GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 15 - December 5, 2014 | Page 16

a view on how “twinning” might operate. In Europe, anyone
involved was really just focused on getting teams together and
playing tournaments. There was serious craic involved though!!
6.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE
EARLY ISSUES YOU
ENCOUNTERED AS
EUROPEAN SECRETARY?

One of the first things was to get a functioning Board in place,
try to apply rules and regulations and forge relationships with
the three associations in Ireland who had a very limited appreciation of what was happening. Leinster were also concerned that
the 7-a-side format was too far away from norm. We took some
major decisions then to move to 11-a-side, regionalise football
to minimise the cost of travel and accommodate more clubs
which were beginning to spring up. Funding was a big issue and
we needed to improve organisation, coaching and refereeing.
7.
IN YOUR VIEW WHEN YOU ATTENDED

THE ANNUAL GAA CONGRESS IN

IRELAND, HOW WAS EUROPEAN GAA
PERCEIVED?
I think initially (and sometimes even now) we were not
taken seriously, often receiving patronising comments and
been seen as something exotic, to be used for PR purposes
when it suited but with no real attempt to understand our
needs and vision.
8.

WHEN THE NUMBERS OF CLUBS AND
NON-IRISH PLAYERS STARTED TO
GROW ACROSS EUROPE, WAS THERE:

A) A DIFFERENT VIEW OF EUROPE GAA
FROM OFFICIALS IN IRELAND?

B) A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THINGS
FROM WITHIN EUROPEAN GAA?

Yes, I think there is a different view amongst some, if not all,
GAA officials, but I think that it required (and continues to

16

Tony (back, far right) at a first Italy referee’s course. (Photo:
Europe GAA)

require) Europe to work at building individual relationships,
demonstrate our commitment on, and off, the field to putting
in place playing and administrative, coaching and refereeing structures, develop more juvenile clubs and projects and
forge our own vision for the future both in Europe and internationally. Of course, clubs in Europe are at varying stages
of development and this is reflected in their views. Going
forward, the responsibility for developing a vision and appropriate structures is mainly a responsibility for the Board
and they need to continually focus on strategic issues whilst
developing more structures for day to day administration.
We also need to develop more supports for clubs, especially
in their formative years and continually evolve playing and
other structures to cater for continued growth.
9.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES
TO FORMING A GAA CLUB IN EUROPE?

Where do I start? For me if we are to really grow then
the lack of awareness amongst non-Irish born people is a
huge issue. Without that awareness, growth will be limited to those Irish who move and that is not sustainable. We
need to promote our games on TV and other media and