MEET RICHARD FAUL, or ‘Chard’, as he’s better known to all who know him.
Originally from Reading in England, Chard played soccer from the age of six but is now the spearhead of a new GAA club on the French Riviera, to be known as the Azur Gaels.
At the weekend, he was in Paris for a major sporting and cultural event, as the French national men’s and women’s Gaelic Football teams played just their second ever games.
Last year, both teams played and won the first ever international Gaelic Football matches against Italy in Toulouse.
This time, the women lost narrowly against Belgium as France drew with French Irish, a selection of Irish players living in France.
The goal of the event was to help the French teams build towards their main goal of competing in the GAA World Games, which will take place in Ireland next year.
Chard is one of the men helping to spread the Gaelic Football gospel in France – and he’s been making significant progress.
He only discovered that Gaelic Football existed when he moved to Toulouse in December 2012 but having been persuaded for almost two years to give the sport a try, he’s been hooked ever since playing his first friendly game in February 2014.
By June of this year, Chard was a champion of France before moving recently to Biot on the Côte d’Azur, where the nearest club is two hours away.
Consequently, Chard was left with only one choice – to create a new club with another player who recently arrived in the area from Nantes. And so the Azur Gaels are currently being developed.
“I moved to Toulouse in December 2012 to become a translator,” Chard explains.
“One of my new colleagues and friends, Danny Richardson – an Englishman – played Gaelic football for the Toulouse team, the Tolosa Gaels.
“He too had first played the sport in France, with the Lyon team.
“Knowing that I was well into my football, he was quick to try and get me on board!
“To be honest, seeing the sport for the first time I thought it looked a bit messy, a bit chaotic; all hands and feet, no offside, players smashing into one another and hoofing the ball speculatively towards the posts.
“But this wasn’t the reason why I wouldn’t try it. I knew how much time and commitment it takes to be a real member of any sports club, and I didn’t feel I had this time.
“I kept up the 5-aside soccer and this was enough to satisfy my sporting appetite for the time being.
“But our Danny is a stubborn man – and deeply committed to the Tolosa cause!
“He badgered me almost weekly for about two years. I came along to a tournament once to watch and take pictures for the club, and started to get to know the lads and ladies a bit.
“They were a sound bunch. But it wasn’t until Danny announced that he was going to leave France to go back to England that I finally cracked and decided to grant him his wish.
“I first trained with the Tolosa Gaels in January 2014, I think.
“Some of the actions felt unnatural at first – the pick-up, the solo, the hand-pass – but thanks to soccer my fitness and movement off the ball was fine.
“I could shoot at goal okay too. At the end of my first session I didn’t even ask myself the question…of course I would train again next week!”
Chard played his first friendly game shortly afterwards against Bordeaux, his first and last appearance alongside Danny, who left to return home to England.
“I only got to play in one tournament during the 2014 season due to unavailability, but the one I played in gave me a glimpse of everything I now adore about playing Gaelic football in France,” Chard says.
“In this country there are two divisions: one for Brittany, and one for the rest of France.
“Now, if it’s not obvious from the map, France is a big old country. And Toulouse isn’t in Brittany. We can’t be playing weekly fixtures in our division.
“So instead we play a monthly tournament, bringing together all the clubs in the division (or two separate tournaments in two separate places, with half the clubs competing in one and the other half in the other).
“We stay the night and make a weekend out of it. It is great craic. It makes for phenomenal team spirit and a strong rapport between clubs.
“Come the 2014 Tolosa Gaels AGM I was more than ready to commit wholeheartedly for the season to follow.
“I put myself forward to be on the committee as club photographer. My club photos have since been used in club posters and flyers, local newspapers and Gaelic Sports World magazine.
“I found my time behind the viewfinder pretty limited though, because to my surprise I was starting most of our matches. I was even made captain for one tournament.
“The final tournament of the season sees all the clubs in France come together to compete for the top prize, the intermediate prize or the foundation prize, depending on your league position.
“As we finished second in our division, we were in it for the top prize. The winners would be crowned Champions of France and to add to the occasion, it would be my final tournament as a Toulouse player, as I was set to move to the south coast a couple months later.
“We were battered by Breton champions Liffré in our first match, but a big win against Nantes allowed us to progress.
“In the semi-final we faced the team that had pipped us to top spot in the league, giants Paris Gaels.
“We vanquished our demons by squeezing past them in a tight, competitive game. Just one game away from glory, again we met Liffré.
