Kingdom’s lost riches
Another trip to New York is planned in May but the fundraising trips have become as much about catching up with acquaintances they would be more accustomed to meeting at home.
Those numbers uprooting themselves are growing. Colm Cooper’s right knee, in time, will heal. Tomás Ó Sé, Paul Galvin and Eoin Brosnan will one day be suitably replaced. But there are several who will never return to Kerry. Worse still, plenty of them can play ball.
“The Kerry club in New York won the championship last year, just as the Kerry club did in London,” points out county chairman Patrick O’Sullivan. “In Boston the Kerry team is competing all the time. In Australia, the Kerry team were beaten in a semi-final.
“Then there are Kerry fellas representing other clubs like the Leitrim one in New York and they are often the backbone of those clubs.
“That’s without even thinking of the fellas who have left and are living in areas in Europe, the States and Asia where there is no football. A level of football has gone from Kerry. Emigration is the common denominator. It’s eroding the county.”
Kerry legend Pat Spillane is head of a government-appointed rural development committee. The group’s report is ready to go but he has yet to be given a launch date.
“We’re waiting for it to be given the all clear. It’s a good job strategy for rural Ireland for the next 12 years, 2014 to 2025. All we want is a date and it’s frustrating,” said Spillane.
His own Templenoe lost a couple of players to emigration this week but they have five in Darragh Ó Sé’s U21 set-up and two in Jack O’Connor’s minor squad.
“They’re all in school or college at the moment, but when they come out, what’s there for them?” asked Spillane.
Should any of them make the step-up to senior, he knows they’ll be in good hands. But it’s good club players that will be most at risk.
In his Kenmare District, Spillane has seen how emigration has ravaged Tuosist and Kilgarvan. County novice champions last year, Templenoe are in Division 3 this year where 13-a-side is an option should one or two of the teams not have enough players to make the 15.
“You look at the amount of amalgamations in Kerry at the moment and it’s frightening. Amalgamations are to be avoided at all costs. Go 13-a-side, go 11-a-side if you have to but don’t amalgamate. Identity is everything.”
O’Sullivan gets animated when he speaks of how he feels Kerry has been ignored.
“There has been no stimulus for jobs in Kerry under this Government or the previous one and that lack of investment has shown in the amount of people who’ve left.
“South Kerry has been devastated, West Kerry and parts of North Kerry too. It’s the towns who are holding things up. When was the last big job announcement for any industry in Kerry? We have farming and tourism but there’s only so much you can do with tourism. It showed a small bit of a rise last year but you can’t feed a family on four or five good months of work.
“People are leaving university with excellent qualifications but they’re faced with no choice to leave the country.
“The question I’d be taking a shot at the Government for is what are they doing to assist people because everything seems to be happening in Dublin. There’s a two-tier society developing where there are thousands of jobs being created in Dublin and none in Kerry.”
O’Sullivan listened intently at last Saturday evening’s Congress banquet in Croke Park where GAA president Liam O’Neill and his 2015 successor Aogán Ó Fearghail spoke about social inclusion and keeping the GAA’s identity via schools and parishes.
“What they said is completely right but nobody is saying anything about the west coast of Ireland. If we are a county to survive, we need industry and not just be dependent on farming and tourism.
“We don’t want another generation leaving because there is nothing here for them.
“We will always strive to keep players at home but the standard of our competitions are based on what we have here. When there are so many going away to make a livelihood, it’s going to suffer.”
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