KCGAC at Community America Ballpark

Not quite Croke Park, but the Kansas City Wizards let us take to the field after their game against Columbus Crew at Community America Ballpark. This is the biggest venue the KCGAC has played in to date and it was an amazing experience. 

The speed of the ball on a professional surface like that is something you can't understand until you've played on it yourself. That's no excuse for my lack of fitness, but Chr*#t it was hard going in that early summer heat. Made me feel all 32 of my years.

We all had a great day out there on Sunday at C.A.B. and a lot of the lads got there early to watch The Wizards in action. A big THANK YOU to Betsy Pollard and Chris Wyche for helping to make the day possible. And if they'll have us back, maybe we can turn this into an annual event and get all the Irish community out.

Jerron Taylor, James Taylor and Brad Gaughan...Brad in mid-air still not as tall a Big Taylor

The KCGAC easy to spot in the crowd

Craig and Jeanne Rohner, two of our greatest fans. They've watched us play in Little Rock, our home tournament, pub league, Ran the Wellie Race with us, shoveled snow at the Twin Cities game and here they are supporting us at The Wizards and they took most of these photos and videos. The KCGAC hearts U!

Big Ross on the ball

Ross Vs Teasdale...who gonna win

 Brad, Jake and Carl go for the ball

KCGAC Volunteers at The Wizards - May 15th

The KCGAC got up early on Saturday morning and headed out to Community America Ballpark to help with The Wizards inaugural Soccer Day 5k to benefit Autism Speaks and The Kansas City Soccer Foundation.

At 6:30 am the sky looked like it was going to open up and spoil the fun, but mother nature held off and the run started with just a drizzle of rain.

Breakfast of Champions - Their mascot Dynamo nibbles on a young runner

Everyone was having a good time getting ready for the run

Wizards player Jimmy Conrad crosses the line with his daughter and help from Dynamo

High-Fives all round for a race well run

KCGAC player Jake Yardich is also The Wizards videographer

After the run it was time to go home and take a nap, 'cause we were back at Community America Ballpark later that night for the game against Chicago Fire. This time we were not so lucky with the rain and the heavens opened up, making for a very soggy night.

The Wizards played great and held Chicago to a 2-2 game even with the rain lashing down and we had a great night of volunteering. A big Thank You to Brad, Leslie, Vince and George for representing The KCGAC in the community.

Our relationship with The Wizards is like having a big brother, a big brother that is a professional soccer club with his own stadium: a great relationship. We'll be at The Wizards again next week and after the game the KCGAC are going to take to the field to play a demo-game. We hope the rain stays away and we hope to see you there.

KCGAC at The Celtic Ranch

Beer 'n Sports: who doesn't love that combination?

The KCGAC board headed up to Weston early and had our monthly meeting upstairs in The Celtic Ranch. We sipped on a few O'Malley's Weston Brewing Company beers while we debated the in's and out's of the club.

Then around 3 o'clock we invited people to come up and share a beer with us and talk about Gaelic Football and Hurling.

We had people from Hawaii there who had never heard of Gaelic games before, but were so impressed that they took our information and are going to see if there are any Gaelic clubs back on the big island.

People from all over the Kansas City metro area and Lawrence came up and we got two new "Honorary" members, the sisters Meghan and Erin, we tried to get their Dad to sign up, but he was having none of it!

Later we walked around the store wearing our club jerseys, listening to an acoustic session of Flanagan's Right Hook and absorbing the great atmosphere of The Celtic Ranch. Some of the lads stayed the night in Weston, and I think I'll do the same next time. 

Thank you Terry and John, you and the gang at The Celtic Ranch are the best.

Mike, Pete and Anto wearing their KCGAC gear

Sully and Scott chillaxing Ranch style

Anthony and Devin showing what not to do with a hurley stick

Curtis explains why looking good on the field is as important as being good!

Erin and Meghan will be out to practice next week or maybe to just cheer us on

Showing ball skills

Fearsome KCGAC players

After a hard day doing PR work, its time to sit down and drink

The Unsung Hero of Gaelic Games

Our Referee most days: Mr. Chad Griffin

When the ball goes wide, when you get a hard challenge and don't get a free, when you miss kick the ball, when you give a bad hand pass, when you run out of energy and gasp for breath: You blame the Ref.

That's right, the guy who is out there of his own goodness officiating YOUR game, so YOU can have fun and play Gaelic games and all you want to do is tell this fella where to stick it. So, today all us hot headed players are going to cool it and show respect for the man that makes tournaments happen and keeps friendly games friendly. All hail the Ref.

Here's some refs in the spotlight: