Keeping the home fires burning

Keeping the home fires burning

Two Irish men have spent years promoting the GAA in Huddersfield

Feature
Daniel Carey

BREANDÁN Ó hEithir’s wonderful book “Over The Bar” ends with the story of Bill Doonan, who served as a radio operator with the British Army during the Second World War. Doonan disappeared during a lull in the Battle of Monte Casino but was eventually located up a tree on the side of a steep hill. After much effort and experimentation, Private Doonan had eventually tuned into the commentary of the All-Ireland final between Roscommon and Cavan. “If anyone ever asks you what the GAA is all about,” Ó hEithir concluded, “just think of Bill Doonan, the wanderer, on the side of that hill in the middle of a World War – at home.”
Many Irish people who left these shores long ago have retained strong links with home, and with the GAA in particular. Ollie Walsh hasn’t lived in his native Athenry since 1962. Bonniconlon man Michael Conrecode departed two years later. But despite the passage of time, you’d struggle to identify any trace of their adopted Huddersfield in either of their accents. Both men have been involved for a long time with the Brothers Pearse GAA Club, founded in 1954. The club set up an underage structure in 1978, and enjoyed much success throughout the 1980s and in the early part of this decade.
Mayo connections with the GAA in Britain run deep. Two Ballyhaunis men, Bernie Keane and Martin Grogan, have had a long involvement with the British provincial council. There has long been a sizeable number of Mayo people in Leeds. The Brothers Pearse club are planning a trip to Louisburgh, home of the Kitterick family, described by club secretary Ollie Walsh as ‘the backbone’ of the club. Walsh regards Andrew Kitterick as ‘one of the best players we’ve ever had’. Michael Conrecode explains that they hope to bring a party of 50 to west Mayo next May.
Conrecode stepped down as chairman of the Yorkshire County Board last year. Having been at the helm for 13 years, the five-year rule for officers kicked in, but he has remained on as vice-chairman.
“We have five senior clubs and about six junior clubs [in Yorkshire] and we play in the Pennine League with Lancashire clubs,” he told The Mayo News. “Unfortunately in the last few years we’ve had no hurling. We used to have a great hurling team in the 1960s and 1970s, and we’re hoping to get it going again, but it’s difficult. You have to be born with a hurley in your hand!”
In the home of rugby league and Huddersfield Town, the club knows it can’t expect to win the exclusive loyalty of local youngsters. But the sports co-exist quite happily – Walsh is a season ticket holder at Huddersfield Town, and has reminded Leeds United fans up the road: “You’ll have to be nice to us now because you’re in the same league as us!”
The Galway man was employed in the David Brown Tractor Factory for almost 20 years and remembers a lot of Irish people working on buses during his early years in Britain. He feels many drifted into construction work ‘because of the camaraderie – it was handy to be involved there because when the Troubles were on here, you got a bit of stick – not a lot, but a little bit’.
There is still a relatively vibrant Irish scene in Huddersfield, including a ‘well supported’ Irish Centre and a St Patrick’s Day Parade. But Walsh notes that many emigrants are at either end of the age spectrum – there are Gaelic football and hurling teams in the University of Huddersfield, while many of the settled Irish people are now elderly. He remembers a time when the local Connemara contingent was so big ‘that they used to have their own priest, because the only language a lot of them had was Irish’.
That era has long passed, and with an eye on the changing nature of the Irish community, the GAA have unveiled a five-year strategy entitled ‘Flying The Flag In Britain’. Plans are afoot to introduce a coaching officer in every county in Britain. Seven full-time officials will be supported through the Dion fund for Irish emigrant welfare.
“Over the last few years, I would say at least 50 per cent of the players in most clubs are English-born,” said Conrecode. “A lot of them are second-generation Irish. But there’s a few of them who have no connection [with Ireland] at all; it’s just that their friends play and then they start playing. We’ve gone into the schools and set up a tournament, and they love it.”
The times, they are a-changin’.