“This time it was a whole different story, and we won the all-of-France final 1-8 to 0-4. I scored two points in that final.
“It was the best thing I’d ever felt from any sport. A group of friends running their legs off, taking hits, making blocks to win the biggest honour in France, and follow it up with weeks of celebration. I was later awarded most-improved player of the season by my club. I had fallen in love.
“In August I moved to Biot on the south coast of France, or la Côte d’Azur. My research told me there was no club in the immediate vicinity, the nearest being the Provence team based in Aix, two hours’ drive away. Upon leaving Toulouse my friends had told me, half-jokingly, ‘you’ll just have to found your own Gaelic football club!’
“When I arrived I was immediately contacted by a Nantes player who had also joined the region this year: Charley Cornillau.
“I found out that since February he had been driving fairly regularly to Aix to train with Provence, then travelling to each of the tournaments to play with his hometown Nantes.
“In fact, we had probably played against each other in the final tournament! His commitment is staggering. We met in a pub in Antibes in September and quickly got dreaming about creating a Gaelic football club.
“We kicked a ball around one evening, just the two of us. By constantly spreading the word and targeting certain groups, we went from two to three to five.
“We then got our team name, Facebook page and club crest in place, and at the next session there were eight of us, with more interested for next week.
“We’re now recognised by the French Gaelic Football Federation as a club in development: the Azur Gaels. We’re very ambitious with this project.
“The first step is to have at least eleven players, as the game is played 11-aside here in France. Then we can play friendly matches and maybe even register in time for the 2016 season, if we get a proper squad and a committee in place.
“A couple seasons down the line, maybe we could host one of the tournaments. And beyond that, well, let’s just say it took the Tolosa Gaels five years to become Champions of France. It’s a realistic target!”
Given what we know of Chard already, we suspect that Azur Gaels will become champions of France in the not too distant future – and we wish them well in their endeavours.
Thanks to Mark Brannigan, Paris Gaels GAA Chairperson, for alerting us to Chard’s remarkable story.
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Big teams big decisions same old story
And what happens when a small team gets a dodgy decision against another small team? How does that fit into the cosmic universe of corrupt referees, match fixing and football NWO with Alex Ferguson sitting at head of the table? And while we’re at it who are the ‘big’ teams or does each match have a ‘big’ and ‘small’ team? If Newcastle play crystal palace are they the ‘big’ team then? Do all the officials agree at the start of the season who are the big and small teams? Is it league position or finance determines it? Cheers
Stop talking sense man!
Great strike should have been given, Hart appealed in hope more than anything.
Goalkeeper would never of saved it and the Newcastle player did get out of the way. Keeper hadn’t even taken a step when the ball hit the net never mind have one player out of how many in his way? I’m a goalkeeper myself the sea of players in front of him would cause more of a problem than the one player in the six yard box! Line of sight is from the ball to keepers eyes!
The officials don’t have to determine if the goalkeeper can save the shot, or if his line of sight is obstructed. If there’s a player standing in an offside position, he’s offside.
You’re wrong there. The ref does have to interpret if a player in an offside position is interfering with player. The rules have moved on from an automatic free kick being given for offside.
Gouffran is standing in an offside position, the officials gave offside. Obviously they saw it as interfering with play. To show that he’s not interfering with play, Gouffran should of been running away from goal. Deciding if the goalkeeper could make the save is irrelevant.
What relevance has running away from goal got to do with anything? He could be running towards goal and still not be interfering with play.
If Gouffran is not making an effort to get back onside, why should he get the benefit of the doubt?
If Gouffran’s not making an effort to get back onside, why should he get the benefit of the doubt?
I give up. You haven’t a clue mate.
Can you explain how Gouffran is not interfering with play? He’s not injured, he’s not making an effort to get back onside. He’s standing right in front of the goal.
Gouffran is not interfering with play because his being there is completely irrelevant to the scoring of the goal, if he was not in the position he was the goal would still have been scored, he had absolutely nothing to do with that ball going into the back of the net, whether by interfering with the opposition or the flight of the ball hence he was not interfering with play.
How is it completely irrelevant to the scoring of the goal? Gouffran is in the six yard box next to the goalkeeper. He had to move out of the way of the ball as it went towards goal.
He didn’t touch the ball and wasn’t near the keepers line of sight or any defenders who may have blocked it, if he wasn’t there the ball would have gone into the net in exactly the same fashion as it did which makes his being there completely irrelevant. Newcastle gained absolutely no advantage from him being in the six yard box and Man City gained no disadvantage therefore he did not interfere with play.
