Gaelic games in the Middle East finding new home away from home in Abu Dhabi

The first GAA World Games held in the Middle East exposes a global appeal for traditional Irish sports, writes John McAuley, and teams from UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia have answered the call.

Ireland’s Paul Conroy, left, will not be in Abu Dhabi this weekend but the top Gaelic football and hurling athletes from the Middle East will be in action. Oliver McVeigh / Corbis

Initially, Abu Dhabi may seem a slightly incongruous setting for the inaugural Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) World Games, but on closer inspection it appears to be just the right spot.

The emirate’s association with GAA extends back to the early 1990s and, since 2008, Etihad Airways has sponsored the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, but this weekend it hosts the newest addition to the GAA calendar when almost 30 teams from across the globe compete at Zayed Sports City in the traditional Irish sports of Gaelic football and hurling.

Part of the GAA’s globalisation, which has already taken the games to Australia and America, the Middle East represents an obvious progression in its expansion. After all, GAA in this region is not just surviving, but thriving.

“Whatever happens this weekend, we’re writing our own piece of history,” said James Kennedy, chairman of the Middle East County Board, which governs GAA in the region, and a member of the Bahrain-based Arabian Celts club.

“The GAA was founded in Thurles, County Tipperary, in 1884 and now, in Abu Dhabi, 28 teams from five continents will be coming to play in the first ever GAA World Games. I think our founding fathers would approve.”

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Although the Gaelic games in the Middle East stretch back more than three decades, it was only with the introduction of the regional league five years go that they really began to blossom.

Since then, nine teams has become 56, encompassing the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, while two years ago the expansion prompted the formation of the Middle East County Board, a body ratified by the GAA Headquarters at Croke Park, Ireland.

On Friday, about 2,000 people play competitively in the Middle East, with 11 clubs participating in the league. Proof, indeed, that the games’ most recently formed county board has been integral to the sports’ growth throughout the region.

“It really has,” said Paddy Darcy, the board’s secretary, who alongside Kennedy set up the Middle East League in 2009.

“It lent a lot of credibility to what we were doing both locally in the Middle East and back home in Croke Park. The league and the country board are now working hand-in-hand to progress GAA.”

That much is evident. It is a long way from Tipperary or Tyrone, Dublin or Donegal, Cork or Kerry – traditional GAA hotbeds – yet all around the Arabian Gulf, clubs are developing the games in unlikely locales.

Oman GAA, the Middle East County Board’s youngest club, is a case in point. Founded less than three years ago, at the World Games this weekend its members make up the bulk of the Middle East national team, and also have men’s and women’s sides participating.

“I’m extremely proud,” said Steph McQuaid, its chairperson. “Shocked, as well. Set up simply to introduce Omani nationals to GAA, we now have people from all over the world, although more Omanis than any other nationality. It’s phenomenal, really.”

At the last count, Oman GAA comprised 23 different nationalities – if one place conveys the global appeal of the GAA, it is here.

“When someone new comes to the club we say ‘what nationality are you?’ ” McQuaid said. “Then it’s ‘oh, great, we haven’t got one of you yet’.”

The growth of the sport does have its challenges. Facilities can be difficult to locate, funding hard to come by and, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where Naomh Alee Riyadh reside as the longest-running club in the Middle East, a mixed-sex club can encounter its own complications.

Obviously, sponsorship is key to the development of the games. The Middle East League receives support from, among others, Etihad Airways and O’Neills – the Irish sports company – and individual clubs are typically backed by established brands in their respective countries. For example, in the UAE, Etihad Airways and McGettigan’s Irish Pub sponsor Abu Dhabi Na Fianna, while Dubai Duty Free help fund Dubai Celts.

“We’re extremely fortunate to have a number of sponsors,” said Trevor Buckley, the Abu Dhabi Na Fianna chairman. “It can be quite costly for players, in terms of travel and the expenditure through that. There’s a huge effort made by teams to make the league successful. The sacrifices are great, but the rewards are plenty.”

Typically, a large part of the GAA’s attraction is what goes on away from the pitch, where the Irish diaspora congregate, meet like-minded compatriots and even network for jobs.

“There’s a great social element around it, especially at the end of every tournament,” said Darcy, who also represents Dubai Celts. “Football and hurling are quite ferocious at times, because we play each other so frequently and build up a little bit of rivalry, but everything’s forgotten at the final whistle.”

“It definitely forms the social fulcrum,” Buckley said, “making the transition from Ireland to the UAE, or wherever in the Middle East, a lot easier.

“We’ve been fortunate that, while the unfortunate circumstances in Ireland have forced people to emigrate and seek jobs elsewhere, it has helped the GAA grow exponentially here.”

Yet, as Oman GAA and other clubs around the region can attest, and as the World Games proves this weekend, the games boast a truly global appeal.

“It’s a real home from home for Irish expats, but we don’t confine ourselves to the Irish community,” Darcy said. “That’d be very narrow-minded. It’s an open door, we try to bring everyone. They see the game, want to find out more about it and then we hook into them.”

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