L to R Back - Simon Donnolly, Ronan Purcell (c), Brian Taylor, Graeme Pointze, Conor Keane, Gavin Grace, Paul Jenkins, Ed O'Mahony, Bernard Brady, Val Baynes, Ed Crawford, Andrew Scannell. L to R Front - Mark Fenton, David Bardon, Barry O'Sullivan, Eoghan Kavanagh, Hugh Garrett, David Hoy, Joseph Healy, Henry Bourke, Dave Delaney, Patrick Noble.
Feature
The Australian rugby team that embraces the 'Céad Mile Fáilte' ethos
Val Baynes chats to The42 about making inroads with Sydney Irish RFC.
WHILE THE LAST few years saw many thousands of Irish people emigrate, recent studies have revealed that these figures are now falling considerably.
Back in August, stats published by the Central Statistics Office showed that the number of people emigrating fell by 13%, when 35,300 left the country up to April 2015. The previous year, it had dropped by 20%, with 40,700 people leaving.
Moreover, while CSO figures revealed that the number of Irish people leaving for Australia specifically peaked in 2012 with 18,200 going Down Under, a study by The Irish Times found that the number of people emigrating there from Ireland dropped by 43% as recently as 2014.
Galway native Val Baynes is one of the many who left the country during the recession. In March, it will be five years since he departed. Having found permanent work hard to come by in Ireland, he says that moving to Australia seemed like “the thing to do”.
“A lot of my friends had done it through university, more as an advantageous gap year.
I decided, once I did my exams, I’d go out there with my girlfriend at the time, Claire, who’s now my wife. We’ve gotten on quite well and I’ve enjoyed my time here.”
While over in Australia, Baynes would sometimes feel a longing for life back in Ireland. He needed something to help alleviate his homesickness. As a result, Sydney Irish RFC was born. The club was very much a product of the recession — having been established in 2012 by Baynes and “a few mates,” it has grown considerably since then and today has over 200 players registered.
Baynes and others initially were somewhat put off by the rugby culture over in Australia, explaining how certain teams he came across had multiple fitness and training sessions over the course of a week.
While emphasising that the standard of Sydney Irish is on a par with “a really good junior rugby side,” the social aspect of the club is just as important as the playing side of it. They train on Wednesdays and play on Saturdays, purposefully aiming to implement “a more relaxed level of rugby”.
Most of the Irish guys came over with the intention of getting some work and getting themselves set up in that regard. While the desire was there to play rugby, it wasn’t really at that level,” he explains, in reference to the aforementioned ultra-competitive Australian sides.
Last year, they competed in Division 4 of the New South Wales Suburban Rugby League – the biggest domestic competition in the world, with six divisions in total and 100s of teams. In addition, Sydney Irish also have a number of mixed teams participating in Oztag — another increasingly popular phenomenon.
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Players are a mixture of people who have long been established in the expat community, as well as those who come over to Australia on one or two-year working visas.
While acknowledging that the team has gotten older with some players retiring since it was established, Baynes says they have not struggled for numbers despite the considerable decrease in Irish people emigrating to Australia of late.
“I don’t think it’s more difficult this year than it was any other year (to find players),” he says.
“There are more Australians getting involved in the club now. We have always seen new people arriving as well. Because of the nature of our club, we’re probably less stable than everybody else as regards numbers, so it takes quite a bit of work to recruit and make sure we have the numbers for all the teams, but we’re usually lucky enough.”
The tag rugby, in particular, tends to be a big draw for men and women alike.
“Tag rugby was a big focus as well for us when we were starting, because we wanted to get women involved in the club,” he explains. “It’s a pretty simple tactic — if women are involved in the club, the lads will follow. The tag rugby was a fantastic outlet for that and it’s just kept growing and growing. The guys who were running it for us have been doing a fantastic job.”
Sydney Irish celebrate winning the Jeffrey Cup in 2013.
And while the aim is for participation to be fun first and foremost, that does not necessarily mean the side lacks a competitive edge. Since being established, they have won a league, while last year, they had two teams in the Grand Final. And having started off with two sides in 2012, they now compete at a higher level while fielding three teams.
Baynes, who makes a living as a manager for QBE insurance when he’s not playing rugby, also has big plans for the team in future. Later this season, they’ll be heading to the Gold Coast to take on Brisbane Irish — another club that’s existed even longer and is made up largely of expats — while they hope to eventually organise a tri-state competition with the burgeoning Perth Irish team also involved.
