Sheffield’s first Gaelic football team has pledged to develop a youth squad in a bid to “connect more young people with their Irish heritage” and recruit players from outside the Irish diaspora.
Founded in 2017, St. Vincent’s GAA is one of six Gaelic football clubs in Yorkshire. The launch of its youth squad this summer will make it one of just three clubs in the region with a youth division — a move that according to the team will ensure its “sustainability and longevity”.
“Over the past few years it’s become really obvious that without a youth team being set up, clubs just won’t survive modern day GAA in Britain,” club secretary Michael McIvor told Sheffield Wire.
McIvor and club chairperson Niall Murphy started the squad with “just £150 worth of equipment”. The team now has 50 players across its men’s and women’s teams and a home ground on Warminster Road.
The club hopes that the introduction of a youth squad will allow Gaelic football to continue growing among second and third generation players, as well as those who have no ties to Ireland.
“We have players from Canada and South Africa as well as a lot of English players who just wanted to try something different,” said McIvor, who played for the Derry minor team before migrating to England.
The plan comes after York GAA, which was founded shortly before St Vincent’s, folded at the beginning of the last season.
“The same number of boys and girls are not coming over any more,” said Gaelic Games Council of Britain Chairperson Sean Hopkins. “There’s only a trickle now of what there used to be. For the game to continue it needs to be home-grown.”
Committee members of St Vincent’s met with the Gaelic council of Great Britain earlier this month to discuss the plan, which they hope to launch with a six-week training camp in the summer after staff have undergone all the necessary certifications.
Though the club said that the plan “is in its infancy”, 28-year-old teacher and player Sarah Carberry said that targeting primary schools in the area will be key.
“While we’re not going to see any gain on our senior teams now, in nine years time those kids will be playing seniors,” she said. “You’re more likely in primary school to not be in a sport yet — to not be committed already.”
Carberry, who is originally from Tyrone, runs an afterschool Gaelic programme and said the “uptake has been huge”.
St Vincent’s plan has been praised by Yorkshire Ladies Gaelic Football Association chair Kevin Cornelly, who said: “We can’t keep going to the same well.”
“From my own personal point of view the need to keep the culture and heritage going is very important,” he told Sheffield Wire. “It goes back to my mum and dad coming over here. And now I have two granddaughters who I want to be able to do this in 15 or 16 years’ time. It’s about keeping it going.”
Laoise-born LGFA secretary Rosie Phelan, who plays for Newcastle Upon Tyne, emphasised the community benefits of the sport.
“There are girls on our team who have moved in together and found out about job opportunities through each other,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for people to connect with their heritage and meet new people.”
“I’ve now got a community wherever I go,” echoed Carberry.
