(Oldest Posts First)
Is the GAA failing to reach the New Irish ? eamonnmac (Cavan) - Posts: 59 - 12/03/2019 12:20:03 2171843 Link 0 |
Hard to get those of mid and east European extraction involved in the GAA imo. Not exactly fair to generalize of course. They watch Polish/East European nations tv on satellite, they have their own shops selling goods from their home country, they speak their own language in the home and are raising their kids bilingually.....Polish/whatever language with English. My sense is that the majority are more connected to and immersed in their home country than they are to Ireland and its culture and their children born here, "the new Irish", will continue the same. To be expected really....they are too big a percentage of the population to be fully assimilated into Irish culture imo. PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1903 - 12/03/2019 16:43:30 2171892 Link 1 |
It will be harder to engage large numbers of immigrants as long as the games are amateur. Also, I get the impression that a lot of Eastern Europeans move to a foreign country (such as the one I live in) for maybe 5-10 years, save up the money to buy a house and return. In such circumstances there isn't as big an incentive to immerse oneself in the domestic culture. Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 12/03/2019 18:27:07 2171913 Link 0 |
A huge number of Eastern European have bought houses here and are setting their families up here permanently. I think the big winner from this group is soccer, the same for African heritage kids.. Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 12/03/2019 19:40:46 2171930 Link 4 |
Another point regarding Dublin where a lot of non Irish reside. The hype around gaa matches involving Dublin has been at an all time low. Gone are the days of first round Leinster championship matches involving Dublin against Meath or Kildare selling out and attracting huge hype. As well as the leinster final. Very hard to interest this new generation when the hype isn't there. Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 12/03/2019 19:57:53 2171932 Link 4 |
We have a young fella called Davidas Uossis from Lithuania ( his uncle is the manager of the Lithuanian soccer team )Davidas has won an allireland minor medal as Kerry goalkeeper, he would have had his second allireland medal this year only for the change in age from 18 to 17 . Davidas is currently playing schools football for the pobal scoil where he has just won his second chorn Uí mhuirí championship and hopefully he might land the hogan cup this year. Also we have had a young lads called Stefan Okunbar who won a minor allireland medal in 2016, he won Munster U20 player of the year last year but he's gone to Australia now to play for Geelong. KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 12/03/2019 20:49:13 2171938 Link 2 |
Kids tend to want to do what their classmates do. If they're playing soccer they're more likely to want to join in. If they're playing Minecraft they'll wan't to give it a go. If they're signing up for the Cúl camp in the summer, some of their mates regardless of where their parents are from, will want to try the Cúl camp. For many kids it's their first go at GAA and they really enjoy it. A lot of them are held at the bigger clubs and kids from smaller club areas attend. Could be a plan for someone from the smaller clubs to show the face and let their parents know about training at local clubs. I think there's a lot to be said from word of mouth to other parents before and after school. Everyone can be a bit fearful of striking up conversations but parents are usually delighted to have their kids make new friends and get involved in sport. Unbeknownst to us a lot of foreign nationals have some interest in hurling and gaelic foitball from t hge TV and radio. Many of them don't know about local clubs and we should tell them. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7342 - 13/03/2019 05:51:11 2171979 Link 5 |
It is a good point that the procession in Leinster is bad for Football ..i was at the Dublin Meath series in 1991 and the atmosphere was electric. eamonnmac (Cavan) - Posts: 59 - 15/03/2019 08:52:34 2172330 Link 1 |
It can take a generation for people to get absorbed into the culture of their new country, it takes a wee bit of time. jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 15/03/2019 10:33:53 2172352 Link 5 |
Agree on the generation thing...Irish Americans for the most part born over there play baseball, American Football, Hockey etc...GAA isn't even on the radar.
yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11229 - 15/03/2019 11:35:40 2172364 Link 4 |
In America in the 1860s right up to the 1890s Baseball was massive in the Irish American community. I think it being pro was a big reason. bloodyban (Limerick) - Posts: 1710 - 15/03/2019 17:12:06 2172421 Link 0 |