In addition, Baynes aims to help set up a women’s full-contact team to complement the abundance of female players already involved with the tag rugby side.
However, one challenge that Baynes and co will probably never fully embrace is adapting to the often intense Australian heat.
A fair few of us are freckly and fair-haired and fair skinned,” he laughs. “Particularly when we’re starting off the season, it can be very warm. It’s the same at the very tail end of the season as well, because the first league game is in April and that’s still in autumn. You can get quite dry days where you’re playing in 30-degree heat. Certainly, for the first couple of years, it is very difficult to adjust to.
“When it is hotter and drier, pitches tend to be in a lot better nick at the start of the season. It’s really good conditions for quick rugby.
“It’s kind of funny, because while everybody’s playing quick rugby, it’s probably one of the reasons we won our division in the first year — we played a style of rugby that the Australian guys probably weren’t used to — a lot of forward-oriented play… And we went on and won the league.”
Off the field as well, there have been some memorable moments for Sydney Irish. One was being involved in the Australian St Patrick’s Day (though sadly, this year’s event has been cancelled owing to funding issues partially caused by awful weather at previous parades). Another is commemorated on the team’s official website, as a smiling Brian O’Driscoll can be seen wearing Sydney’s colours.
When the Lions were over after the final test, they were in Bondi having a drink, and a few of our lads were probably still there after celebrating it, and they had Brian in a jersey and got photos with him. So that was a good day,” Baynes recalls.
These memorable nights and brushes with life back in Ireland are essentially the reasons for the club’s existence. ‘Home is not as far as you think’ seems to be the prevailing message that the team always tries to promote.
“For people over here, it gives everybody a sense of home again,” Baynes adds of the club. “That was one of our ideas, while we’re in Australia, we’re playing in Australian leagues, what we wanted to bring to the west suburban competition when we started was the feel of the Céad Mile Fáilte to anyone who wanted to join the club.
So we wanted to be distinct in that manner and that’s how we go about our business when we’re playing in the league. When visiting teams come to us, we want to be friendly and open to anyone who comes in and gives them that feel of the Irish community. That’s why people latched on to it so quickly. It has that feel to it. It’s a real community club.
“And one of the reasons why the club is successful is because we recognise that everybody’s in a difficult position. I’m sure most people would prefer to be at home with friends and family. But the next best option is to be with those who you’re familiar with and who you want to be with and so I think that’s why the club community does so well.”
Despite being settled in his new life, Baynes admits he would like to return to Ireland some day and aside from family and friends, there is one other aspect of Irish life that he and other expats dearly miss.
If I’m walking around in 30-degree heat in January, I’m definitely thinking to myself I’d be better off in the rain — I’m more suited to it,” he laughs.
“In particular, while it’s enjoyable being here for Christmas and getting to lounge around a pool, there’s nothing like those leading few weeks into Christmas at home. Over November and December, it can be pretty dark and bleak, but just the buzz and the spirit in those couple of weeks before Christmas regardless of the rain or whatever it is, I don’t think that could be matched anywhere in the world. I think that’s when most of us notice it greatest.”
For more info, visit Sydney Irish’s official website here or follow them on Facebook here.
The Australian rugby team that embraces the 'Céad Mile Fáilte' ethos
WHILE THE LAST few years saw many thousands of Irish people emigrate, recent studies have revealed that these figures are now falling considerably.
Back in August, stats published by the Central Statistics Office showed that the number of people emigrating fell by 13%, when 35,300 left the country up to April 2015. The previous year, it had dropped by 20%, with 40,700 people leaving.
Moreover, while CSO figures revealed that the number of Irish people leaving for Australia specifically peaked in 2012 with 18,200 going Down Under, a study by The Irish Times found that the number of people emigrating there from Ireland dropped by 43% as recently as 2014.
Galway native Val Baynes is one of the many who left the country during the recession. In March, it will be five years since he departed. Having found permanent work hard to come by in Ireland, he says that moving to Australia seemed like “the thing to do”.
“A lot of my friends had done it through university, more as an advantageous gap year.
