Post by earl on Dec 13, 2007 16:05:48 GMT
It's just a sprinkling at the moment and may never reach flood proportions, but Tadhg Kennelly believes the number of elite Gaelic football players moving to the AFL will increase significantly.
Kennelly will begin his eighth season with the Swans next year and, while he wasn't the first to move to Australia, he has established a trend as several AFL clubs scour Ireland to sign young amateur Gaelic footballers to professional contracts. One of the latest to arrive is Kennelly's new flatmate, Brendan Murphy.
Kennelly said the lure for Gaelic footballers was "huge", and while the number coming to Australia had grown, there have been several who have rejected offers.
"There has been probably 20 that have been offered [contracts] in the last eight years since I've been here and nobody really knew about them," he said.
"There's been players from the stronger counties, and they decide not to come because they have an opportunity to win an All-Ireland medal. I wouldn't be surprised if there's not 20 players here in the next two years.
"It's not a flood of players. A flood of players are going to England to play soccer, a flood of players are playing rugby union, that's a flood.
"It's not a huge drama at the moment. There's 10 players here but in two to three years' time, there could be 30-plus here.
"The problem is we're taking the best players from Ireland, and that's going to affect the game [there] in the future. That doesn't sit too pretty with me. The last thing I want to do is to see the GAA [Gaelic Athletic Association], or the game itself, suffer.
"Two or three times a day there are stories about it back home, asking what the GAA is going to do about it.
"They are probably going to bring in some policy and get players to sign contracts. Recently, they have set up a players' association, and the Government is funding $5 million to give to players. So it's the beginning of an era in Gaelic football where players are going to be paid.
"But some agreement or some policy has to come to terms with the GAA and the AFL. They need each other.
"Both codes and both players want the game to be international, and that's where they are going to have to come up with agreement.
"I think the first thing they have to do is a get a relationship back going with the GAA and the AFL. It's very sour at the moment because of the international rules, and they are not going to be able to go forward."
Talks early this year between the two codes failed to refloat the international rules series, which was last played in 2006 when it ended in controversy with several violent, on-field incidents.
Sydney's recruitment manager Rick Barham said because of the delicate situation which exists, when it came to chasing Irish youngsters, his club did "drop off a little bit because of the politics involved", and at the moment was "just treading lightly".
Kennelly spoke at the announcement of Murphy being awarded the Ron Barassi Scholarship, which was originally set up for Kennelly so he could pursue an education as well as an Australian football career.
"In 1998, the AFL started junior Test matches with the GAA, and we saw that as a bit of an opportunity to tap into that market," Barham said.
"In 1998, I saw Tadhg play for the Irish. I put a proposal to the club but it's a very expensive exercise bringing kids out from the other side of the world.
"Through Basil Sellers and the Ron Barassi Scholarship, we got together and formalised a program that we thought could help make it a lot easier for these kids.
"Part of that scholarship - the kids - if they didn't make it, they still could go back to Ireland as better people and with a degree and a tertiary education."
Kennelly will begin his eighth season with the Swans next year and, while he wasn't the first to move to Australia, he has established a trend as several AFL clubs scour Ireland to sign young amateur Gaelic footballers to professional contracts. One of the latest to arrive is Kennelly's new flatmate, Brendan Murphy.
Kennelly said the lure for Gaelic footballers was "huge", and while the number coming to Australia had grown, there have been several who have rejected offers.
"There has been probably 20 that have been offered [contracts] in the last eight years since I've been here and nobody really knew about them," he said.
"There's been players from the stronger counties, and they decide not to come because they have an opportunity to win an All-Ireland medal. I wouldn't be surprised if there's not 20 players here in the next two years.
"It's not a flood of players. A flood of players are going to England to play soccer, a flood of players are playing rugby union, that's a flood.
"It's not a huge drama at the moment. There's 10 players here but in two to three years' time, there could be 30-plus here.
"The problem is we're taking the best players from Ireland, and that's going to affect the game [there] in the future. That doesn't sit too pretty with me. The last thing I want to do is to see the GAA [Gaelic Athletic Association], or the game itself, suffer.
"Two or three times a day there are stories about it back home, asking what the GAA is going to do about it.
"They are probably going to bring in some policy and get players to sign contracts. Recently, they have set up a players' association, and the Government is funding $5 million to give to players. So it's the beginning of an era in Gaelic football where players are going to be paid.
"But some agreement or some policy has to come to terms with the GAA and the AFL. They need each other.
"Both codes and both players want the game to be international, and that's where they are going to have to come up with agreement.
"I think the first thing they have to do is a get a relationship back going with the GAA and the AFL. It's very sour at the moment because of the international rules, and they are not going to be able to go forward."
Talks early this year between the two codes failed to refloat the international rules series, which was last played in 2006 when it ended in controversy with several violent, on-field incidents.
Sydney's recruitment manager Rick Barham said because of the delicate situation which exists, when it came to chasing Irish youngsters, his club did "drop off a little bit because of the politics involved", and at the moment was "just treading lightly".
Kennelly spoke at the announcement of Murphy being awarded the Ron Barassi Scholarship, which was originally set up for Kennelly so he could pursue an education as well as an Australian football career.
"In 1998, the AFL started junior Test matches with the GAA, and we saw that as a bit of an opportunity to tap into that market," Barham said.
"In 1998, I saw Tadhg play for the Irish. I put a proposal to the club but it's a very expensive exercise bringing kids out from the other side of the world.
"Through Basil Sellers and the Ron Barassi Scholarship, we got together and formalised a program that we thought could help make it a lot easier for these kids.
"Part of that scholarship - the kids - if they didn't make it, they still could go back to Ireland as better people and with a degree and a tertiary education."