ONE person’s misfortune is another’s happiness, goes the well-worn saying. It is a maxim that aptly applies to the London GAA which has benefited from the worst Irish recession in generations. With a noble history that features figures like Sam Maguire and Michael Collins among its ranks, Cumann Lúth Chleas Gael London has been the welcome recipient of waves of emigrants across the Irish Sea for more than a hundred years. During the last 12 months the traffic has unsurprisingly been all one way.
On a sunny spring day in west London last month when London met Kerry in the national hurling league, the Exiles’ panel was boosted by several newcomers. Among the small crowd there was an explicit – if slightly apologetic – acknowledgement that the downturn at home had served as a boon to London. “There has been an upsurge in players coming over for sure,” says Declan Flanagan, the association’s PRO. “It has been a case where we lost a few clubs to where we have gained a few.”
The GAA scene in Britain will never again reach the dizzy heights of the 1950s when tens of thousands of Irish would watch the leading counties perform at the Wembley Games. But in its own little way, there are feelings for quiet optimism. In the 1990s with the Celtic Tiger in full swing many clubs folded and playing fields were sold as thousands returned home. But what had seemed to be an almost relentless decline for the game in London has been arrested for the time being at least.
Flanagan, newly appointed to the job of PRO, has his work cut out with the arrival of Kerry. The visiting panel that takes to the field at the GAA’s HQ in Ruislip is almost completely different to that in the official programme.
He reads the hastily scribbled new names over the Tannoy before going on the pitch and greeting an official carrying a LED board. Later on it will be used to display the substitutes’ numbers and even the amount of extra time to be played. For a supposedly amateur organisation, there is a refreshing degree of professionalism on hand. Rather surprisingly, London race into a lead after scoring four unanswered points.
There are some things, however, which remain unchanged. “Players are still coming over and being looked after by clubs,” says Flanagan. “Since the economy [in Ireland] crashed, there has been quite a lot of it going on.
“Young lads are still being set up with a job in construction and a place to stay. I have heard one example where one club has put them up for a couple of months and paid their rent.”
Flanagan’s own club, St Joseph’s, has been one of the beneficiaries. Relegated to junior level in both league and championship in 2008, the club took on up to almost 20 players between January and March of last year.
“We went from a panel of 19 to 35 to 40 players. We are getting more emails and contacts from players in Ireland. Every team has got players from all over the country – north, south, east and west.”
It is not hard to see why. Britain has been adversely affected by the downtown but has weathered the recession better than Europe’s smaller countries through a combination of massive state bail-outs and flexible working practices.
Ireland itself won plaudits for grasping the nettle through instigating public sector pay cuts and slashing the budget deficit. But the pain has been keen. Unemployment recently peaked at an eye-watering 12.5 per cent, compared to just four per cent in 2006. Unemployment in the UK stands at just under eight per cent, but the economic powerhouse that is London means that it has fared far better than provincial and rural areas in Britain.
Last year for the first time since 1995 more people left Ireland than immigrated here. A large percentage consisted of East European nationals returning home, but tens of thousands are leaving once again for pastures new. Glitzy destinations such as America and Australia offer a greater pull than Birmingham, Manchester or Glasgow but the call of London is still strong. Emigrants still need to feel a link with home and the GAA still provides that.
Kerry eventually run out 2-19 to 0-17 winners but only after they are forced to send on a raft of super subs. “We gave them a really good game,” declares Flanagan, who knows that London’s improved charges did not give Kerry an easy ride.
No one has taken delight at what has befallen Ireland of late, but in one corner of London the upside is there to be seen.
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