Replying To Claretandblue:  "The recent presentation to the county board delegates by the coaching officer doesn't bear out your claim that GAA is more popular in Athlone than soccer. There is one active soccer club in Mullingar town, Mullingar Athletic, a very successful and well organised club. In Athlone there's St. Joseph's, St. Francis, Monksland, Hodson Bay, Athlone Town and Willow Park, that's six active soccer clubs and possibly there's more. Surely if Gaa was more popular in Athlone than soccer then the likes of Garrycastle, Athlone and Southern Gaels would have more teams at underage level?"

Replying To OverTheHill85:  "Fundraisers in Mullingar hotels, all county board meetings in Mullingar, Golf Classic tends to be North Westmeath, Underage county games in North."

Replying To Fighting-Cocks69:  "Since you mentioned fundraisers, I think another issue that contributes to the gap between North and South Westmeath is that the vast majority of our sponsorships-both big and small-come from North Westmeath. Some of the current and former sponsors include TEG, Writech, Shay Murtagh, O'Brien Motor Group, and the Greville Arms. Even Stone Construction, which is based in New York, is connected with North Westmeath clubs i think.
On the other hand, when it comes to South Westmeath, the only sponsor I can think of is the Radisson Blu Hotel Group, which used to sponsor underage teams. I'm open to hearing if anyone knows of more South-based sponsors, but it does seem like a bit of an imbalance.
That said, I agree that we should definitely hold more events in South Westmeath. The past few fundraisers-like the 'Quid Games' event-were held at the Park Hotel, so spreading out future events could help build more community involvement and support."