Aussie Rules a problem.. but so are rugby and soccer
Following on from Ireland’s victory over the Australians last month, there has been much discussion over the overall value of the hybrid game.
Probably the major reason give as to why the GAA should discontinue their link with the AFL is because of the number of young players that are being brought over for Aussie Rules trials.
This has been a major worry for the last few years, but has escalated this year because of the training camp that AFL Agent Ricky Nixon recently held in Ireland where a whole host of Gaelic Footballers turned up to show what they could offer.
Most recently, Antrim’s Thomas McCann, who attended the camp set up by Nixon, is to go to Australia for trials next March. Of course, it is also well known at this stage that Tommy Walsh and David Moran of Kerry are heading Down Under next month for trials. They will surely enjoy the change of climate at the very least!
With the current raft of players heading to Oz, it has led people to question why the GAA still have links with the AFL when they are taking so many of our players. I feel it is important that two points are expressed on this matter.
Firstly, I don’t believe that ending the International Rules Series, and thus the GAA’s relationship with their Australian counterparts, would necessarily mean that we would stop the likes of McCann going over to try their hand at the oval ball game. As Tadgh Kennelly, one of the most successful Irish players in AFL history, pointed out earlier this year, no player has ever been signed up by an Australian club as a result of playing in the Rules series. Also, agents like Nixon would always be free to watch Gaelic Football matches either on television or in person, so cutting off our ties with them wouldn’t do a great deal.
Secondly, and this is even more important, for all the talk of the numbers going over to Australia, it is minimal in comparison to the numbers who are choosing rugby and soccer over Gaelic football and hurling. They choose these codes for much the same reason as Carlow’s Brendan Murphy or Mayo’s Pierce Hanley explored their options over in Australia, the financial gain they get from playing sport professionally, though I’m sure money isn’t the sole reason they choose these paths.
For instance, if we look at the Irish side from the past couple of years, it is startling how many of them have tried their hand at Gaelic Football in the past. From the back line against Argentina, you had Geordan Murphy (a former Kildare underage star), Tommy Bowe (a Monaghan minor), Rob Kearney (a Louth minor), centre pairing Brian O’Driscoll and Luke Fitzgerald (who played quite a bit of Gaelic football with Clontarf and Naomh Olaf respectively), and Tomas O’Leary (a former All-Ireland Minor Hurling winning captain with his native Cork).
John ‘The Bull’ Hayes wouldn’t strike you as someone who would have played anything other than rugby in his lifetime, but it wasn’t until the age of 18 that he actually took up the game. Until that point, he had played with Bruff GAA club in Limerick. His former Munster and Irish team-mate, Mick Galwey, has an All-Ireland medal with Kerry (1986), and had he not taken up rugby, he could have been a fine midfielder with the Kingdom. There are others as well, Shane Horgan played underage with the Meath footballers, Keith Wood dabbled in hurling at a young age, while Terenure College alumnis Conor O’Shea and Girvan Dempsey come from a very strong GAA household.
The above are just a small snippet of the players who have transferred from GAA to Rugby. There are many others who have switched over, though they may not have been as successful as Galwey or Murphy.
Soccer isn’t any different either. Kevin Moran is probably the most famous example. He is regularly hailed as the one of the best centre-backs to have graced the game, even though he only played for Dublin for three years before embarking on a successful soccer careeer for Manchester United, Sporting Gijon, Blackburn, and of course, Ireland.
Former record Irish goal scorer Niall Quinn was a top hurler for the Dublin minors hurlers, and would have gone on to be a regular with the senior side had Arsenal not snapped him up in late 1983. Neil Lennon, former Celtic and Northern Ireland captain, was in the same under-age Armagh side as Kieran McGeeney, while his former boss Martin O’Neill played in an All-Ireland minor final against Cork in 1969.
Steve Staunton, the record caps holder for the Republic Of Ireland, is one of the youngest men to have won a senior county medal in Gaelic Football, with former team-mates Packie Bonner, Denis Irwin and Kenny Cunningham also having had plenty of GAA experience before chancing their hand at soccer.
The current Ireland squad also has plenty of people who made the switch from GAA to soccer. Damien Delaney of QPR played for Cork at minor level, as did Tipperary’s Shane Long for his county’s minor hurlers. Kevin Doyle was also a very talented GAA player in his teens, while others like Stephen Hunt, John O’Shea and Shay Given have often spoken fondly of their time playing the national game.
While it is certainly true that a lot of the players that try their hand at making it as professional soccer or rugby players often don’t make it and may end up coming back to the GAA, this is also the case with regards to Australian Rules. In recent weeks, we have seen Aisake O’hAilpin being released by Carlton, while free agent Colm Begley has entered into the draft in an effort to find a new club. Michael Shields also joined Carlton Blues last year, but ended up coming back this year to play a role in Cork’s championship outings against Kerry.
Others from the past, like Anthony Tohill and Colin Corkery, have returned to be top Gaelic Footballers having spent some time Down Under in their youth. Indeed, at the moment, Sean Wight, Jim Stynes and Tadgh Kennelly are the only ones who have really made a huge impact after going over, though Martin Clarke of Down looks like he may soon join that list.
So, while it is obviously worrying for the GAA that their young players are choosing to look for a career in Australia, they should be acutely aware that it is not a new problem that they are facing.
While it is only right that they should look at ways to stop to the Oz exodus, they should also put the same energy into ensuring that fewer players are lost to soccer and rugby as well.