“The area of Jersey is only 9 by 5 miles; it takes most of our players five minutes to get to training. And most of them are still late!”
Before the Celtic Tiger (and after it), emigration was a fact of life for hundreds of thousands of Irish people, who ended up dotted in all corners of the globe.
In the early ‘90s, thousands of Irish people ended up on the island of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands off the northern tip of France.
At one stage, according to Michael Gordon, PRO for the Jersey Irish GAA club, as many as 10,000 Irish people lived and worked in Jersey, resulting in a vibrant Irish community on the island.
In 1993, the Jersey Irish Society committee decided to develop a sports wing and a hurling and football team were put together.
After playing their first games against the Irish Navy, a team was sent to play in London and after that, there was no looking back.
A general meeting was held to formally establish a club, with the election of officers, and in November 1993, the Jersey Irish GAA Club was born.
Nearly a quarter of a century on, they’re still going strong.
Here’s what Michael had to tell us about the current crop representing a very proud club.
Focus on Jersey Irish
Club: Jersey Irish GAA Club
Year established: 1993
Number of members: 111
Biggest rivals: Guernsey
Biggest representation from a club/county in Ireland: Down, Mayo and Laois with two players apiece.
Most famous ever member: Brian Hughes, the man is a legend.
Most memorable moment in the club’s history: 1999. Winning the London county championship in football and hurling.
Most eye-catching scoreline in the club’s history: 3-18 – 3-18 against the United Banks.
Player who makes the longest commute to training: The area of Jersey is only 9 by 5 miles; it takes most of our players five minutes to get to training. And most of them are still late!
Most dedicated club person: Denis Quilty. The club has struggled over the last five years and Denis put a lot of work in to keep it going, making sure we carried on going to tournaments even if we didn’t have a full team.
Player who could have made it big if love/career/drink didn’t get in the way: Conor Neeson. Still a great player… for the first five minutes of a match.
Biggest character: Eugene McCarthy
Loudest in the dressing room: Eugene McCarthy
Number of romances that started in the GAA club (feel free to name names): Eunan McGurk… with himself.
Michael Gordon is still waiting for one.
Duck to water award – Best new player who had never played GAA before: Jules McCabe. No Irish background, had only watched it on TV.
Most annoying person in the club WhatsApp group: Conor Neeson. He has an answer for everything.
Best story involving a club member that’s fit for print: Keith McNamara falling over a kit bag.
He was running after a high ball which was kicked far too long and had gone out over the side line, but he decided to carry on running after it and had an unfortunate encounter with a static kit bag.
That pretty much ended training as no one could stand up from laughing, let alone try and play football.
If you’re a member of a GAA club abroad and would like to be featured on the site, feel free to send a mail to conor.heneghan@JOE.ie or find us on Facebook or Twitter.
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