LONDON LIVES: For the love of the game

For many living in London the GAA breathes life into a community far beyond the field of play. The organisation represents more than the sum of its sporting and cultural parts, binding the generations of old with those coming through.
Emigration and the search for employment may have forced the hand of many players across the water, but London GAA’s recent achievements means more than a mere run of wins. Like at home, playing for the team means not just representing your county and your colour, but the people behind it.
For Butlersbridge native Lorcan Mulvey, who lined out amongst the forwards in green and white last Saturday, the Cavan-London match was a “fairytale” tie.
A key component of Paul Coggins’ squad in recent years, Lorcan scored seven points against Mayo in what was billed as the first globalised Connacht GAA football final earlier this year.
At the weekend he raised his Championship tally by a further three against a team he had served with distinction at senior level for eight-years before moving to London for work.
Speaking to The Anglo-Celt prior to the match, Lorcan said no matter which county emerged victorious, it was the sport that would be the main winner in the long run.
Living in Brixton and working in the city as a site manager with property development company Berkley Homes, it wasn’t long after arriving in London that Lorcan linked up with his current club, Fulham Irish.

Passion
He sees it not just as an important step in having an outlet for his passion for Gaelic games, but also as an easy way to meet people sharing similar interests in a sprawling metropolis.
“I never exactly wanted to leave Cavan or the ‘Bridge,” he told The Celt. “I was out of work for about two weeks when I left, but I couldn’t afford hanging around.
“London’s a nice city, there’s a huge Irish community here. Once you join a GAA club you have 40 buddies straight away.”
Now there two years, he sees more than ever the importance of the GAA in bringing people together.
“When you’re at home you don’t maybe realise it as much, it’s only when you go away you realise how strong GAA as an organisation is. It goes back to the very basics, of getting to know people,” he said.
Lorcan believes a lot of people living in London might not still be there if it wasn’t for the connections formed through GAA.
“It’s the kind of city you’d get lost in easy enough if you just didn’t have someone to call round to, or chat to the odd time,” he added.

Return home
London’s Championship endeavours came with the added bonus of providing members of Paul Coggins’ squad an extra opportunity to return home. Long after the TV cameras switched off and the commentator’s attention wandered elsewhere, the London players could still be found out on the pitch and in the stands - speaking with fans, friends and family.
“For a lot of the lads these opportunities to get home mean that bit more. Otherwise, they might only get back once or twice in the year with work. It brought the GAA back to what it’s supposed to be there for, for people to enjoy, people to socialise through, it’s a medium for people to meet.”
He feels that GAA in London is more than just the London GAA. While the team may be broad in the representative sense, at club level a sense of locality prevails, from underage right the way up to senior level and in the day-to-day running of the clubs.

Pride
“The work being done at local and club level over here is incredible. The older guys came over here in tougher times than we did, I suppose when education levels wouldn’t have been as high. Some of the younger crew coming up have masters and degrees coming out their ears but even still they can’t get work at home.
“But the important part is that people stick together. I think the bit of success London’s had has helped the cause. It’s definitely promoted the game here and there’s a buzz not just throughout the team now but also the supporters”, said Lorcan.
Chairman of Dulwich Harps GAA Club, Laragh native Tom Denning agrees. While his loyalties were firmly in the blue and white camp on Saturday come 3pm, he is proud of how London as a team has fared in this year’s Championship.
A resident in the city since 1958, within his first week of living there Tom had joined up with a club in Wimbledon called the Green Roosters.
He played club football with them until family commitments called time on his career. However, in later years, his relationship has developed with Dulwich Harps GAA, to whom he now acts as the club chairman.
A former chairman of the London minor board for many years and a current delegate to the London county board, he delights in the development of the game at underage level right across the city.
His own charges at Dulwich boast an impressive record here on Irish soil, having not lost a competitive match in over 14 years.
“At that time, when I came over here first, emigration meant people were leaving Ireland in their thousands. Coming to a place like London and joining up with the football it made it that bit easier to settle in. It meant that very quickly you met up with your own people. You went to all the dances, you were involved in other bits as well,” said Tom.

Hopes
Well-known in the Irish community, not just for his involvement in Gaelic games, Tom is also as a co-founding member of the Southwark Irish Festival, along with current president of the Cavan Association London Ben Cahill from Maghera.
Attracting upwards of 10,000 people in each of its 22 years, the festival, much like the GAA in London, proves a focal point for the Irish in the city. Tom hopes one day that young players native to the city will at some stage begin feeding into the senior panel there instead of feeding from abroad. While in Ireland emigration has decimated teams at rural level, in London Tom says, they have their own problems to contend with - the attraction of so many other sports vying for the attentions of young up-and-coming players is just one such concern.
“The roots are well established here. Things have come a long way. We’ve had young and talented players follow a career instead with professional football teams like Charlton, Millwall and Crystal Palace. You can’t blame them. When I came over I joined up for the love of the sport and that’s what the GAA is about.
“But we keep going. The clubs keep doing what we’re doing and the players still come, and get games get played. It’s for the love of the game.”