Going Dutch an attractive option for Meath exiles in Amsterdam
It sounds like the start of a joke: an Irishman and an Australian walk into a bar in Amsterdam....but, on St Patrick's Day 2003, that is exactly what happened and it led to the formation of the Amsterdam Gaelic Athletic Club. Now, backboned by several Meath members, the Amsterdam outpost has become one of Europe's leading GAA clubs and continues to go from strength to strength. Next weekend, Amsterdam men's football team and Holland Ladies will travel to Limerick for the European County finals. The Amsterdam men's team is set to compete for the European Shield title. The four Meath players involved are Dunboyne's Darragh Carolan, Trim's Daryl Murnin, Skryne's Conor O'Rourke and Deirdre White from Ashbourne, who is also chair of the Holland Ladies Board. The team is currently enjoying its most successful period after securing all three consecutive regional European tournament trophies over the past 12 months. This season, Amsterdam is the only club undefeated in Europe and go to Limerick looking to maintain this record. Amsterdam GAC is an international club with over a quarter of their players coming from outside of Ireland. They also include a large contingent from Australia, Britain, and naturally The Netherlands. The club has players from nearly every county in Ireland and has seen numbers surge over the past year as a new generation of Irish emigrants search for opportunities abroad. The club has a strong tradition of Meath members with former player Gerry Murray (Navan) winning numerous individual awards across Europe whilst playing for Amsterdam. White has seen the transformation of the club since joining three years ago into Europe's strongest football club and is delighted with its progress. "With a big increase in players from every province from home, it's a very exciting time for the club and we hope to use the success of the men's team this season as a springboard for greater success over the coming years for the club. Hopefully, we will see the ladies' team follow suit next season in their quest for silverware," said White. "Amsterdam are always on the lookout for players for both men's and ladies' team and we would encourage anybody in the Netherlands to contact them, even if they're only based here for a few months, as we've seen with many of our student or intern players here on placement. "The club pride themselves on being extremely welcoming and anybody who finds themselves in the Netherlands and is interested in playing should get in touch," she added. Dunboyne man Carolan came to Amsterdam at the beginning of the summer for a six-month contract and, straight away, found himself adopted into a new community of friends. "It's an opportunity to get fit, travel across Europe and very quickly become a part of something familiar and welcoming in new surroundings," he said. The opportunity to travel across Europe for monthly tournaments is another attractive perk of the European GAA scene, according to O'Rourke from Skryne, who has been in the Netherlands for just over a year. "When I moved from Meath to Amsterdam, the opportunity to immediately gain a new network of friends was ideal, as well as to get back to playing Gaelic football. At the time, I didn't realise that my year would revolve around which European city I would travel to every month. We've played in nearly every region and enjoyed some great weekends in Barcelona, Budapest, Luxembourg, and Brussels, amongst others. "The players generally take the opportunity to take a few extra days off after the tournaments and I've spent plenty of long weekends exploring European cities with both my own teammates and players from the other teams you meet during the weekend. The tournaments are a great way to travel, while also experiencing a piece of home every month," said O'Rourke.