While over in Australia, Baynes would sometimes feel a longing for life back in Ireland. He needed something to help alleviate his homesickness. As a result, Sydney Irish RFC was born. The club was very much a product of the recession — having been established in 2012 by Baynes and “a few mates,” it has grown considerably since then and today has over 200 players registered.
Baynes and others initially were somewhat put off by the rugby culture over in Australia, explaining how certain teams he came across had multiple fitness and training sessions over the course of a week.
While emphasising that the standard of Sydney Irish is on a par with “a really good junior rugby side,” the social aspect of the club is just as important as the playing side of it. They train on Wednesdays and play on Saturdays, purposefully aiming to implement “a more relaxed level of rugby”.
Last year, they competed in Division 4 of the New South Wales Suburban Rugby League – the biggest domestic competition in the world, with six divisions in total and 100s of teams. In addition, Sydney Irish also have a number of mixed teams participating in Oztag — another increasingly popular phenomenon.
Players are a mixture of people who have long been established in the expat community, as well as those who come over to Australia on one or two-year working visas.
While acknowledging that the team has gotten older with some players retiring since it was established, Baynes says they have not struggled for numbers despite the considerable decrease in Irish people emigrating to Australia of late.
“I don’t think it’s more difficult this year than it was any other year (to find players),” he says.
The tag rugby, in particular, tends to be a big draw for men and women alike.
“Tag rugby was a big focus as well for us when we were starting, because we wanted to get women involved in the club,” he explains. “It’s a pretty simple tactic — if women are involved in the club, the lads will follow. The tag rugby was a fantastic outlet for that and it’s just kept growing and growing. The guys who were running it for us have been doing a fantastic job.”
And while the aim is for participation to be fun first and foremost, that does not necessarily mean the side lacks a competitive edge. Since being established, they have won a league, while last year, they had two teams in the Grand Final. And having started off with two sides in 2012, they now compete at a higher level while fielding three teams.
Baynes, who makes a living as a manager for QBE insurance when he’s not playing rugby, also has big plans for the team in future. Later this season, they’ll be heading to the Gold Coast to take on Brisbane Irish — another club that’s existed even longer and is made up largely of expats — while they hope to eventually organise a tri-state competition with the burgeoning Perth Irish team also involved.
In addition, Baynes aims to help set up a women’s full-contact team to complement the abundance of female players already involved with the tag rugby side.
However, one challenge that Baynes and co will probably never fully embrace is adapting to the often intense Australian heat.
“When it is hotter and drier, pitches tend to be in a lot better nick at the start of the season. It’s really good conditions for quick rugby.
“It’s kind of funny, because while everybody’s playing quick rugby, it’s probably one of the reasons we won our division in the first year — we played a style of rugby that the Australian guys probably weren’t used to — a lot of forward-oriented play… And we went on and won the league.”
Off the field as well, there have been some memorable moments for Sydney Irish. One was being involved in the Australian St Patrick’s Day (though sadly, this year’s event has been cancelled owing to funding issues partially caused by awful weather at previous parades). Another is commemorated on the team’s official website, as a smiling Brian O’Driscoll can be seen wearing Sydney’s colours.
These memorable nights and brushes with life back in Ireland are essentially the reasons for the club’s existence. ‘Home is not as far as you think’ seems to be the prevailing message that the team always tries to promote.
“For people over here, it gives everybody a sense of home again,” Baynes adds of the club. “That was one of our ideas, while we’re in Australia, we’re playing in Australian leagues, what we wanted to bring to the west suburban competition when we started was the feel of the Céad Mile Fáilte to anyone who wanted to join the club.
“And one of the reasons why the club is successful is because we recognise that everybody’s in a difficult position. I’m sure most people would prefer to be at home with friends and family. But the next best option is to be with those who you’re familiar with and who you want to be with and so I think that’s why the club community does so well.”
Despite being settled in his new life, Baynes admits he would like to return to Ireland some day and aside from family and friends, there is one other aspect of Irish life that he and other expats dearly miss.
“In particular, while it’s enjoyable being here for Christmas and getting to lounge around a pool, there’s nothing like those leading few weeks into Christmas at home. Over November and December, it can be pretty dark and bleak, but just the buzz and the spirit in those couple of weeks before Christmas regardless of the rain or whatever it is, I don’t think that could be matched anywhere in the world. I think that’s when most of us notice it greatest.”
For more info, visit Sydney Irish’s official website here or follow them on Facebook here.
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