RENOWNED FOOTBALL PERSONALITIES Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara have arrived in Ireland to discover the wonder of Gaelic football.
And one of their first stops as part of the journey brings them to Dingle in Kerry.
The pair are in town to commentate on a juvenile game between Dingle and the Gaeltacht, as part of a initiative conducted by AIB.
According to Radio Kerry, legendary GAA comentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh may also be attending the game to give the Sky Sports duo some advice.
While in Ireland, Stelling and Kamara will visit local GAA clubs to get a better understanding of how they are linked with the inter-county game and will be meeting up with some prominent GAA pundits.
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Speaking about the project, Kamara said:
“We are really excited about this. To get to travel across Ireland, learn about a new sport and better understand what the GAA is about is a fantastic opportunity for fans of any sport. We can’t wait to hit the road and begin our journey with AIB!”
Stelling added that they hope to come away from the visit with a better appreciation of what this Irish sport is all about.
“We don’t have much knowledge of Gaelic Football but have obviously spent much of our professional lives in football and both enjoy a strong affinity to our local clubs, so we do hope that some of this will translate.
“Hopefully we will have a much better understanding by the end of our journey.”
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big talent at 9 for Leinster..
Great to see Hugh doing so well. He was a key component in Belvo winning the cup for the last 2 years.
On the wider point of GAA / Rugby crossover and any perceived hostility, I don’t see any contradictions. Both sports have similar skills re ball handling and decision making and both are full contact sports. For as long back as I can recall there has always been a crossover of guys playing both codes. From Michael Hickey in the 1970s right up to present day with David Hawkshaw, Belvos current outhalf playing minor football for Dublin, to name but 2 and there have been more. Long may it continue
@Tom O’Gorman: there is a huge battle at younger ages between GAA and rugby for athletes.. training being scheduled to clash forcing players to pick etc.
@Lf: very true LF and not likely to end any time soon. As a supporter of both codes I probably get less exercised about it than others who see talent migrating from their sport to “the dark side ” as they might perceive it. Even within the GAA code there’s a battle between hurling and football for the best available talent. As standards rise it’s becoming impossible for guys to meet the demands of playing rugby and GAA. It’s a pity that lads are forced to make these choices at a younger and younger age nowadays.
@Tom O’Gorman: I agree that having played both sports, their is a lot of crossover between them. As you say, it helps with spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination.
However, at an elite level, and particularly in the forwards, the physical demands of each sport are like chalk and cheese by the time a player is 18 years old.
Backs can enjoy the best of both worlds up until minor level but elite rugby players are conditioned in completely different ways to GAA players by the time their 18.
I’m surprised the GAA charm offensive is still carrying on now that the RWC bid is dead.
@Alistair Fyffe: really? There’s hostility from a lot of people with GAA roots towards rugby, but there’s very little in the other direction. The “charm offensive” has been around for a lot longer than the RWC bid, and there are a lot of players in Irish rugby with roots in GAA. It’s not an offensive.
@Conor Paddington: Conor, that is very simply not true. There is hostility within rugby circles towards all sports and pressure to only play it. That also applies to soccer and gaa within certain clubs( the most successful ones because they can). To say it’s only in one direction is naive.
@Conor Paddington: I have to disagree here Conor. I remember playing rugby in UCC and one fella put on a Cork GAA jersey after training and he got a pile of abuse – you know the kind that pretends to be all in good fun but reveals some actual resentment. There are always people on here moaning that our rugby team would be much better if it wasn’t for the GAA taking away all these potential athletes. The hostility is definitely a two-way street.