Pauric Grimes was in America recently, and spread the word about GAA

Where’s that month gone? Hard to believe this time last week I was in  Vegas living the high life. Don’t worry, I did my bit to fly the GAA flag when I was away. Over in America, they are currently in the thick of the NBA Championships, so while I sat sipping a coffee with my name spelt hilariously wrong, I got talking to a few of the locals.

“Where’s that accent from?” they enquired.

“Ireland.”

“Cool! I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland! Do you guys have basketball there?”

“Yeah, there’s a national league but it’s not all that popular to be honest.”

“Oh? What do you guys play? Soccer?”

“We play a bit, yeah, but our main sport would be GAA.”

“GAA? What’s that?”

“Well, technically GAA is a blanket term as depending on where you are in the country you either play Gaelic Football or Hurling.”

“Hurling? Is that like curling? Yeah, I like that.”

“Eh…not really. I’m more of a football man anyway.”

“So, how do you play it?”

“I guess the easiest way I could describe it to you would be like a
hybrid of soccer and basketball.”

“G.T.F, that sounds awesome!”

I could tell at this point I had the attention of not only the fella I was speaking to directly but his nearby friends too. I’m not sure if they were listening so intently because they were interested, or because they couldn’t really understand my accent. Either way, I knew I had them in the palm of my hand.

“So, how do you play it?”

“Well, it’s 15 aside. 1 Goalkeeper, 6 defenders, 2 midfielders and 6 forwards…but nowadays positions don’t mean a whole lot. The aim is to outscore your opponents, you get three points for putting the ball into the net and one for putting it over the bar.”

“Cool! And do the guys floor dribble the ball like in soccer or bounce dribble like in basketball?”

“We solo the ball. Every three or four steps you have to drop the ball onto your toe and tap it back into your hands. You can bounce it too, but it has to be every other movement, it can’t be twice in a row.”

They’re faces were blank. Maybe I didn’t explain it very well, or maybe they couldn’t get their heads around it.

“You should look it up.” I suggested.

And out came the iPhones. Straight to YouTube. I don’t know why but the first video they all huddled around was GAA’s Biggest Hits, a compilation of boys getting mowed off one after the other. Simultaneous cheers of amazement and horror as Ireland’s finest didtheir best to put one another down.

“THIS IS AWESOME!!!” they said in such collective unison a choirmaster would be proud.

“Hahaha, that’s the more physical end of the game. You need to see it when it’s in full flow. It’s such a skilful game. Fast, free flowing, wonderful to watch.”

“What should we search?”

At this juncture what you would tell them to search probably differs depending on where you’re from. If you’re from Monaghan, you might call on last year’s Ulster Final, or if you’re from Donegal it could be the All-Ireland triumph. I’m from Tyrone, so there was only ever one clip I was going to send them toward.

“Just type, Magic Mulligan – Croke Park.”

And at that I left them. I swear to you they cheered louder at Mulligan’s goal against Dublin as they crowded around a phone than the rest of the bar did at Steph Curry hitting a game tying three pointer in one of the biggest games of the NBA season to date.

comment@gaeliclife.com