Colm O'Regan: The GAA has gone global — and I'm here for it
25 June 2023; Paul Conroy of Galway is tackled by Diarmuid O'Connor of Mayo during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Preliminary Quarter Final match between Galway and Mayo at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
“Wholesome Content”: a relatively new phrase meaning video, audio, or words that just do you good.
An early example was Mícheál O Muircheartaigh going viral for making a ham sandwich in 2015 - although that may also have verged on the ASMR. Particularly for people who like soft Kerry accents, soft butter, ham, and tidy kitchens.
For me, the latest bit of wholesomeness was watching a Cambodian woman kicking her team’s only point in a GAAAH match in Derry.
I don’t know her name but she knew she’d made a name for herself. She gave a one-armed salute of power to the crowd who cheered back.
Cairde Khmer Cambodia were finally on the scoreboard in a tough game against ‘Europe 1’. And Khmer-to-me, it was a lovely point.
Credit is also due to her teammate for the incisive pass into the half-forward line. She placed it into her hands. She didn’t just Lumphat in.
But this game was never going to Penhs. Europe 1 won by 3-1 to 0-1.
The whole thing took place at the World GAA Games in Derry last week.
And I’ve been drinking in the snippets about it like a thick, hearty soup. Iberian players twerking after getting their medals.
A pitchside interview with an Argentinian fella called Santiago O’Reilly. Stirring camogie pre-match team talks in German.
There are 1500 players on 93 teams from all over the world playing 350 games on seven pitches.
Some teams have recognizable names.
There’s an Éire Óg playing. But then there’ll be an Éire Óg playing the day the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse arrive, so that’s no surprise.
But also there are unfamiliar names: Cuenca del Plata, Gascohna, Siroc.
No sign of the Ugandans yet. But surely they’ll be there next year. A budding League tearing up the grass in East Africa. Leading to my worst pun of all time: 'How are the Ugandans getting on? They’re mEntebbe going very well in training.'
But apart from the downside of World GAA – the awful puns – there are upsides too.
You see little things like hand-passing from an American team that seems to be some sort of reinvention and reinvigoration of a skill that’s ‘gone a bit throwy’ here.
They are slapping the ball, handball-style, long distance like Michael Duxy Walsh would do in his pomp.
If the Thais ever get involved, they might bring innovations from their sport – the very cool Speak Tekraw – basically volleyball with feet and lots of overhead kicks.
Naming conventions are also changing. Traditionally Irish GAA team suffixes have been Rovers, Gaels, Crokes, Shamrocks, Blues and Whites. Or a whole army of Nationalist heroes, a good scattering of priests, one “Stars” and a set of Fighting Cocks.
Some of the world teams in Derry are Warriors, Lions, and Bears. But will we see teams named after their own countries’ nationalist leaders. Or hybrids. Will the Che Guevara Wolfe Tones be a thing?
Will transfers be possible between clubs because the countries are different? In Ireland, you need a referendum and the signature of a bishop to move a club. But where it’s not to a rival, will it be easier to go from Phnom Penh Kickhams to the Caracas Bolivars?
The possibilities are endless and exciting.
Or will evil owners always be a thing? Poaching good young lads and young wans with offers of oil money?
Back to the big man, Mícheál O’Muircheartaigh coiner of one of the greatest lines in commentary:
“Seán Óg Ó'Hailpín... his father's from Fermanagh, his mother's from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold”
Fermanagh won the Lory Meagher two years ago. Surely Fiji will be on the rise soon.
