Raising The GAA Banner In Bavaria By Gerry Mc Inerney

Ennistymon emigrant, Owen Mc Guire could be best described as your journey man sports man. Work and his travels have taken him to far away places and from indoctrinating the Clare diaspora and those of Irish ancestry in Chicago, he is now spreading the Gaelic games gospel in the Northern Bavaria region of Germany. Owen has been instrumental in setting up the St. Kilian's Hurling and Football Club in Wuerzburg, a town with a population of 120,000, and the team, which competes in European competition, has a truly international cast.

Established only last April, the club has thirty registered members, sixteen of which are German, nine are Irish, three are from America and there's one apiece from England and Trinidad & Tobago. "St. Kilian's aim is to have a strong, healthy, vibrant, self sustaining, socially active club involved with the regular training and coaching of players in hurling and football regardless of nationality.

We intend to present teams, in both sporting disciplines, that will compete successfully ", admitted Owen. That's the immediate goal, but what long term ? "Hopefully, on an annual basis, we will have teams representing the Unterfranken area of Germany in European competition. We also plan to organise GAA sporting 'fests' within Wuerburg where teams from Europe and Ireland would come together and play competitively over extended weekends", he disclosed. When the club, in German terminology 'verein', was formed they had to comply with the rigorous standards that German law requires for an autonomous sporting club. "It was realised early on of the necessity that German be the principle language of club activity. Availing of modern technology, particularly web site promotion HYPERLINK http://www.stkilians.de, self learning CD-roms, personal player mentoring and video tools were vital in attracting and keeping new members", added Owen. To help promote awareness and attract new members, the local newspaper 'Main post' writes a monthly update on the club's activities and TV interviews are scheduled to be broadcast in early August.

While Owen has a dual mandate that of Club Chairman and team trainer, John Mc Sherry from Borris Olleigh also doubles up in his role as manager and PRO. Another active member is Matthew Doyle from Carlow whose grandmother is Conneely from the Kildysart area. When the club was in its infancy, they received great encouragement and support from several quarters. Feargal Marren from Newmarket and Liscannor native, Tom Curry were both very helpful in acquiring and transporting hurleys and sliothars to Wuerzburg.

Wuerzburg is a small university town that has a long and ancient connection with Ireland . It was Saint Kilian himself from Mullagh in county Cavan who converted the town and all its inhabitants over 1,000 years ago to the Catholic religion. Statues to this great Irish man are still located on all major tourist sites around the town. The idealistic goals of St Kilians are, Owen said, similar to the aspirations of the GAA in Ireland. They are dedicated to promoting the games of hurling, football, handball, rounders and camogie and in supporting activities which enrich the culture and strengthen pride in the community the club serves.

So it became a common sight every Saturday afternoon in the Talavera to see four to six able bodied men practising hurling. Some of the difficulty in it becoming a more widespread sport is the amount of time and dedication required to attain a level of competency whereby the participant can really feel like he has 'mastered' the skills. None the less the St Kilians members persevered. Owen said the team trains twice a week with developing the skills and conditioning the players the main focus. Through involvement in the club they intend to educate all members and the general public on how important a part the GAA sports and organisation was in sustaining Irish cultural identity during colonial times.

The social side of the club is just as interesting. 'Field trips' to genuine Irish pubs in Aschaffenburg, particularly The Burren Bar which is owed by Gerry Ginnane from Shannon and 0'Reilly's in Frankfurt to watch live Gaelic games from Ireland. "Currently there is an upsurge in the amount of clubs that are being formed on mainland Europe. There are close on twenty clubs from westerly Barcelona to Munich in the South and Helsinki in the North. In the southern German area there are four strong teams - Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich and Wuerzburg. "This has come about due to high ambition and motivation levels of all pioneer members and genuine support of and co-operation among all clubs. Other notable European clubs include Amsterdam, Paris , The Hague, Rennes and Guernsey ", added Owen.

A selection of European football players are travelling to Dublin for a week in September to represent ' da Continent ' against teams from Britain, the US and Australia. No doubt, there may be one or two from the Wuerzburg club.

Anybody who is interested in getting involved should contact the web-site or Owen at owen.mcguire@stkilians.de.

Back e-mail : editor@clarechampion.ie

Aus: Clare Champion vom 21.7.2002