This year sees the GAA / LGFA / Camogie / Handball and Rounders Associations using Foireann, a single, integrated Membership system for the first time and all Membership registrations (for playing and other rule-based eligibility requirements) must be completed on this system.
Training
Online training and webinars will be delivered throughout the coming months to assist clubs, details of upcoming sessions are available here
Membership & Registration
In spite of the uncertainty caused by the CoVID 19 pandemic, many clubs are in the process of preparing for the year ahead by getting started on their Membership processes.
If you are involved in collecting your club’s membership subscriptions or registering your members with the GAA, or other Association as relevant, you should ensure that you have access to login to Foireann and are familiar with how to use it.
As Foireann is a new system, significant support materials have been prepared and are available HERE.
Included are documents describing how to complete all of the main tasks, with screenshots as appropriate. There are also a large number of videos which run through the tasks also and some of the most important videos are highlighted below.
| Topic | Description | Link |
| Accessing Foireann
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This video describes how to create an online account on Foireann, how to update your profile (name, contact details etc) and how to select the club(s) that you are a member of or otherwise involved with. | Click here to watch the video |
| Finding you way around
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This video gives a brief overview of the main functionality within Foireann and how to navigate the system | Click here to watch the video |
| Club Administrators
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An overview of the administrator role on the system is given in this video which also explains how to add additional administrators, how to check who the existing administrator(s) are and to remove admin access if relevant | Click here to watch the video
|
| Setting up online payments
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The steps required for clubs to receive on-line payments through Foireann, including setting up a Stripe account, are described in this video. | Click here to watch the video
|
| Membership Options
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This video describes how to configure the specific Membership options (or plans) that are available to your club’s members when registering. These are the options that will be available to Members if buying on-line and registrars when completing the process manually | Click here to watch the video |
| Members List
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This video gives an overview of the functionality available to review your club’s list of members and how to add additional members | Click here to watch the video
|
| Verifying & Registering Members
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An overview of how to verify (confirm that online applications are from bone fide Club members) and registering members is given in this video. Specific details on how to process registrations for LGFA and Camogie Association members is also included | Click here to watch the video
|
| Managing Teams
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This video gives an overview of how Clubs, and coaches, can use the Teams functionality in Foireann to schedule training sessions, receive responses from players / guardians, verify that Health Questionnaires have been completed (when relevant) and record attendance | Click here to watch the video |
| Viewing & responding to an Event invitation | This video gives an overview of how players / guardians interact with Teams on Foireann and how they view upcoming events (training /matches etc), confirm attendance at training, submit Health Questionnaires (when relevant). | Click here to watch the video |
All of the above Videos are available on the Foireann support website (available here) where they can be found in the Videos section.
One Clubs
One significant change in Foireann is the ability for GAA Clubs who work closely with their LGFA and Camogie counterparts to operate as One Club on the system. This makes membership and administrative tasks less onerous and all membership registrations can be completed from one place, rather than from three separate systems. If you wish to operate as ‘One Club‘ on Foireann then you must email gmssupport@gaa.ie from one of the official Club Email addresses and request that this happens (the three (or two) separate instances on your clubs will be merged into one with a single list of members). You will then be able to accept membership subscriptions for all Associations and register all members with their relevant governing body in one easy process. Additional information on the One Club Model can be found here.
Duplicates
Foireann is a new system that has been implemented using components of the Returntoplay system, used during 2020 for processing Health Questionnaires, and the legacy Games Management System (Servasport) that was previously used for Registrations. Data from both systems is available on Foireann meaning that Membership history (going back to 2009) is available from the old Games Management System and the ability to access the system is in place for anyone who previously submitted a Health Questionnaire on the Returntoplay system. For clubs registrars and administrators, the above process will result in duplicate entries for some members being present in the Foireann system – one record relating to their old Membership record and one relating to their Returntoplay account. At the moment, it is necessary to maintain both records on Foireann and in the coming months, once the Membership Registration period has passed, it will be possible to merge the records or delete them as relevant. The Foireann Support team will advise further on the process for this when appropriate to do.
Bulk processing
If your club has an existing process for collecting Membership subscriptions that you wish to maintain then this is facilitated but Foireann will still need to be used to Register members with their relevant Associations (GAA / LGFA / Camogie). Without completing the registration steps, members may be ineligible to play or fulfil a role on the Club committee and may not be covered by Injury Fund / insurance or eligible to vote at the Club AGM (Note eligibility etc varies depending on the Association and relevant Official Rules).
It was possible in the legacy Games Management System to import member information from files through a bulk upload process. This process will be supported in Foireann also, however the functionality is not yet available. It will be in place as soon as possible and well in advance of any registration deadlines.
Máire Ní Mhaoilchiaráin
Finance Officer/National Registrar
