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GAA and ethnic minorities

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Good article here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/from-laois-hurler-paddy-ruschitzko-to-mayos-shairoze-akram-how-immigrants-are-playing-increasing-role-in-gaa-35302328.html Nice story about the young lad from Gort Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12116 - 21/12/2016 12:40:08 1941396 Link
Would love to see a better representation of minorities in GAA , I live in a very ethnic diverse area , Ive been in schools handing out leaflets , sat at tables on open days , the problems I've come across are as follows Unfamiliarity of the game for their parents, no connection When kids do take up the sport their parents don't volunteer or get involved A belief you can earn money playing soccer, There may be other reasons , but these would be some of the barriers I've come up against as a coach . Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 21/12/2016 12:51:32 1941398 Link
Replying To Damothedub: "Would love to see a better representation of minorities in GAA , I live in a very ethnic diverse area , Ive been in schools handing out leaflets , sat at tables on open days , the problems I've come across are as follows Unfamiliarity of the game for their parents, no connection When kids do take up the sport their parents don't volunteer or get involved A belief you can earn money playing soccer, There may be other reasons , but these would be some of the barriers I've come up against as a coach ." How can this be addressed? Well printing some information in Polish or Russian or French might help the Parents. Who may not have a good grasp of English. Using players like Mr Chin or the Westmeath lad Israel Obode? for sending out a message that GAA is immigrant friendly. Having some ethnic minority input in the Dublin or Kerry panel may also help. For example there is a Polish strenght and conditioning coach with the Galway senior football team. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 21/12/2016 13:14:23 1941407 Link
Replying To Damothedub: "Would love to see a better representation of minorities in GAA , I live in a very ethnic diverse area , Ive been in schools handing out leaflets , sat at tables on open days , the problems I've come across are as follows Unfamiliarity of the game for their parents, no connection When kids do take up the sport their parents don't volunteer or get involved A belief you can earn money playing soccer, There may be other reasons , but these would be some of the barriers I've come up against as a coach ." 1 iv come up against with foreign national parents is advising their child against playing gaa because you cant earn a living in it compared to say soccer or rugby or another professional sport alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 21/12/2016 13:18:53 1941409 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "There's 3 on Westmeath, do you not remember the minor Westmeath team few years back, 3 with Nigerian parents. I coach underage and got to say plenty of young kids from non indigenous groups play. Great to see" Exactly Royaldunne , is say nearly every club in Westmeath has players from eitnic minorities Jack_Sparrow (Westmeath) - Posts: 1014 - 21/12/2016 13:19:30 1941410 Link
I meant Israel Ilunga of Westmeath. I spelt name wrong. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 21/12/2016 13:51:51 1941416 Link
what a rubbish post ethnic minorities , can anyone tell me a time when a new player was not welcomed into a club , I played in Donegal/Dublin/London and all sorts where playing the game not just white irish, and that was 15 years ago. You cannot compare us to professional sports that pay player like rugby or soccer . Also if your good enough you play in the GAA , If there was a free scoring forward in Mayo from a minority back ground ( not just belmullet ) he'd be in the team straight away. ulsterrules (Donegal) - Posts: 259 - 21/12/2016 13:53:48 1941418 Link
1 iv come up against with foreign national parents is advising their child against playing gaa because you cant earn a living in it compared to say soccer or rugby or another professional sport alano12 (Dublin) - Posts:1244 - 21/12/2016 13:18:53 I'd suggest though that that's gotta be a minority of parents. I know of Irish lads who didn't play football or hurling because they thought they could earn a living through soccer but they were exceptional talents. Unfamiliarity with the games are the biggest barriers. 99.99% of people won't earn a living from sport. MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13705 - 21/12/2016 15:01:13 1941435 Link
