| London ladies doing it for themselves
Despite having to contend with problems such as funding, retaining
players and attracting new stars, London Ladies continue to make phenomenal
strides forward as David Thorpe discovers.
 It is a constant refrain
of the London GAA community that the number of players available to clubs
is shrinking, but the ladies GAA community in Britain is progressing every
year despite a constant struggle to raise funds to keep the games alive.
Mary McArthur, the longest-serving Camogie Association official in London,
told The Irish Post recently that there was no camogie played in Britain
until the mid-1980s but a decade on London camogie teams were competing
against the best counties in Ireland.
One of the unique difficulties faced by camogie in London in the early
’90s was the large amount of players who worked in the nursing profession
and because of shiftwork were unable to commit to playing for a camogie
club.
The 2006 season was a historic one for the capital’s camogie players
as they entered the National League for the first time in history but
Mary is quick to highlight the amount of hard work which is required if
London are to continue fielding a team in the coming years.
“There is a deficit of at least £1,500 every inter-county
away game we play, that money has to be fundraised which is very difficult
and it’s a credit to the players that they put so much work in before
they even take to the field,” she said.
The first camogie club to be set-up in the capital was connected to the
London Irish rugby club but new teams were quickly formed in Croydon in
South London and Newham in the East End.
There are now eight clubs in the capital but all of them face a constant
struggle to recruit players and one particular team lost 10 players in
one season due to people choosing to return to Ireland.
Mary, who has several times been honoured for her work in promoting
Gaelic games in London, believes that a lack of underage structures in
the county is a major cause for concern in the future.
She said: “For camogie to develop properly in the county we need
to have second and third-generation players coming through —that
is not really happening.
“The hope would be that girls who arrive from Ireland could help
the native-born players develop — you would have a great mix then
but that has not really happened.
 “There
will always be a struggle to keep Irish-born players interested because
a lot of women also stop playing at a serious level when they get married
which doesn’t really happen with the men and female players tend
to reach their peak while still in their teens, so it’s vital for
the future of the games that we develop a proper underage structure.”
Meanwhile ladies football in London has enjoyed some remarkable highs
over the past number of decades, including winning the All-Ireland junior
football title in 1990.
That team was managed by Galway native Tommy Donoghue who is well placed
to discuss the prospects of ladies football in the capital, having served
at every level from team manager to chairman of the Provincial Council.
Donoghue believes that the success of London ladies football teams in
the past 20 years — which also includes a Senior All-Ireland club
title for Parnells in 1995 — shows that there are talented players
in London.
“When the county team were at the peak of their success in the late
’80s and early ’90s there was a
vibrant club scene with maybe a dozen senior clubs,” said Donoghue.
“Now there are four senior clubs, but in reality Parnells have won
11 of the last 12 senior championships in London and that’s not
healthy.
“The pool of players we have now is smaller but they have the ability
— the problem is that they receive no help.
“They had to raise £10,000 to compete in the Championship
this year, there is little underage structure and little will to create
one.
“Despite that two of the better London footballers at present are
Hannah Noonan and Anne-Marie Mohan who were both born and raised in Britain.
“That shows what talent is there if it could be harnessed properly
but the players do all their own fundraising and while there are some
great backers, there are only so many times you can go to them looking
for money.”
Last season the ladies footballers won two of their four games in the
Connacht Junior Football Championship and were not disgraced in any of
their other contests.
So while there are many positives associated with Ladies Gaelic games
in London, the association faces many of the same struggles as their male
counterparts. |
