The returning emigrant is almost a stereotypical icon in Irish art and literature as well as in ordinary life, writes An Fear Rua ...
This weekend, some of the sons and grandsons of an earlier generation of Irish emigrants make an important return to Ireland as the first game in the Ireland v Australia International Rules series kicks off. But these are not the returned emigrants of our childhood days. They represent a prosperous, progressive country, trying hard to find its soul, and newly-confident, having just organised what that oul' chancer Juan Antonio Samaranch has described as 'the greatest Games ever'
The returned emigrants of childhood were men and women who slaved at menial tasks in places like London, Birmingham, Coventry, Boston or Chicago. For fifty weeks of the year they toiled tirelessly so that they could return home for a fleeting fortnight of high Summer, wearing fawn crombie overcoats and flashing wads of money. A way of life movingly captured earlier this year in Tom Murphy's new play, 'The House'. In many parts of the country 'The Returned Yank' - with his loud voice and even louder trousers - became a synonym for 'know-all' and they were often sniggered at behind their back
But there will be no sniggering at these Australians. They are led by one of the most accomplished Gaelic footballers of his generation, Dubliner Jim Stynes, and their contests with the Irish representative side will be well worth seeing.
The second of our two-part special report previewing the Ireland v Australia Compromise Rules series, by Our Special Correspondent, continues below:
A near-sighted fly buzzes close to the screen... Yawn... Mouths open, canyon wide. It's late at night. Rolex haunt the wrists on view. Forty men are huddled close to a television set in a conference room of the Australian Football League (AFL) training facility... Tracksuits hang in baggy symphony. Legs loose, cradling uneven tables. David Barham of the backroom team plays a video on the TV. Images flicker in succession of the series played last year in Melbourne. Fatal Attraction. Members of the Coca-Cola All-Australian squad are transfixed. Heads once drooped, arise in synchronized frame. In the words of Essendon player James Hird, 'the guys got pumped'. Even the fly stopped its inebriated climb of the curtain rail to watch. Watch, listen and learn.
In the third year of a four-year agreement between the Australian Football Association and the GAA, the two match International Rules series takes place in Croke Park on the 8th and 15th of October. When he equalised the All Ireland football final, Galway captain Padraic Joyce - our 'Man of the Match' rendered unconscious the involvement of himself and five others in the forthcoming series. The series may suffer as a result. The pitch, the participants, the rows of transfixed faces. But the GAA's bank balance will not.
The linking of an amateur game and a professional one would seem perverse. Perversely magnetic. Irish and Australian football have clearly similar backgrounds and imbalanced futures. Prior to 1884, the GAA used an oval ball and also the 'behind' posts, visible today in Aussie Rules. These posts were voted out in 1910. In varying the shape of the ball and field layout and introducing goal nets in its formative year, the GAA produced the changes that basically remain the major differences between the two codes today. The International Rules series is seen as historic on both sides of the world. The extension of the tackle provision will ensure the further progression of the concept.
Having undergone their player-friendly preparation programmes, the members of the Coca-Cola All-Australian team have to their advantage a coach of the calibre of Dermot Brereton. He will be assisted by Jim Stynes with the match committee consisting of Gerard Healy, Graham Cornes, Robert Walls, Rod Austin and Kevin Sheehan. The match committee also have the discretion of adding ten players to the All-Australian squad, basically the All-Stars of the past season, to suit the requirements of the International Series. As the players left the Melbourne Football club, fully prepared for a four-day training camp, which begins on the fourth of October, I engaged myself in conversation with Mark Evans, Communications and Public Relations Manager of the Demons. He seemed adamant that the profile of Australian Rules was on the rise, highlighting an impending exhibition match with Adelaide in London as a result of the game's growing stature. 'Melbourne Football Club is one of the oldest football clubs in any code. It dates back to 1858. We're very proud of our heritage and aware of our links with the Irish game', he said. Reflecting on the upcoming series, he added that 'the game is an opportunity for our best players to compete for their country. They would not get the chance otherwise. It's a great chance. A proud moment, I'm sure. It's treated very seriously over here. I mean you only have to look at last year's game, which attracted quite a deal of interest when played behind us here last year. The hybrid version (as people call it) of Gaelic Football and Aussie Rules seems to be a good compromise between the two games.'
This is the club that enticed a young Irish boy, Jim Stynes to take up the sport. Steeped in history and statistics, Evans seemed to suggest that the link is stronger than ever before now, in the twenty years that the game has existed. 'Players want to make this series huge. It's definitely getting there. We have three players on the squad- current Brownlow medallist Shane Woewodin, Jeff farmer and Adem Yze. Our supporters are excited by the trip. Not just because of the players involved, but also because of the similarities to our game and the association with Jim Stynes. Gaelic Football has a good footing over here; it is often used as a training activity during pre-season for variety and fun'.
The rain is now pouring down outside. Cats and dogs yelp as they plummet to a flagrant canvas. I rush to my car. Past the bay window in which Jim Stynes and Dermot Brereton are in animated chat. The players have left. Sponsor-laden jerseys are being folded into bags. I notice the fly still on the rail. Motionless. Is the game that good? A pear shaped drop of rain seeps down my neck. It urges me to sprint. The legs move in tandem with the excesses of last night. As I shut the car door and splutter over the dashboard, I notice officials, one by one, winding their way back to their families and reality. It doesn't seem real here. Australia is truly out of this world. And out of our league.
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