Gary Gray: The Irish influence is the song in an Aussie soul

Australian Ambassador to Ireland Gary Gray writes exclusively for the Irish Examiner ahead of the big match: 'I will be cheering as the Wallabies step up to stop this brilliant Irish team'

AUSSIE INFLUENCE: Mack Hansen will start for Ireland on Saturday against his native Australia. Here having fun with Joey Carbery before the clash with Fiji

The Irish influence on Australia? It is in the very marrow of our bones, the song in our souls, the spring in our step.

So enormous was the influx of Irish people into Australia – some free to work around above decks, others in chains as convicts – that the Emerald Isle will forever be in our DNA. No fewer than two million Australian people claim Irish descent, representing about 10% of the Australian population.

With so much of Ireland in our history, its influence shows up in our politics, law, religion and story-telling across every part of our brown and pleasant land, and that’s before we even get to sport.

For just as the Irish influence in the establishment of our national game, Aussie Rules, is obvious, so too do we see Irish players continue to prosper in our competitions. Just this weekend the powerful and influential Irish women will be front and centre in the Aussie Rules women’s competition with Orla O ‘Dwyer, Ailish Considine, Sinead Goldrick, Blaithin Mackin and Vikki Wall all strutting their stuff.

The Irish have shaped Australian sporting prowess not just in Aussie Rules, but in rugby, football, hockey, horseracing; the list goes on. This month it’s about rugby and this weekend's sold-out Ireland game against the Wallabies is sure to be a spectacle, they always are.

There have been Irish men playing rugby in Australia, for Australian clubs, as far back as sport has been played Down Under. Men like Maurice Barlow and Henry Walsh were both capped internationals for Ireland before they moved to Australia to take part in the burgeoning football union: from the Wanderers Club in Dublin to the Wallaroos Club in Melbourne. Ireland remains a large cultural influence in Australia, second only to England as a place of cultural origin for Australian citizens. 

Australian Ambassador to Ireland Gary Gray

It goes both ways too, of course. This weekend we will see Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham playing for Ireland, both are Connacht men and both Australian Irish, both went to school in my home town, Canberra, showing the depth of this Ireland-Australia relationship.

Sport in general and perhaps Rugby Union in particular has acted as a catalyst for cooperation between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in recent decades, showing that multiple cultures can hold a connection to the symbols of a single identity on this island. The great Hugo Mac Neill, a shining example in this endeavour. 

This unifying spirit should not be underappreciated and is perhaps sport's most enduring legacy around the world. In the 2018 Winter Olympics, for example, North and South Korean athletes competed under one banner for the first time, creating cultural connections between the two nations at a time when politically, they could not have been further apart. Sport does that.

The impact of Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Springboks team on South African society remains perhaps the most poignant and evident example of the legacy of sport. The Wallabies have, at times, acted as a similar glue to some of Australia’s historical and cultural failings, particularly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

Over the years, the Wallabies have proudly been represented by many representatives of these communities with legends like Cecil Ramalli, Wendell Sailor and Matt Hodgson leaving a lasting legacy for young First Nations kids to aspire to. Kurtley Beale is the only current First Nations player in the Wallabies squad and may well be on stage at the Aviva this weekend.

This is the true beauty of sport - by its very nature; unifying, political and revolutionary, yet competitive.

When the Wallabies take the field against this truly great Irish team, each will carry the hopes of their nation and the ambitions of their Mums, the cheers of their local clubs, schools and towns, the love of their Dads and a need to do well. The Wallabies are the underdogs, I get that, but the Wallabies are on a big mission and Ireland want a clean sweep of the countries of the southern hemisphere; New Zealand, South Africa, Australia. That’s never been done before.

It should be a great game. I will be cheering as the Wallabies step up to stop this brilliant Irish team.

Gary Gray is the Australian Ambassador to Ireland