaelic Football.
The league began the upkeep of Frank Golden Park last year, and have worked to turn the "glorified dust bowl" into a place to play and teach the games, Mathers said.
Gaelic Park in Riverdale has hosted games since the 1920s. When Frank Golden Park is renovated it will be the only one like it in Queens, Mathers said.
And other teams and organizations will be able to utilize it as well.
"With this complete overhaul it will be state-of-the-art facilities, used by the whole community," he said.
If you'd like to donate to the continued fundraiser for the Field of Dreams, visit the Shannon Gaels website.
