Irish Echo Sport

GAA President Nickey Brennan has had more than his share of controversy since taking over the Irish sporting and cultural giant. Aaron Dunne caught up with the straight talking Kilkenny-man to discuss the forthcoming International Rules Series, AFL player poaching and efforts to globalise the Irish codes.

It’s been noses to the grindstone for the GAA of late. It’s normally this flat out in the busy season, but this year there are fresh and unavoidable  eyebrow-furrowing concerns for the Croker mandarins. The Aussie raiders have landed and the locals are watching.

Matters Australian have been furrowing the brow of GAA President Nickey Brennan over the past three years and once again this month, the Kilkenny man has been drawn into a divisive debate about the games he governs and their nearest living relative, Australian Rules Football.

Last week Brennan met Aussie raider number one, AFL agent Ricky Nixon, who, according to his critics, is hell-bent on pillaging the childer of the Ireland. Nickey is philosophical about the whole thing though. No point in getting too excited about it, he reckons. Better the devil you know at the end of the day.

“We met Ricky Nixon because we got a request from Adrian Anderson, the Operations Director of the Australian Football League (AFL). He asked us would we meet, and we said we would.

“What we wanted to get out of that meeting was to find out what he was about. We’d never met him before and we’d been reading reports about him, so we met him and he went through what he plans to do, and we had a good frank discussion about it.

“Obviously we expressed concerns in various areas. He explained to us what he was all about, and he agreed to prepare a detailed report on exactly what he plans to do and that he would submit that report to us. He’s gone back to Australia now, but we’d expect to get something back from him in about three weeks.”

The GAA chief paid tribute to Nixon’s candour but added “we’re still very concerned about what’s going on.”

What’s going on is an increasing number of AFL clubs targeting the best young Irish Gaelic footballers and luring them to Oz with promises of fame and fortune.

“When his report comes in we’ll be able to use that to have a chat in-house here. When we go to Australia in October we will meet with him [Nixon] again in the presence of the AFL,” Brennan explained.

“I don’t know who will attend that meeting with the AFL but we’d certainly be looking to have senior officials there. We’d be hoping to sit down with Andrew Demetriou [AFL Chief] and Adrian Anderson and Ricky and just see exactly what’s going on and see whether they [the AFL] are comfortable with what’s going on, as well as what we should be doing as an organization.”

Nixon appears to have won some brownie points from Brennan  by being up front and accountable.

Other agents haven’t been doing likewise, according to the GAA President.

AFL recruiter Gerard Sholly, who was a principle figure in the signings of the Ó’hAilpín brothers to Carlton, last week felt the wrath of Brennan and, even more scarily, the wrath of a group of local Cavan GAA men. Sholly reportedly held a training session of sorts in Breffni Park, and it didn’t go down well. Not well at all.

Not only did Sholly not do himself any personal favours, but he also did damage to the whole image of the AFL in Ireland, Brennan reckons.

“In the past couple of days another AFL agent Gerard Sholly has been over here, and if I can put it this way, he has been ‘misbehaving’ himself by going into GAA grounds and holding training sessions without permission,” Brennan explains. “He has incurred the wrath of a number of people here, and that has got plenty of publicity as well. That really isn’t helping the image of AFL recruitment at the moment.”

The good or bad image of AFL recruiters matters little to the hopes and dreams of a youngster who wants to be a professional footballer, however. It’s a reality, and it’s something Brennan approaches in a very realistic and surprisingly philosophical manner.

“We cant stop these lads from going, they’re free agents. They’re not contracted to us and they’re not professional players so they can come and go as they please.

“We can’t tie them down, but obviously we have major concerns. If they go, they need to be adequately told what’s actually going on and that their welfare, education, accommodation and those kinds of things are being looked after.

“It’s a long distance to go [to Australia] and it’s a completely different lifestyle and a different culture. It’s important to be in good surroundings because it’s such a long way from home. Some players who have gone over have gotten quite lonesome and haven’t been able to stick it out there.

“From our point of view, we’d prefer that they didn’t go at all because they’re a loss to their counties and to their clubs, but if they do choose to go it’s important that they be properly looked after,” he said.