Gouffran is in the way of Joe Hart. That’s a disadvantage for Man City and an advantage for Newcastle.
Can you explain how being on the other side of the 6 yard box, completely out of the line of sight between where the ball was struck and Joe Hart in anyway interferes with the keepers ability to save the shot. If you have watched that incident more than once and are still of the opinion that Gouffran is in anyway impeding Joe Hart well then I’m afraid you seriously need to consider your ability to look at these kind of situations objectively.
Joe Hart can’t commit to stop the shot because he doesn’t know if Gouffran is going to flick the ball in or leave it.
I wouldn’t waste your breath any further Sean. I thought this guy was an idiot earlier, now I think he must be trolling.
@ Mark Stewart. All I’ve done is provided a counterpoint to your argument. That’s hardly trolling. There’s no need for childish name calling.
You’re clutching at straws, Gouffran being in an offside position means that if he had of flicked the ball he would have interfered with play and would have been correctly ruled offside so I can assure you Joe Hart would not be likely to allow that to prevent him from making the save, it was simply just a well struck shot to the corner which the keeper didn’t have a chance of saving, you see it all the time when a strike like that goes in the keepers are often just standing watching it go in, nothing to do with him feeling like he couldn’t commit he was just beaten by a very good shot.
The officials don’t have to decide if Hart can save the shot. The position that Gouffran has taken means Hart can’t even attempt to dive for it. Gouffran doesn’t have to touch the ball to interfere with play. Being in the way of Joe Hart is how he’s interfering with play.
I never mentioned anything about officials determining if Joe Hart could save it or not so I don’t understand the relevance of that, I merely stated that him standing still had nothing to do with a fear to commit and more to do with him being beaten by a well struck shot, this was in reply to your comment about him being afraid to commit himself which is extremely unlikely as Gouffran couldn’t touch the ball as he was in an offside position, so Joe Hart as an experienced goalkeeper would be well aware to play the ball and not waste his time thinking about the player who can’t touch the ball. I have been over it numerous times now and its plain to see Gouffran had no impact on the situation given the position he was in and should have been deemed as not interfering with play because of this, the goal would have been scored in exactly the same way had he been at the order end of the pitch. I will now take Marks advice and stop wasting my breath, as we appear to be on the verge of constantly repeating ourselves.
Clearly Mark Stewart and Sean don’t know the rules of the game and are making things up as they go along. Number 1:Gouffran is in an offside position. Number: 2 Gouffran is standing directly in front of the path the ball and had to duck to stop it hitting him, therefore he is interfering with play. That’s all that’s required for the officials to give offside. Saying that Gouffran didn’t touch the ball is irrelevant, he’s still interfering with play. Saying that Hart wouldn’t of saved the shot is also irrelevant. Gouffran is still in Hart’s way while in an offside position. Stating that Hart must determined if a player is offside or not in order to act is the most moronic point. Hart has to protect his goal first instead of waiting for a decision from officials. Otherwise he would look very foolish. It’s up to the officials to give offside not Joe Hart.
Specsavers come to mind.
Of course Hart can commit to saving the ball, in the knowledge that Gouffran is in an offside position if he decides to touch the ball. Perfectly good goal.
Your a goalie, isn’t most of ur best stuff caught out of the corner if your eye? The fact that the striker as you say had to get out of the way of the shot, isn’t that an action, isn’t that interfering with play , he definitely was on harts radar, moving to avoid getting his head removed, and too lazy and dopey to get back onside, I think ’twas a great decision.
As a city supporter I believe the goal was good just a thought though was it the fact he got out of the way he issue if he hadn’t the ball would have hit him and therefore he was interfering with play just a thought for debate as I said it should have stood
Good decision, keepers sight would Off been blocked by the offside player.
Wowzers that’s a ridiculous statement!
clearly not
Gouffran is standing in line with the goalkeeper making no effort to get back onside. If he’s not going to try to get back onside, he shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt from the officials.
Stand in a goal, with a player on the opposite side. Get another player to take a shot, preferably pummeling it into the top corner where most keepers wouldn’t reach. As he hits it try dive to save it! Did you save it?
No cause it was a screamer! No keeper in any league would of saved that!
Some people should watch this again. Gouffran is one of 3 in an offside position ! The most central player IS causing a problem to defender & keeper. You can argue Gouffran isn’t ‘interfering’, but then wtf else is he doing ? If you’re in the penalty area you should be causing a problem to the opponents defence.