Getting in New York state of mind

NEW YORKERS take sportvery seriously and have some ofthe best known teams in the world operating out of legendary venues.

The Giants, the Jets, the Yankees, the Mets, the Rangers and the Knicks vie for the hearts and minds of locals who fill out the Giants Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Citi Field (the Mets played in Shea Stadium until this year) and Madison Square Garden on a regular basis, regardless of success or failure.

The Garden also plays host to huge boxing cards and many world title fights.

John Duddy’s was the most recent Irishman fighting there, though his dreams of middleweight glory look doomed following his recent defeat in the famous venue.

It is against this backdrop of the pre-eminence of American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, boxing and even lacrosse – the Titans – that the GAA must try to compete.

It hasn’t been easy but with just four years to go until the association celebrates it’s 100th anniversary in the Big Apple, it is a battle that has continued to be fought with a large degree of success.

Right now, the major focus is on the arrival of Mayo for the first round of the Connacht championship.

The game will take place at Gaelic Park next Sunday and for 70 minutes, New York will be on the main stage, playing as equals with the big boys. They will strive to be competitive but in truth, this will be about more than a match.

When John O’Mahony and co land on Thursday, they will be the centrepiece of New York’s celebration of the GAA and of being Irish.

The Mayo club will host a function on Friday night and there is a huge golf outing on Saturday. There will be other events as well as New York looks to use the positive publicity to attract some more recruits to the cause, and raise some funds as well.

Last year, then Leitrim boss Dessie Dolan said it was akin to a festival. He had it right but he actually missed the point, using the term as a criticism.

There are those who maintain that New York’s participation in the championship is a futile exercise, but again, they are missing the point. It will never be about winning the All-Ireland, or a Connacht title. It is about keeping the GAA alive in a foreign land.

“We’re part and parcel of the championship” says county chairman Larry McCarthy. “We have young fellas coming through now that would have played in the minor championship which is hugely vibrant at the moment, with 12 clubs. We send an U21 team to the British universities championships. There’s a lot of phenomenal work being done here.

“When you look at the other GAA units across the world, we’re arguably the most developed and that’s with all due respects to the other units. The next thing to measure ourselves with is Ireland.

“We’re not the dominant sport culture here obviously. You’re competing against baseball, American football, lacrosse… we have to find our niche and we are. Many of the people running the teams are American born and obviously everyone involved at underage level is American born which shows that we’re doing something right anyway.”

A native of Bishopstown on the southside of Cork city, McCarthy has been in America for 25 years. He is a professor at Seton Hall University, giving lectures in sports management.

Such is his expertise that he worked with the organising committee for the Atlanta Olympics as a special envoy to the Olympic Council of Ireland.

This is his first year as chairman and he is happy that New York is continuing to go about things the right way.

“It’s ticking over nicely. The last couple of years have been tough because you had people going back home. In particular, it was those managing the teams that were heading back, more than actual players.

“This year things seem to be improving. We usually get an indication in the winter what’s going to happen and there’s been a lot of talk of people coming back. The time for seeing that is St Patrick’s Day and it’s happening alright, obviously because of the economic situation back in Ireland.

“The big problem for us is the comprehensive emigration policy which means that you can’t emigrate here as easily as you could in the past. There are 50 million illegal people in the country and obviously some of our members are part of that.”

McCarthy is hopeful thatBarack Obama will bringabout a resolution to this chaos.

“What has happened is that since 9/11 things have tightened up in terms of tracking people coming into the country and that was bound to happen.

“In fairness to the president, he said he would tackle the situation and he has begun to address it already.”

Meanwhile, the underage work continues, with countless volunteers chiselling away at the coalface. Names aren’t mentioned because of an uncertainty about people’s visa status. It’s just the way it is.

Teams will be sent to the Féile though, where they have had success in the past, while almost 100 children have attended the two Cúl camps that have taken place so far this year.

It is because of these youngsters that Sunday’s game with Mayo and all that surrounds it is so important. It is for these youngsters, their parents, those who line the pitches, put up the nets and take the money at the stiles.

“It’s difficult to prepare because of the lack of quality matches you can have.

“The best thing we can do is play Boston. But in the winter, when we’re doing our main training, they’re not playing at all because the weather up there is so bad.

“But Seamus Smith and the lads have been working really hard and they’ll give as good an account of themselves as they can.

“It will be a big day for us and a big few days but whatever happens in the match, we will continue to strive to keep New York GAA vibrant.”