Brennan acknowledges there are no definite plans in place to practically accommodate this. For now, at least, such things may remain in the lap of senior figures like Tadhg Kennelly and his proposed Irish player welfare group.

“There are no plans to employ anyone someone specifically,” Brennan said. “It may well be that somebody else may want to take on the brief of keeping in touch with these young lads and how they’re getting on, and that maybe they can keep us updated on any concerns they may have.”

The simple issue of why young GAA players want to come to Australia in the first place simply comes back to the very amateur ethos of the GAA. One way of stopping the exodus would simply be pay the players, wouldn’t it? Nickey disagrees. Strongly.

“Absolutely not. There’s no prospect of that happening, that’s a complete non-runner, and anyone who’s suggesting that has absolutely no appreciation of what the GAA is all about. There’s not a snowballs chance of that happening. It’s not on the agenda and it’s not going to be on the agenda.”

Fair enough. Still though, money is always an issue. Only last week the Irish Government announced awards of €316,000 and €65,000 to the GAA in Britain and the United States respectively. Australia received nothing, but Brennan is quick to point out that the GAA Down Under has in no way been left out, and that the association here is being well looked after by the blazers in Croke Park.

“It’s really not true to say that Australia has been left out. Last year the Irish Government and the GAA invested significantly in the development of Tom Bateman Park in Perth, for example. The GAA in Ireland is also paying the salary of the secretary of the GAA in Australia, Gerard Roe. I’m not sure off -hand but I think it’s to the tune off at least €30,000.

“There has also been a successful twinning operation between Leinster GAA and the GAA in Australia and a significant amount of equipment is sent out every year from Ireland to Australia.”

Brennan estimates the GAA’s investment in Australia at about €100,000 for the past year.

The possible future appointment of a coaching figure, or Games Promotion Officer (GPO) as they’re known, for Australia is to be discussed when the GAA leadership come south for the International Rules series in October.

The GAA chief expressed his delight that a Gaelic football fixture had been agreed  between the touring squad and New South Wales.

“We’ve formally committed to playing a game in Sydney in November. It’ll be a selection of All Stars against a local selection. We’ll use our few days there, in either Melbourne or Sydney, whichever suits them, to talk to the Australian GAA people and see how things are going out there and what issues need to be addressed.”

The controversies around International Rules may yet define Brennan’s presidency so its no surprise that the Kilkenny man would like October’s resumption to work.

The GAA, and their Aussie counterparts, are looking to encourage more interaction between the players as a way of diluting the bad blood from past battles. Tadhg Kennelly suggested a golf classic to break the ice.

“That’s on schedule, very much so,” Brennan reveals.

“There will be things happening along those lines.

“We will definitely be doing something where we get the players together prior to the games in Perth and in Melbourne. That’s all been agreed with the AFL.”

The GAA boss is also determined to ensure that expat fans get to see the games live on Australian TV.

The last International Rules series was played here, in 2005, many Irish expats missed out on the chance to see the game live as Channel Nine, who owned the rights, didn’t show it live in NSW or Queensland, and refused to allow Pay TV channels to show it. Brennan was unaware of this, but he’s pretty certain of one thing – it won’t happen this time.

“I didn’t know that to be honest, that surprises me. But I have to say that I’d be very surprised if no one wanted to show these games live. Given what happened here in Dublin two years ago at the last series, the problems that arose there and the stuff hitting the fan shall we say, I’d be very surprised if it isn’t shown live.

“I just assumed someone would show it live, but I’ll check into that.”

It’s probably sad to say, but nonetheless true – when you think of International Rules these days, you think knuckle sandwiches, unconscious Graham Geraghtys, and a thousand other reasons why the Gooch retired.

The whole ‘unpleasantness’, shall we say, was put down to a lack of bonding between the Irish and Australian teams in some quarters.

What will come of this year’s resumption is anyone’s guess.

There could be all out bloody warfare on and off the pitch in Melbourne or Perth, or you could see new best mates Ryan McMenamin and Barry Hall playing checkers over tea and scones in 2020. Either way, the Irish will be the raiders come October.