Nixon bringing Aussie Rules into Irish schools
Nixon claims to have the agreement of four schools in which coaching clinics will be held from the beginning of September and admits the development will “put the fear of God into GAA people”.
He insists that he is not in Ireland “to pillage the country” though, claiming that only one out of every 100 players looked at might be invited to try out AFL.
He has no plans for further talks with GAA officials however, saying they lack the foresight to see the benefits a relationship could have.
“I would say the GAA are sick of me but I don’t plan in engaging with them anymore. Unless they show more enterprise and look to the future they won’t understand what could be achieved here. I won’t change their minds and I won’t change (Tyrone manager) Mickey Harte’s mind either. But I don’t care; I’m just doing my job.
“This will probably put the fear of God into GAA people but we’re starting to look at potential talent at a younger age and, if the door was shut in my face in Ireland in the past, I expect it will be slammed in my face now.
“People will overreact to these clinics and insinuate I’m only here to fleece your country of its best young talent, but the reality is that I’ll be lucky to get one player from this initiative.
“I’m doing it to drum up more interest in the AFL in Ireland and get kids more au fait with the skills of our game from an early age. It was not something I thought of myself. An Irish guy actually came to me with the proposal and he’s got clearance from the schools involved. We’re starting off with four clinics and the schools are more than happy to go along with it.
“Martin Clarke had a flyer of a start to his career here but he’s starting to struggle with the kicking game now, he’s slow in getting the ball to his foot and opposing teams have copped onto that and are targeting him. These clinics would help Irish kids develop an early natural rhythm with the oval ball.”
Nixon has also revealed that the notion of an Irish franchise in the AFL is still a runner.
“You would need a list of 50 players. I’d be looking at getting the best 20 out of Ireland and making the rest up with first-blood Irish born and raised in Australia. In an ideal world, the GAA would come on board and run the franchise, control the whole thing and market its own brand internationally but I know that will never happen.”
He is surprised Croke Park will not allow clubs who lose players to AFL to be financially compensated but would be willing to help with coaching or upgrading their facilities.
“I’m told that’s not allowed, so what can I do?” he asked. “The GAA are not proactive at all and they can’t stop young players leaving. So they turn around and say I’m all about money. Of course I am, that’s my job
“The point is we should be all able to help each other. Give a kid a chance to play pro sport, use his development to promote the GAA abroad and reward the club who nurtured him. We’ll only be taking a small amount of guys. It’s not like I’m here to pillage the country. Out of every 100 kids I look at, we usually find only one definite candidate.”
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