Emerging Emmets‘would live and die together’
Emmets chairman Tom Redmond is a little bemused by the reaction to the result. “The only people who are surprised are the people over in Ireland,” he admitted yesterday. “Everyone else certainly seems surprised by this. But not us.”
Emmets are no strangers to the All-Ireland club championship. Two years ago they reached the semi-finals — the first London club to do so in 11 years — but were crushed 2-12 to 0-5 by Carrickshock of Kilkenny on a miserable day in Bennetsbridge.
Despite that hammering, they bounced back in their domestic competitions and set upon bettering their previous achievement. There is no shortage of talent in their ranks with many of the team representing London in the Nicky Rackard and Christy Ring competitions.
There is no shortage of experience either. Eddie Carey hurled at U21 with Tipperary while Johnny Quinlan aka ‘Johnny Bravo’, Tadhg Callaghan, Jim Ryan and Colum Buckley all wore the Cork jersey at one grade or another.
Continued Redmond: “I was talking to one guy at half-time and he couldn’t believe our team and our ability. He thought that this would be a walkover. He was very, very wrong.”
Redmond, a Wexford native who settled in the English capital almost half a century ago, complimented the losers on their response to such a surprise loss.
“The Clooney Quinn lads couldn’t have been nicer. The management came into the dressing room after the game to congratulate us and the players stood outside the dressing room waiting for us to come and offer us best wishes. That was nice.”
Such attitudes are in marked comparison to the receptions which greet Robert Emmets successes back in London “People in London don’t think they are a good team,” said Redmond. “I feel they don’t get the respect they deserve.
“Maybe there is a bit of jealousy in London with so few teams and such a desire to win. But I would like teams to win with a modicum of goodwill. In my opinion they are the best team that ever hurled in London.”
The club was originally formed in East London but with the sprawling transport system the pick extends across the city and beyond. Redmond notes that Colum Buckley lives in Reading and requires an hour and half to get to training and often returns home from sessions after midnight.
“We are a very small club. We have loads of registered players but for a day like Sunday we only had 25 guys available. But that small number builds great unity and spirit. They are all really nice guys. I believe that if you bring a nice guy into the club they in turn will bring nice people with them. And that is the secret. If a fella is taken off, he will be the first man to support the guy going on in his place. They would live and die together. We have never had a group like this.
“I have been chairman for a good few years. The teams of yesterday were made up mostly of labourers and carpenters. Nowadays most of the team are teachers, doctors and dentists. It is not before time that the Irish are in these positions in London.”
Redmond isn’t concerned that the upturn in social and financial fortunes in Ireland will have an adverse effect on the numbers coming to London and feeding the appetite for GAA across the Irish Sea.
“People will always come to London, if only for curiosity. I came to London for two years and am still here 50 years later. People come, make friends, get married and settle down. That is the way things go. But it is fantastic now to see guys turning up to training in suits and ties and not in boots and hardhats.”
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