A FORMER steward at Casement Park says his dream to work once more at the new stadium when it is built.

Gerry McClorey headed up a team of stewards at the stadium for over three decades after becoming Chairman of the South Antrim Board in 1989.

Gerry and his team have stewarded hundreds of matches at the Andersonstown venue, which last hosted a GAA game on 10 June 2013 – the Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final between Antrim and Monaghan.

With the stadium in line for major development, funding remains an issue. In recent weeks the Irish government and the GAA have made their financial commitments for the redevelopment clear. Attention has now turned to the Stormont Executive as well as the British government, who last year promised to fill any financial hole in the Casement project.

Last week, there was further activity on the Andersonstown Road as a delegation from football governing body UEFA visited the derelict Casement site with the stadium due to host a number of games during Euro 2028.

Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Gerry McClorey has fond memories of his time stewarding at Casement Park.

“I got involved in stewarding in 1989 when I became Chairman of the South Antrim Board,” he explained. “The South Antrim Board were responsible for providing stewards to matches.

“Safety at sports grounds became important after a number of disasters. The role of the steward became very important. I was Chief Steward so my job was to recruit and allocate stewards on the day.

“As for Casement, it had 13 sections so we had a supervisor for each section. It worked very well and we started to steward at Ulster Council matches. We were then put on to the Hill at Clones and we were able to master that.

“It was hard work but we had some good times and made a lot of memories.

“I still do stewarding today. We still steward at Ulster Council matches. I am also the Chief Steward for events like the SPAR Craic 10k and the Easter parades on behalf of National Graves Association.”

With a redeveloped Casement Park in the pipeline, Gerry hopes the redevelopment can begin sooner rather than later.

“My dream is that Casement Park is redeveloped as soon as possible. I once got accused all those years ago that Casement Park was my mistress because I was there that often.

“While there hasn’t been a match at Casement all these years, myself and some other former stewards have our annual Christmas dinner on the Saturday before the McKenna Cup starts in January.

“I have a 14-year-old grandson who plays Gaelic games and I hope he can play at Casement.

“My first game at Casement was the Raffo Cup Final against St Teresa’s Primary School when I was down at St Mary’s and days like that are memories that you never forget.

“It is going to be at least three years before the first GAA match will be there and I don’t know if I will be capable of stewarding then but I have an ambition of being there either as a steward or a guest.

“We know all about the politics around it but there is a lot of positivity around it from 95 per cent of people. Casement Park will bring so much to West Belfast and the city in general.

“I just hope that Casement can be redeveloped as soon as possible.”