Replying To MesAmis: "1 iv come up against with foreign national parents is advising their child against playing gaa because you cant earn a living in it compared to say soccer or rugby or another professional sport alano12 (Dublin) - Posts:1244 - 21/12/2016 13:18:53 I'd suggest though that that's gotta be a minority of parents. I know of Irish lads who didn't play football or hurling because they thought they could earn a living through soccer but they were exceptional talents. Unfamiliarity with the games are the biggest barriers. 99.99% of people won't earn a living from sport." yeah i think its all about getting parents unfamiliar with gaa to get involved or at least understand how the sport works..i think with people from eastern europe especially they might be very unfamiliar...just an experience i had alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 21/12/2016 16:42:14 1941466 Link
most kids (no matter where they are from), who are into sport will play any sport they can, if their pals are playing then they will play also, its when they come to their teens that they usually begin to fall away from playing certain sports and maybe concentrate on one or two, Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 21/12/2016 17:48:41 1941485 Link
This debate could turn sour very quickly if people aren't careful what they say, if you are talking about ethnic minorities we already have them playing our games, they are called the real Irish which are mostly living in the west, Connaught, the rest I'm afraid are throw back English, remember the story of the plantations of Ulster, the Norman and Viking invasions of the east, Cromwell to hell or to Connaught, then again the Spanish and Portuguese invaded Munster and Connaught, ok yea come to think of it we have no real Irish, the biggest worry for most GAA supporters is when the eastern Europeans eventually play our games and the job teams will have with a 5 ft 10 Irish lad at full back while a 7 ft Polish origin lad at full forward, the full back hasn't a chance, I wonder if we have a few of those lads in Mayo that might play at midfield, at the end of the day I don't care where players are from as long as they play and enjoy our games, the more the merrier riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 21/12/2016 18:38:36 1941497 Link
My mother teaches at an Educate Together school in north county Dublin and tells me that the local GAA community are highly active in scouting for non-Irish talent. Further afield, there is growing interest in Gaelic games from people from non-Irish backgrounds. For example, there are leagues in Galicia in northwest Spain and Brittany in Northwest France which boast two dozen clubs between them, with hardly any Irish people involved. There are several German hurling clubs and Italian Gaelic football clubs composed entirely of local players. So, even given that it's a different context, there is a greater interest in GAA games among non-Irish people than many realize. Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 02/01/2017 20:46:19 1942692 Link
Replying To Gleebo: "My mother teaches at an Educate Together school in north county Dublin and tells me that the local GAA community are highly active in scouting for non-Irish talent. Further afield, there is growing interest in Gaelic games from people from non-Irish backgrounds. For example, there are leagues in Galicia in northwest Spain and Brittany in Northwest France which boast two dozen clubs between them, with hardly any Irish people involved. There are several German hurling clubs and Italian Gaelic football clubs composed entirely of local players. So, even given that it's a different context, there is a greater interest in GAA games among non-Irish people than many realize." The Hurling Club in Buenos Aires which since world war 2 has played rugby and hockey because the supply of hurls dried up and the link with Ireland was lost is now actively coaching underage Hurling and Gaelic football again. Jack_Sparrow (Westmeath) - Posts: 1014 - 02/01/2017 21:47:43 1942699 Link
Replying To alano12: "where does it stop galwayford....if u focus solely on what critics want it will vary from a person of each religion on the board, their gender, their race, sexual orientation etc...people will always look for something" Excellent reply alano12. Where will it all stop? So should we just go down the PC road and be cowered by what others think of us and act accordingly or do we stand up say this is our GAA culture. Yes, join us if you want and if you don't we won't lose any sleep over it. The GAA has never been Political with a Capital P, yet as alano has pointed out there are those with agendas trying to politicise the GAA and unfortunately there are those within the GAA who are to cowardly to withstand this. If we don't stand for what we believe in then we stand for nothong at all. lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 2989 - 03/01/2017 01:50:25 1942729 Link
