Quiz-nuts Roasting on an Open Fire

In case you missed it, tonight will be the very last Belgium GAA event of 2012, the Christmas quiz in De Valeras. Contact the lovely Christine O' Gorman (belgiumgaa.camogie@gmail.com) if you want a last-minute registration for your team. 

That's it - no more end-of-season dinners, no more Race Nights, no more Fr. Ted Céilis and no more St. Patrick's Day Festivals. 

Until 2013, that is, when it starts all over again with the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the European Parliament on 30 January (tbc). Watch out here, on the Belgium GAA+Friends FB page, on Twitter and in any emails you receive from the code officers in the coming weeks for more information, as you will need to submit your details to get a pass for the Parliament.

During the meeting the 2013 committee will be elected. Any club member is entitled to put their name forward for any of the positions on the committee.

I have listed them below for your information.  Those in red are committee members who have indicated that they will not stand for re-election in 2013.  As you can see there are alot of positions which need to be filled!  

Chair - Aonghus O Muirtheartaigh

Secretary - Jane Brennan

Assistant Secretary - Irish Club Liaison Officer - Caoimhe Ní Shuilleabháin 

Treasurer - Oliver Swann

Men's Football - Colin Byrne

Ladies Football - Anna Bates

Camogie - Christine O'Gorman

Hurling - Shane Ryan

Equipment Officer - Phil Cushen

Social Secretary - Maria Brosnan

Public Relations Officer - Sylvia McCarthy

If you are interested in any of these roles, and why wouldn't you be, please contact Jane Brennan (secretary.belgium.europe@gaa.ie) no later than 10th January 2013 to declare your interest.

Being a committee member is a rewarding role, and this year's committee deserves its just rewards. It is always good to have fresh faces and fresh ideas, but the beauty of a revolving committee is that the old committee members are still around to give support and help where needed. Between them and the rest of the reliable club members who are willing to provide their time and expertise, there is no excuse for 2013 not to be as productive and prosperous for the club.

Please click here to see some descriptions of the various roles - these descriptions were made by the officers themselves and the roles are constantly evolving.

Finally, if you have made it this far, you deserve a little flashback on Belgium GAA in 2012. Yes - it's the little slideshow that could (or could not, depending on where you were on the night of the end-of-season dinner). Enjoy, good luck tonight, happy Christmas and see you all in the New Year!!

2012: A Belgium GAA Odyssey from Sylvia McCarthy

Fr. Ted Ceili - Friday October 5 2012!

The Return of the Wild Geese

On Saturday 8 September 2012, the current batch of Belgium GAA footballers will face their biggest threat yet: a conglomerate of past players, former comrades and old friends. The All-Stars have challenged the Belgian men to a duel on home (astro)turf. In the words of organiser Shane Griffin, the All-Stars “will return to Brussels and take on the current pretenders to their former shirts. It’s a time for anyone who enjoyed playing in the red and grey to show the 2012 team exactly what they are missing”.

The winning Belgium Shield team in Limerick, November 2011 (photo by Caoimhe Ní Shuilleabháin)

For many, Brussels is a temporary home. People arrive with a set departure date in mind, but this is usually adjusted and postponed by months or even years. While the unofficial capital of the EU has other endearing aspects in the form of its vibrant nightlife, culture and location, the GAA club is a strong welcoming presence for anyone fresh off the boat.

Oliver O’ Callaghan, who relocated to London in 2010, points out that the club acts as so much more than an athletic endeavour: “It is a social hub, a support network, a link to home and Gaelic games, and above all, the source of instant yet long-term friendships”. Other non-Irish Brussels experiences notwithstanding, he says “I never get tired of reminiscing on the adventures I undertook with this club and good times that surrounded it”.

When club members eventually move on, they do so with heavy hearts and numerous leaving parties, rarely passing up the chance to pay a return visit. The Eagles could just as easily have been referring to Brussels when they sang “You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave”.

GAA in Europe provides an added twist for home-grown players: distances between clubs mean that tournaments across Europe are played on a monthly basis. Brussels-based Mayo man, Olof Gill, notes, “I've always been struck by the phrases many players repeat when they come back from European tournaments - 'a great day for the parish' after a win, 'a bad day for the parish' after a loss. It's not a coincidence that so many players use this word - it's a marvellous validation of the community aspect of the club.”

O’ Callaghan was one of the first to sign up to Shane Griffin’s All-Star experiment, the first of its kind in mainland Europe. “I thought Griff had an organisational nightmare on his hands, akin to herding cats. But it is a testament to both his efficiency and the affection retained by former players for the Belgian club that it has come together with a minimum of fuss or hassle.”

