Kennelly and AFL risking GAA’s wrath

THE GAA and their Australian Rules counterparts could be on a collision course following confirmation that Tadhg Kennelly will work on the AFL’s international player development programme.

Kennelly, one of Ireland’s most successful converts to the game, is tasked with nurturing and developing young talent in Australia and around Europe. The announcement also ends speculation that the All-Ireland winner was set for a return to Jack O’Connor’s squad in 2012.

However the news has led to mixed reaction down under. One Australian source said: “Why would the AFL be funding Tadhg Kennelly to go and develop players in Ireland? The GAA will blow their top. They’re supposed to be helping one another, and what do they say? ‘We’re going to run development programs for Gaelic kids to come and try and play AFL football so the AFL clubs can come and watch them all and then pick who they want’.

“Imagine if the GAA came over here and went to the camps the AFL run, watched them and said, ‘Right, those six kids, we’re going to offer them €50,000 each to come and play Gaelic footy in Ireland. We know it’s an amateur sport, but who cares? We’ll pay them because then other kids in Australia will follow them’.’ One observer yesterday described the ‘international’ component as effectively camouflage for ‘Ireland’.

However an AFL insider said Kennelly represented an opportunity for the league to work with the GAA in an upfront manner, coaching young players through the right channels rather than ‘through the back door’.

“’I think Tadhg’s an opportunity for the AFL to mend a few bridges, so it doesn’t look like they’re raiding the place all the time. ‘I think Tadhg’s name, his ability to do that, will give them a better hold in Ireland. The Tadhg Kennelly International Academy has got a better ring to it than the AFL or Ricky Nixon or any of those guys.’

Kennelly spent the past week working with the AFL-AIS academy in Canberra, where 60 elite U17 footballers attended a training camp. Kennelly flew to Ireland Thursday, and today attends the unveiling of a statue in his native Listowel of his late father, football legend Tim. Tomorrow he plays for his home club Emmetts against Finuge in the North Kerry championship.