Back to Swope - Footy Time Again

Finally a day that was not thirty-below and the ground relatively snow free. But it was still cold as hell and I froze my Irish-nutz off taking these photos, I can only imagine how it was for the lads on the field.

The sun struggled to come out and did little to warm the air, which made for tough breathing for the players running around the pitch.

The lads hadn't lost much of their pace and skill after the long winter, a few more sessions like this and we'll have all the rust removed. And you know what they say about breaking the seal: once you go you just have to keep on going.

Breakfast at Browne's

Another tasty breakfast this morning at Browne's Irish Market & Deli.

It was a wee bit cold, but this smiling Paddy gave us a warm welcome.

The gang at Browne's were very welcoming to us and even burned a small piece of turf to make it smell like a cold day in Ireland.

Mayo-man James Bradley joined some of the KCGAC players for a bite to eat. As the weather warms up we'll be seeing Mr. Bradley out on the field as a football coach.

International Rules Series

Back in the day when an Irishman won an all-expenses paid trip to Australia, courtesy of The Empire, it was not a thing to celebrate. Australia was one great big penal colony, Britain's problems sent to the far corners of the earth, never to return (until they started showing Neighbours on the BBC).

The exiled Irish brought with them their language, religion, funny last names, work-ethic, pasty white skin and their sports.

There is still plenty of debate as to the origins of Aussie Rules football, but just watch the game for a few minutes and you'll see plenty of similarities to Gaelic Football, and you just can't help but think; definitely a bit of Irish in that sport.

There have been compromised games between the Irish and the Australians in the past, but in 1998 this was organized into a series between the Gaelic Athletic Association and Australian Football League, called the International Rules Series.

It took place in Croke Park, Dublin in front of 22,000 people and it was probably raining. The series enjoyed great success in both countries and grew to the point where in 2006 the crowd was over 82,000 people, mostly because the sun came out.

Unfortunately, that year there was a wee bit of rough play on the pitch and the GAA postponed the 2007 series. It resumed again in Australia for 2008, but the future of the series is uncertain.

See below for some of the reasons for that decision. There is no sound, but something like this needs to be watched in pure silence!

In August 2009 when we were the guest of the Twin Cities GAA at their seven-a-side tournament they invited the local Aussie Rules Club: The Freeze. Their fitness and stamina was on another level compared to our lads, but our ball control and ability to score saw us as victors over The Freeze on the day. You could say we froze them out...

We have a club here in Kansas City called the KC Power and we might have to talk to them about a modified game of the International Rules.

Blog Hunting...Gaelic Style

I've been up early this morning and taken a nice wee walk around the Internet and here are some blogs I've come across to share with you. And if you find any cool blogs about Ireland and its culture, sports etc...please share them with us.

Dave's Football Blog
I thought I was the first man here from the KCGAC, but it looks like Murphy beat me to it!

Official GAA website from Ireland

Asian County Board
I didn't know Asia was made up of Irish counties, but you learn something new every day.

Seattle Hurling Blog
This is a part of the Seattle Gaels Men's Hurling website, quite funny too.

Check out this honorary Irishman


See, Irish news is not all doom and gloom


And now some serious clips on Ireland

The Full Irish

If you've ever been over to Ireland (or anywhere in the British Isles) you will hopefully have had the pleasure of a Full Irish (insert country here) Breakfast or just simply a big fry-up.

Depending on the geographic location and the actual establishment what you get on the plate will differ ever so slightly, but bacon, sausage, egg and tomato are the unifying ingredients. Some will add baked beans (love 'em), chips, mushrooms, black or white pudding, toast, soda farels, potato farels, brown bread. Whatever lands on your plate, you know it's going to be one hell of a hearty breakfast. The kind of food that could fuel a Gaelic sportsman all day.

We can't all have the good fortune of traveling to Ireland, so the good folks at Browne's Irish Market & Deli are going to save you the price of airfare and offer the full Irish breakfast at their store every Saturday leading up to March 17th (why such an arbitrary date I don't know?).

So, put on your favorite Irish themed shirt and head over for the best breakfast this side of biscuits and gravy and if you like you can even have a pint of Guinness while you are there and make it the real deal.

Photo Courtesy of FreshFishCreative

It's not about the game, it's about the winning

I know this is the complete opposite of what we were told when we are younger: it's not about winning, it's about playing, it's about being a team and the sheer enjoyment of playing the game.

Then you see a great big, shiny trophy like The Sam Maguire Cup and you realize they've been lying to you all along. It is about winning and winning feels GOOD (just look at the faces on those Kerry boys).

Since we started the club two years ago we've had our fair share of highs and lows on the field. We've been handed our collective arses and we've done a wee bit of Gaelic spanking ourselves.

So in the coming year I'm looking forward to being a winner, but also realizing that you can learn a lot about yourself in defeat. You learn from competing against better opponents to get better and stronger. And unlike games where everybody is a winner and you all go home with medals, in gaelic football you only get to go home with a bruised ego.

Photo via BBC Sports

Our share of the glory from summer 2009

A Little Gaelic Football and Hurling 101

This is not the best video, probably won't be up for a Sundance Award, 
but it'll give you an idea about Gaelic Football

A man from the New York Times was once asked to describe Hurling upon return
from a vacation in Ireland, his answer was short and to the point: "Like a cross between ice hockey and murder."

Here's a few clips of what not to do in Gaelic Games and if you do this in our club you're out.

A Few Action Shots from The Turkey Bowl 2009

The essential nut-huggers

He might be six-six, but look at that belly

Comstock closes down Degerald

The old ass-tackler move never fails

The boy Setanta...aka wee Desie

We had a great showing for our second annual Turkey Bowl over the Thanksgiving holiday. Luckily this year it was no where near as cold as last year when we played in the snow.

New Year...New Blog

New blog fresh out of the box for 2010, it even has new car smell...go on take a sniff.

Some events to look forward to this Spring:

We have plenty planned for 2010 and we want you to be a big part of it, whether you're on the sidelines cheering for us  and having a soda (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) or out on the field like some big wild Irish-American Celtic warrior.

We'll be marching in both the Brookside (March 13th) and Kansas City (March 17th) St. Patrick's Day parades, so get your green-on and join us

March 20th: Twin Cities pre-season friendly game

March 28th: KCGAC Sevens Tournament

April 14th: Mixing it up with the Gaelic football students down at Haskell University in Lawrence, KS

For a full list of dates and time, check out our website at www.kcgac.org