This heart-warming spirit of fellowship is overshadowed by a dark and murky policy of Social Media Sparring. Even Muhammad Ali, godfather of sporting trash talk, never anticipated such sharp sartorial wordplay as “The All-Stars are the football equivalent of the Ugg boot - out of ideas, out of luck, and past their sell-by-date” or “You are the human equivalent of sandals with socks: hideous, never in style, woefully uncool, and only ever accepted in parts of mainland Europe”. This is expected to accelerate in the lead-up to Saturday’s match.

In a hushed tone tinged with disapproval, Gill confides: “It saddens me to report that the Belgium GAA “wild geese” are, in fact, nothing more than a hotchpotch motley crew of chancers, bounders and knaves. It is a cause of great disappointment to me how these former greats have let themselves go since they left the parish.” Nevertheless, some may say that the All-Stars are at a competitive advantage: with nothing to prove and an in-depth knowledge of their opposing numbers, they have the power to shake the current team to their very core. Many of those returning on Saturday have a history with the club that goes back to the one and only European Championship won by the Belgian men, in 2008, and there is an element of “We did it then, can you do it now?” in the minds of the club veterans.

The ties that bind past members to Belgium GAA should not be underestimated: although strips will be torn from both sides, they will be torn as a test of the strength of the team that will go on to represent the club in the first Pan-European football tournament in Copenhagen the following weekend. Copenhagen will also play host to the first ladies football equivalent of 2012, where the women of Belgium will battle to maintain their four-year grip on the European Ladies Football Championship.

As for the match between Belgium GAA and the All-Stars, the endlessly quotable O’ Callaghan imagines that “on the day it will be a lot like the scene at the end of The Quiet Man - no quarter will be given, we will have a real ding-dong battle, and leave it all out there on the field: but at the end of the day, we will be singing songs and raising glasses, toasting the continued success of Belgium GAA”.

Kickoff: Saturday 8 September, 15h00, VUB, Brussels, Belgium. 

Match to be preceded by ladies football practice game at 13h00. 

On Sunday 9 September, Belgium GAA sponsors, De Valeras, will host a barbecue for Belgium GAA and show the All-Ireland Hurling Final between Galway and Kilkenny.

Belgium GAA hosts 1st European Cúl Camp

The first guest post by Martin and Paul (plus photos by Jane):

On 2^nd June 2012, Belgium GAA held its first ever Cul camp. The camp was held over two days at the excellent venue that is the VUB.

For a first-time camp with any club, numbers are always going to be an issue, however that was not the case in Belgium with over fifty kids participating over the two days. 

The camp was brilliantly organised by all involved, and the work put in by the organisers, parents, and club players was phenomenal. With any outdoor event weather is always the enemy but the Saturday got off to a great start with the high numbers attending and a dry morning, the kids were divided up into three age groups, and got straight to work with their different coaches. 

Before we knew it time flew by, the sun emerged, and the kids had dispensed every last drop of energy they had. The day finished out with a penalty shoot out, but not before all the kids showed off their best hurling skills. 

The Sunday in contrast to the sweltering heat from the day before, was a washout. The VUB looked more like a swimming pool than a rugby pitch, and people were questioning would it go ahead at all. 

Due to water damage, there are no photos from Sunday

The will to play football won out and 30 brave soldiers dawned their boots, gloves, armbands, and swim suits for what could only be described as an aquatic game of football. 

The camp was a huge success and everybody involved should be hugely proud of how it turned out. The next generation of Belgium GAA stars are in safe hands. 

At this opportunity we would like to thank every person involved throughout the two days and the weeks beforehand for their planning and organising. Who knows, maybe next year a week long camp could be possible.

What would we have done without her?

Back-slapping: Race Night 2012

A wise Belgium GAA man once referenced an even wiser woman (actually he referenced her a number of times, but she is very wise, so that's alright). This wise woman stood tall, with her hand on her hip, and spoke about Belgium GAA as a club that was developing into a community, a home away from home that looks after its members and acts as a source of support, solace and friendship, in good times and in bad. 

In good times, we all know how easy it is to slap each other on the back, sit back with a satisfied smile and talk about how great we are. Back in 2010, the wise man, who needs no introduction here, once noted that "The club is living in the good times. It’s never been so good in fact. Every new player who crosses our path is grabbed by the furore and throws themselves right in...Maybe we should just kick back and enjoy these moments but if we were to do that, we would stop driving on. If we stop driving on, we’ll slow down and lose ground. Building from our position of strength is key". 