Replying To lilywhite1: "Excellent reply alano12. Where will it all stop? So should we just go down the PC road and be cowered by what others think of us and act accordingly or do we stand up say this is our GAA culture. Yes, join us if you want and if you don't we won't lose any sleep over it. The GAA has never been Political with a Capital P, yet as alano has pointed out there are those with agendas trying to politicise the GAA and unfortunately there are those within the GAA who are to cowardly to withstand this. If we don't stand for what we believe in then we stand for nothong at all." Good reply..... if we go down the pc road we will hit a dead end..the games are there for every one In reality the majority of Polish people do not bye in to gaelic games, why would they??? They grew up on soccer!!!! Promote but don't forget our own!! What would be wrong with bringing the great game of hurling to the people of mayo Longford or roscommon, never mind Taiwan or Saudi?!!! There is surely a young dj Carey in fermanagh???? Even in my own county, large population centres like new Ross , rosslare and the main town of wexford do not adequately promote our games to our own!!!!! tonydoranfan (Wexford) - Posts: 550 - 03/01/2017 19:37:50 1942865 Link
Replying To tonydoranfan: "Good reply..... if we go down the pc road we will hit a dead end..the games are there for every one In reality the majority of Polish people do not bye in to gaelic games, why would they??? They grew up on soccer!!!! Promote but don't forget our own!! What would be wrong with bringing the great game of hurling to the people of mayo Longford or roscommon, never mind Taiwan or Saudi?!!! There is surely a young dj Carey in fermanagh???? Even in my own county, large population centres like new Ross , rosslare and the main town of wexford do not adequately promote our games to our own!!!!!" Point is that while they may have grown up on soccer, their Irish children are up for grabs on the sporting front. Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 03/01/2017 19:54:24 1942867 Link
Replying To Jack_Sparrow: "Exactly Royaldunne , is say nearly every club in Westmeath has players from eitnic minorities" Actually jack that got me thinking, I actually don't think I've came across a underage club game in Westmeath in last 2 years without a "minority" (dont like word bit ill use it ) player in it, I'm even thinking of rural clubs like Milltownpass. Great to see. But then the players go to schools and tell kids to come sign up. I got to say Westmeath leads the way in this and o th other counties should see what they doing. Even putting info sheets in polish Nigerian Lithuanian etc. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 03/01/2017 20:05:34 1942874 Link
Replying To Gleebo: "Point is that while they may have grown up on soccer, their Irish children are up for grabs on the sporting front." Yes that is true..but my point is that there is a lot of children in this country up for grabs that have irish parents!!!!!! Let's stop the pc and promote our games properly to all and that includes our own.. You don't have to go North to find that protestants are not interested in our games or that their children are not up for grabs.. What about promoting hurling to the kids of your own county of mayo??!!@@ tonydoranfan (Wexford) - Posts: 550 - 03/01/2017 20:25:39 1942880 Link
Replying To Gleebo: "Point is that while they may have grown up on soccer, their Irish children are up for grabs on the sporting front." They are up for grabs in a sporting front, but that sport will not be gaelic games for the majority!!! Lets grab the young future stars of hurling in the counties of wicklow Longford and silgo, Promote but don't forget our own.... tonydoranfan (Wexford) - Posts: 550 - 03/01/2017 20:57:41 1942888 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "Actually jack that got me thinking, I actually don't think I've came across a underage club game in Westmeath in last 2 years without a "minority" (dont like word bit ill use it ) player in it, I'm even thinking of rural clubs like Milltownpass. Great to see. But then the players go to schools and tell kids to come sign up. I got to say Westmeath leads the way in this and o th other counties should see what they doing. Even putting info sheets in polish Nigerian Lithuanian etc." Most clubs have foreign nationals in their underage teams but from my experience with coaching this only lasts from u8 to maybe u14 for the majority.. When they go to secondary school the lack of international possibility kicks in and they continue with soccer and athletics is a big draw !!!! There is very little support from at home for these kids for gaelic games and that is fact!!!!! tonydoranfan (Wexford) - Posts: 550 - 03/01/2017 21:26:49 1942894 Link