McCurtains back on the rise as emigration takes hold again

Finnian O’Dowd laughs when you mention the GAA’s residency rule.

O’Dowd is PRO of the Thomas McCurtains GAA club, one of the oldest in London, whose catchment areas encompasses this corner of the city which will play host to the Olympic Games.

“We will look into it,” he smiles when talk turns to laying claim to any of the athletes setting up camp in these parts. “I’d say your man Usain Bolt would be a pretty tasty corner-forward.”

The club was founded in 1920 by workers from Cork who emigrated to the Ford factory in Dagenham (at the time Ford also had a massive plant on Leeside). Since then they have had a very strong connection with the Rebel County and especially with areas like Dromina, Newtownshandrum and Charleville. The glory days came in the ’80s when their hurlers landed a senior London title, but the club is struggling to recapture that success due to a variety of factors.

“The club is operating predominantly in intermediate in both codes in recent years, winning a few titles here and there,” O’Dowd, a Roscommon native, explained.

“The dynamic of the people has changed also. It isn’t the painters and labourers anymore that are coming over to London. We have a lot of physios, people coming over to study and a big influx of teachers and bankers. There is a big spread into Essex now and we even have people out as far as Southend on the coast coming out to play for us now. It is a different dynamic to the ’70s and the ’80s.”

But the links with that era of mass emigration to these parts is still strong with the children and grandchildren now filling a very successful underage structure.

“The one great thing about that is that they [former emigrants] had kids and we set up a very successful underage club and they just won the U14 title here in London,” O’Dowd said.

“We are trying to build on that for the future. But the problem is that any young lad at 14 who is a good Gaelic footballer or hurler generally tends to be good at other sports, and so more often than not they take the route of rugby, soccer or whatever. Gaelic is only seen as a bit of fun and often they are only doing it because of their parents. So it is very hard to keep them beyond 14.”

In recent years the club has developed a ladies team and O’Dowd sees it as a perfect encapsulation of the power and strength of the GAA on foreign soil.

“A couple of girls there who came over and they didn’t know anyone. And that is the great thing about the McCurtain club, it is very friendly. They would never turn anyone away. Ability doesn’t matter. There are a couple of girls there who had not really played the game before, they just arrived over and wanted to meet people who they could connect with.

“It is a great outlet for that. We’ve had a few girls playing with us now who had never played before. For many it is a social thing that keeps them in touch with back home. It is very hard for some people when they come over here first.

“They will get homesick and find it hard to settle and might just go back after a few months. But if you get in with a Gaelic club it is much easier to settle in, as you are meeting people who are in the same boat and come from the same background as you.”