London GAA

[irunthev]

I know that some will say that this belongs on the local board but let's face it, if I put a London thread on the local board, no one would read it and I would end up replying to my own postings, which although quite amusing sometimes, it is also a little one-dimensional. Granted I would be able to dictate exactly where the argument was going to go, but it is a little counter-productive too.
I was involved in London GAA for many years in many different roles, although I'm no longer there. However, I know an awful lot of what has gone on there in the past and feel I am in a good position to comment on a number of issues that are worthy of a mention.
For a long time now, 15 years actually, London's footballers have been in the Nat League and for a long time people have been ridiculing and belittling them for their lack of achievements (or even results). A great deal of that ridicule has been deserved because in hindsight there was a large element of several blind men leading a host of other blind men around and around in circles and eventually up a dark alley.
Progress was non-existence and all we were doing for many years was fulfilling fixtures (or cluttering up fixtures) depending on how you look at these things.
And that was the case for many years but I feel that the efforts and improvements made over the past four years or so are worth mentioning and I also feel that by highlighting the commitment of a number of people involved, it will show just how willing players are to being part of what goes on in what is easily the weakest county in the competition.
Four significant people currently involved in inter-county competition at the moment gave a heck of a lot to London over the time they were there, and the guys I would like to mention are Jason Ryan( Wexford manager), Brendan Egan and Daniel Davey (both Sligo) and Paddy McConigley (Donegal).
Ryan was in London for about 6 or 7 years in total and was involved with the London senior footballers and hurlers for much of that time. Jason was the kind of player who never missed training and at times could be accused of overtraining, as his commitment to Strawberry Hill in the University competition was significant as well. Overall though, Rhino gave a lot to London's cause. I must admit I was as surprised as anyone to see him step up to the plate as an inter-county manager, but so far the reports are good about him and I hope he makes a success of the job.
Brendan Egan played for London in 2004, along with another current Sligo regular Charlie Harrison. At the time Egan was studying in Loughborough University and travelled down from Leicester twice a week for training. What you also must consider is that in London there isn't a squad of willing helpers to make sure that the guy who has just traversed half the length of the country to get to training is then collected at the station and brought to training. Mostly, these guys are then left to negotiate their way around London too and feed themselves to-boot..
Daniel Davey is exceptional in my book. He broke his leg about 15 months ago (for the second time: he did the other leg about a year before that playing for UCD). Daniel was studying in Bristol (about 120 miles from London) but even though he had a broken leg and wasn't able to train with the team, he made a point of being at training at least once a week just to be part of the whole thing. That's an incredible commitment. During his time with London, he slept on more living room floors and sofas and suffered more hardship than any player I have ever encountered. Unfortunately for Daniel the Championship came a little too soon for him to get a start, despite the fact that he had pushed himself so hard to get back fit, although he did make the Tommy Murphy Cup game in July. That was a heck of a lot of effort to put in to get seventy minutes of football in the Tommy Murphy Cup. The thing about Daniel though is that if he was asked at this point to do the whole thing over again, I think he would.
I hope he makes a big splash with Sligo as that was always his ambition when he was trying to get back fit.
Further to that, Daniel willingly and for free, doubled as the team's nutrionalist (that's what he's qualified in)and helped with all the players diets and pre and past match food and did a lot of work individually with several of the players.
The other guy is Paddy McConigley. Connie was a total legend in London and captained the team for a number of seasons, as well as captaining Tir Chonaill Gaels to a Championship. The one remarkable thing about him in my opinion was the fact that he lived and played football in London for four years but in all that time he never let his standards drop, which is an incredible achievement considering some of the opposition he was playing against at club level and also some of the hammerings he was taking at county level.
That comment is supported by the fact that six months after leaving London and moving back to Donegal he was winning a National League medal in Croke Park.
I and everyone involved with London GAA sincerely hope that Paddy will be able to resume his playing career at the highest level.
And there are other guys there too who have made incredible sacrifices, none more so than the current manager Noel Dunning who has moved mountains to get things progressing.
Last year Mickey Harte paid the squad a visit and upon observing what was going on commented that he felt it was as well organised and the team as well catered for as any team he had seen in Ireland at any level. A great deal of the credit for that goes to Dunning and also the coach last year, who also ended up playing, Martin Kennedy (St Vincents).
The reason that I have decided to submit this piece is based on the speculation that the London players may not be entitled to the GPA grants, a point I find quite unbelievable. I haven't spoken to London's GPA rep Brian McBrearty recently, but there are comments attributed to him suggesting that the grants might not happen for London, this despite the fact that the players are members and were balloted.
From a governmental point of view, there can be no reason for this, considering that the players are operating within the same tax system as those from the six counties.
London will never have a great team (or even a very good team) and if the current trends continue, that will not improve (in the past 15 years the number of football clubs in London has fallen from 50 to 24, a statistic that shows it is a shrinking sport at senior level in London.) Of those 24, the unfortunate reality is that only about 15 or so are of any real quality or standard
However, that fact does not take away from what the guys are doing over there and while they mightn't have the best players, the commitment and the sacrifices of many of those guys is as much as any other player playing the sport.
Should the GPA fail to support the London players in the claim for a grant, then they can expect a great deal of negative publicity. In McBrearty's comments he mentioned the world "elitism". He may not be wrong.
If anyone from the GPA should read this, maybe they could offer comment.
Thank you for taking the time to read this rant on London.

Footnote: I personally am not in favour of the grants system in any form.

[Gnevin]

GPA confirmed last night they would get the grant same as everyone else

[irunthev]

That's good news for the London guys anyway. Thanks for that.

[Gnevin]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/london-included-in-gpa-grants-1290185.html
Link for you

[john mcgill]

Enjoyable post irunthev.  Now that you have left London and with your journalistic skills you should start your own blog and keep us up to date and amused by the wandering of a peripatetic GAA man. 

I've just reread that and it seems mildy sarcastic, I don't mean to be.  You have a lot to offer.

[umgolaarmagh]

Was at the London V Carlow game today

London played the better football of the two teams over the hour and only for three soft goals  in the first half the game would have been closer

In the end Carlow won by 5/6 points but again London can hold there heads high as they totally dominated the second half

[1stsub]

Was at the London V Carlow game today

London played the better football of the two teams over the hour and only for three soft goals  in the first half the game would have been closer

In the end Carlow won by 5/6 points but again London can hold there heads high as they totally dominated the second half

well umgola, it wont be too long before ur lining out yourself

[umgolaarmagh]

I will be lucky to make the club team 

[1stsub]

u back playing again umgola?

[thejuice]

I see RTE is being launched in the UK, sadly no GAA can be broadcast live due to rights. Might have to reluctantly go for Setanta

[passedit]

If Bcarrier or Umgola are lurking, i'm looking for a pub on the fulham/brompton/north end road to catch the matches this afternoon. Will have a couple of suits with me so can't head for deepest kilburn. Any ideas?

[thejuice]

If Bcarrier or Umgola are lurking, i'm looking for a pub on the fulham/brompton/north end road to catch the matches this afternoon. Will have a couple of suits with me so can't head for deepest kilburn. Any ideas?

http://www.ploughandharrowpub.co.uk/

[passedit]

Thanks juice unfortunately thats way over in east london. The two buckos would be knocking about that neck of the woods so i was hoping for some local knowledge.

[umgolaarmagh]

Brogans in fulham broadway would have a been a good spot today to watch the match

[passedit]

Watched the second half of the football here.

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/83/836/Kavanaghs_Irish_Bar/South_Kensington

not a bad spot for that part of the world actually.