Thank You Alannah!

Treaty United regret to announce the departure of Alannah Mitchell from the Senior Women’s squad on medical grounds. We’d like to thank Alannah for her enormous contribution to the club whilst managing her health conditions. The club looks forward to seeing her at the Markets Field soon.

The Limerick native, who has been a member of the Treaty United Senior Women’s squad since the inaugural 2020 season, departs as one of the club’s leading appearance holders with 62 outings for the club.

Alannah recently spoke to TreatyUnitedFC.com and detailed her journey with arthritis:

Not many people visualise a person living with Arthritis as a 21 year old League Ireland soccer player. At a little over 3 years old I was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. I was under the care of Rheumatology at Crumlin Children’s Hospital until I was 18 years old and then transitioned to Adult Services in Nenagh.

I always had a love of sport and played both Rugby and Soccer from a young age. The Paediatric Rheumatologist always enjoyed catching up on my sports journey in Crumlin and we always spoke about the importance of exercise in management of chronic disease.

I probably broke the mould in terms of taking this importance well beyond what she and multidisciplinary team would typically see. Sport to me was always very important and it gave me an identity away from the world of Paediatricians, Rheumatologists, Opthamologists, Dermatologists, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists to name a few of the health professionals involved in the care of children with Arthritis.

Soccer and Rugby pitches were where I was happiest. I always wanted to play at an Elite Level so I had to balance sport with managing my condition to allow me to achieve playing at the highest level.

Treatment involved taking both a chemotherapy drug every Friday along with weekly injections of biologic medication and the odd steroid injection and medications to counteract side effects. 

I suppose being diagnosed young was probably a blessing in some ways as I don’t know what it was like not to be in pain, I still don’t! You get up and get on with what’s your normal! It was a rare occurrence for me to miss training or a game! Prior to COVID I did reach my dream and was capped at underage, I was just breaking through and then lockdown! 

I then was categorised as vulnerable and had to cocoon. It was through this that playing Elite Soccer was a saviour. It was the only time I would get out, masked up and with all the precautions I could still train as WNL/ LOI players were Elite.

During this time I also received an Elite Sports Scholarship at The University of Limerick where I will graduate this summer with a BSc in Physiotherapy (with a hell of a lot of lived experience)!

Over the 2023 Season my health took a bit of a tumble and following a recent review with Rheumatology I have had new disease activity so will be starting on a new treatment plan next week.

Luckily medical advances have new drugs available all the time so I would hope that the new treatment will bring my disease into remission, but I don’t know how long this will take, so right now I have to prioritise my health and studies. Energy conservation is very important in the treatment of Juvenile Arthritis, as they say the body keeps the score!

I have to step away from Women’s Premier Division for now but will continue to play and train at UL and I am looking forward to the inter-varsities in Semester 2. It’s just not possible right now to train 4-5 days a week, I’ve always given 100%, I am proud of what I have achieved but for now sadly I have to step away on Medical Grounds.

I hope to continue to be part of the club in other ways and hopefully someday will get back playing in the WPD when my health improves. For now I step away at a really exciting time for the club where it moves towards a professional set up. I wish the 2024 squads a successful season, I will be supporting from the sidelines.

Alannah Mitchell

We also caught up with former Irish International and Treaty United player, Marie O’Meara (Curtin) who played alongside Alannah in 2020:

I saw Alannah develop as an academy player at Limerick FC under Irene Hehir and JP Buckley, and she was one of a very select few players who excelled to the level she did. She went on to represent Senior Level at League of Ireland stage which is a huge achievement. Little did we know the extent of her medical issues she dealt with so quietly by herself in all those years.

Alannah was excellent technically, she is known for her incredible calmness on the ball, and her leadership in her centre-back role. We are all incredibly proud of Alannah’s career at the club and we wish her every success for her future!

Marie O’Meara, Treaty United COO