People come to Belgium. Some stay, some leave, some are injured/have babies. Times don't necessarily change for better or worse, but they change and the club and each team within it has to adapt accordingly. 

One thing that never changes is the need to fundraise. This year, we have been lucky enough to find a permanent training ground in the VUB (scroll down for maps), but this luxury comes at a cost. The fundraising strategy for Belgium GAA has been one big huge blowout at the start of the year, with the St. Patrick's Day Festival, held in conjunction with FC Irlande, followed by individual code fundraisers. This past weekend saw an number of events take place that demonstrate investment in the club, in its economic and social development. First off, the Race Night, held by the footballers, on Saturday 2nd June, in De Valera's Irish Bar (co-sponsor of Belgium GAA):

Click here to access the programme in all its glory

They say that if you remember the 60s, you weren't really there. The same can be said for the now-annual Race Night which, in the steady hands of Colin "Ringmaster" Byrne, has become one of the most lucrative fundraising developments for the club. 

Sleep dancing with a mic: a new Colin Byrne speciality

The vast majority of the work was done in advance of the night itself, with horses bought and sold, sponsorship offered, programmes and posters printed, and hype raised. In 2011, the Race Night was held on a weeknight, which worked out well because everyone was there on time after work. This year, we took a chance on a Saturday, which meant that everyone took their sweet time getting to Devs. Nonetheless, as the evening passed, bets increased, odds were bounding all over the place, and MC Church, perched on his stage with crutch and microphone in hand, became more and more loquacious.

The 2011 betting timetable ended with a pre-recorded Belgium GAA Champion Chase:

If you haven't watched this video yet, you are missing out in a big way. Go on...click it!!

The 2012 betting timetable also had a pre-recorded video competition, The Belgium GAA Kick Off, featuring Belgium GAA's Kicking Kings. Update (video added):

It was one of those nights that showed off De Valera's as the perfect location for such an occasion: with TVs on which to watch the races (and a couple of matches), space for bettors to rush the stage to make bets and collect money, and plenty of helpful bar staff to help drown the sorrows of those who managed to bet on every single race and not win a cent. 

With an estimated profit of €2,000 going to the club, the gentlemen of Belgium GAA did well. They won't be sitting back, needless to say, but can spend the summer running around the pitch in VUB, enjoying the astroturf, changing rooms with showers and toilets, and even floodlights, safe in the knowledge that they have made the future of the club a little brighter. Thanks lads!

We train at No. 6 (rugby pitch) - click the maps for more details.

Better late than never: Guernsey 2011

Note from the editor: Last year, I received this article about the football tournament in Guernsey for submission to a newsletter that never came about. It's about time that the article was published in a public forum and what better time than the day before the first tournament of the year and the day before the writer plays his last tournament for Belgium GAA. Read on for some valuable insights from Shane Griffin. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.

Time was when travelling for a game of football meant piling into the brother's car, stopping for a Lucozade and tumbling out again long before the limbs had stiffened. These days, it’s an overnight stop in St. Malo, ferry at dawn and a seven-hour drive from Brussels, just in case the weekly duels with Cotter, Laffan and Church left any question marks over commitment.

The trip to Guernsey was my first opportunity to play Championship for Belgium, and I was looking forward to the competitive step up. We were playing our second tournament under Davey’s ‘half-press’ system, and in the four weeks since Leuven we’d become a lot more comfortable with the tactics. As we watched the first round of games however, and mingled with a few opposition players on the sideline, it became obvious that the other teams had picked up on our system too. As we prepared for our first game, against Luxembourg, a bold decision was taken to abandon the new tactics and measure how our opposition would react.

Lux had the look of a team who expected to win, and didn’t seem thrown by our out-and-out attack from the throw-in. Rather, it was us who struggled to impose ourselves on the game, and we soon began to slip behind. At half time the decision was taken to revert back to our original plan, but time began to go against us and we went down to Lux by three points.

Bowed but not broken, we knew our next game against Jersey was as much about avoiding the wooden spoon as it was about finishing top of the group. Pressure was on. It’s the mark of a man when he can hit a few wides and still try something audacious with seconds on the clock- Timmy punted the ball over from well-near half way, we took a one-point win, and our tournament was back on track.

Next up were the Hague. I don’t need to waste time here embellishing on our rivalry with the Hague. Well, we knew that it would be the ultimate test of our system. They had a few big lads in the middle, Danny up front, and a couple of other solid performers to keep us occupied.

It didn’t start well- the scores just weren’t coming. The one thing you need with a defensive system is an effective counter-attack. The vast majority of our squad were playing in their first or second pan-Euro, and for all that men stepped up that day, there simply weren’t enough forwards to come over on the boat. The Hague picked off their scores, we were weak in attack, and we went down in the end by a fairly decent margin.

