The GAA Club Executive, at its previous meeting, have approved a Healthy Club Committee Proposal that we adopt the GAA’s Smoke & Vape Free Policy for the entire of the Boherlahan GAA Grounds. This policy will commence on Saturday 3rd September 2022.

The Healthy Club project aims to help GAA clubs explore how they support the holistic health of their members and the communities they serve. GAA clubs already contribute to the health and wellbeing of their members by providing opportunities to develop their physical, social, emotional, and psychological health.

The project aims to help GAA clubs identify what they are already doing well, identify areas where they can or would like to improve, and empower them to ensure that everyone who engages with their club benefits from the experience in a health-enhancing way, be they players, officers, coaches, parents, supporters, or members of their local community.

The GAA Smoke & Vape Free initiative, which is implemented through the Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs project is kindly supported by Healthy Ireland and the Tomar Trust. Over 440 clubs across the 32 counties are participating in the ground- breaking project which aims to transform clubs into hubs for health within their communities. Boherlahan Dualla joins a growing number of clubs within Tipperary, like Toomevara and Carrick Davins that have designated their grounds Smoke & Vape Free. The Smoke & Vape free initiative is also filtrating into the county structures with some progressive county boards interested in driving this agenda. As well as the obvious health impacts of introducing such a policy, the environmental impacts are also important for the Association. To date 60% of participating Healthy Clubs have already implemented the GAA Smoke & Vape Free Policy which aims to:

· protect the health of individuals in their clubs, wider communities, and visitors by keeping them safe from all tobacco related harm

· discourage the use of tobacco as such activity is incompatible with a healthy approach to sporting activity

· change social norms and encourage people to consider quitting and to reduce the initiation of smoking among young people.

· set a positive example for clubs and communities

· reduce tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke, which is severely harmful to people’s health

· minimise tobacco and electronic cigarette related litter