American-Born Players - The Way of the Future
Opinion

There is an attitude among some in the GAA that in order to play Gaelic Football or Hurling to a decent standard, you must be born in a certain county and you need to have been born with a stick or ball in your hand.

I would question this. Only a few months ago, the San Francisco youth board treated us to a wonderful display of football between the Sacred Heart and Serra high school teams in between two of the St Patrick’s Cup adult games. The referee, Declan McConn, was glad of the break at half time because he was so exhausted from trying to keep up. The level of ball control, clearly an adaptation of basketball skills, was breathtaking. There were a few errors from some players who were obviously less familiar with the rules, but in general the standard was on a par with any underage team in Ireland. We always knew that our youth was strong, but we had no idea just how strong until we saw these young athletes in action. They went on to give us many more enjoyable games as part of the High School Championship interspersed with the adult fixtures, giving them a new level of exposure that that will do them the power of good, as well as showing the unsuspecting adult spectators what can be achieved with a good youth program.

By the time these players reach adult level, they will have about as much experience under their belts as any Tyrone footballer or Cork hurler of the same age. There is no reason why they should not be as competitive as any Irish born team.

It may sound like a well-worn sound bite, but the youth truly are the future of our games out here. Just to emphasize the point, the staging of the Continental Youth Championships in San Francisco during the first weekend in August will give us all an exciting preview of what lies ahead in North American gaelic games.

Mike Moriarty of the San Francisco Irish Football Youth League tells me that convincing people to get involved in youth hurling and football is much easier when there is a big prize at stake. “Kids love to have a shot at a prestigious prize just as much as any adult,” he says. “What group of kids could resist the chance of earning the title of North American Champions?”

In addition to the youth, there are also a number of American born people who take up gaelic games later in life. There are plenty of examples of people making the crossover from basketball and soccer to gaelic. There are people who played lacrosse and for one reason or another decided to take up hurling.

These players are obviously not going to have as much specific experience in hurling and football as those who came up through the youth program, but it is possible for adults to pick up the game and get up to a reasonable standard if they put in enough work.

Proof of this is Dave McAuliffe, a lad from the all-American Milwaukee Hurling League, a club that was started by Americans for Americans. With just two years of hurling experience behind him, he was able to play with the San Jose St Joseph's hurling club when he moved to California and hold his own against Irish born players. In his debut match, his first touch of the ball involved him breaking away from his opponent, soloing down the field, and sending the sliothar over the bar like it was no bother to him. You could hear the stunned silence on the other side of the Bay, but a point had been made that what one man can do, another can do if he puts his mind to it.

Something I have noticed about American born players like Dave is that what they lack in experience, they more than make up for in enthusiasm, passion for the game, and determination to get the hang of it. It is players like this who practice their skills nearly every evening, always turn up for training on time, pay their membership dues without delay, and in some cases sing the praises of the sport to anyone they speak to about it almost to the point of being evangelical. They become among the most positive and dedicated workers in the club.

For a club to survive in North America, it needs a core of people who are based here, and that core is more likely to stay in place if they were born and raised here.

There are those who say that the rules must be set so that visiting summer players are given priority and guaranteed games, which is often at the expense of locally based players who end up sitting on the bench, becoming disillusioned, and leaving the game. This is a short-sighted policy. Sacrificing the local base ensures that there will be fewer people left to run the clubs in later years, and the collapse of clubs is sure to follow.

With emigration from Ireland winding down and going into reverse, American born players must become the backbone of our clubs in the long term if the games are to survive out here. They are a huge resource that can and must be tapped.

© 2005

[This is an opinion column and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Western Division Board.]