Our fourth game, and final match of the group, was against the tournament hosts and favourites. We were sent on to a back pitch to play them, and I started from the bench. Shane Ryan, who had manfully stepped into goals for the day, was given a run outfield and he played with all the joy and abandon of a man who’d been confined to six yards for four games. He snatched a goal, the points were coming, and it was game on.

When Davey Barrett scored a penalty just before half-time to put us ahead, an impressive scalp began to occupy our minds. Both teams went hell for leather in the second half. I was given a run with ten minutes to go and unfortunately could do little to stop Guernsey scoring a decisive goal. It was one of those occasion where, given my limited options, the best course of action would probably have been to give away a tactical free. We had the opportunity to win it with another penalty, but it wasn’t to be. Group over- just one last ‘bronze final’ against Lux left to play.

3/4^th place play-offs are often scoffed at, but not this one. We’d both probably travelled to Guernsey with legitimate hopes of contesting the final, and there had been a bit of handbags in the first game- late tackles, cheap digs, that sort of thing. From the get-go, the tension was pronounced and the stakes were bizarrely high for such an occasion. One of their players gave me some lip, I hit him a shoulder in return. He shot me a (tame) headbutt when we came together at half-time and from a simmering first fifteen it all bubbled up.

Davey was obviously looking for a bit of an excuse not just to settle a few scores but also, I think, to focus us on coming away from the tournament with something more than 1 win in 5 games. As we turned for the second half, it was game on. Sparks flew, scores came and went, but after 15 minutes in the trenches we came away with a precious win and when the final whistle was blown the two teams left the field as best of friends again.  

Something should be said for how Guernsey put the tournament together. The pitch was pristine, the dinner was gorgeous and they even collected us in cars from the ferry- a really classy touch. They fully deserved their victory in the final too. From Guernsey, it was on to Limerick. European glory? Possibly. More importantly though, another date with Lux, and the Hague, and Guernsey, and that’s as good a reason for flights home as any. 

Go forth and infiltrate

A startlingly warm and sunny Saturday morning in March saw a number of Belgium ladies heading to the Parisian suburbs, to meet with their European cohorts: a well-dressed Luxembourg squad, a lone Zurich ranger and the Paris camogie players, able hosts of the first European camogie workshop. This two-day workshop, 18 months in the making, was the result of organisation between the European County Board and the Camogie Association, and well worth the wait. Three trainers came over from Ireland for the occasion: Caroline Murray (Galway), Siobhán Ryan (Tipperary) and Noel Wilson (Wexford). They saw what they had to deal with, and adapted quickly to the situation.

The standards of camogie in Europe vary from those who played in Ireland from an early age to those who just recently picked up a hurley for the first time. Originally planned as a coaching workshop, they reformulated it to suit new and rusty players and coaches of new and rusty players. No more will we dither over the whys and wherefores of camogie: we can now answer questions about the right size hurley and how it should be held (basic questions , but ones that are pretty relevant and usually difficult to answer). We know the best way to plan a training session and how to conduct a good camogie-based warm-up. We have new, fun and challenging drills in mind. And we have books and brochures to back up all this knowledge. Go on, try us!

We learned aspects about our own games that will make such a difference during the coming season. For example, this writer now knows that she is a left-handed hurler who plays off her right side, but that she can use both sides to her advantage in a match. We know about not pigeon-holing any player into one position for all time, by playing games where all players rotate positions and diversify their abilities. This will make such a difference when tournaments come around. We have all experienced days when one or two players get injured and the rest of the team is confounded by how to fill their positions. Adaptability has to be the name of the game – we don’t have an endless stream of players, so we need to cultivate the ones that we do have.

The issue of recruitment was a subject for discussion throughout the weekend. We discussed how to promote the game: with St. Patrick’s Day or other national day demonstrations, through the media, or by “infiltration” of other sports clubs. The enthusiasm for camogie was clear among all participants, so it can’t be so difficult to extend this passion to other like-minded people back in our own countries. This exchange of ideas between club representatives was not only enlightening, but also a great way to get to know other players. In Europe, we have to leave rivalries on the pitch if we want to ensure the development of Gaelic sports, so interclub communication and understanding is essential.

One of the greatest pleasures of the weekend was appreciating the talent of the trainers, even just during a puck around during the lunch break. A good player is one thing, but a good player who can teach others has a skill that should be shared and appreciated wherever they go.

Thanks again to the trainers, the hosts and the organisers of the camogie weekend. Roll on the 2012 season and see you all in Den Haag in April!