IT’S always interesting to get an insight into how Ireland is perceived from abroad. I’m not talking about the way the EU bigwigs look down on us for our calamitous handling of our financial affairs, but rather how ordinary visitors to our great country see us.
We know that foreigners marvel at our pub culture and love the Irish sense of humour. They travel in their droves to our natural wonders such as the Lakes of Killarney or the Cliffs of Moher; they enjoy the Viking Splash Tour, visit the Book of Kells and down pints of the black stuff after experiencing the world-famous Guinness Storehouse.
But to get a real sense of what Irishness looks like to the outside world, I’d highly recommend introducing a tourist to a GAA football game.
Earlier this month, as Dublin and Mayo faced each other in the epic replay of the All-Ireland final, I found myself in the company of a group of visitors from Barcelona as we watched the game in – you guessed it – a pub.
None of them had ever seen a Gaelic football match before but were all keen to soak up the electric atmosphere. I told them they had picked a great weekend to come to Dublin and then attempted to explain the basic rules of the game before throw-in.
To be honest, I have a fairly basic grasp of GAA. A point is anything over the bar; three points is equal to a goal; each half is 35 minutes. Sure what else did they need to know?
As the battle got underway, the Barcelona lads watched agog, barely able to take a sip of their creamy pints. They could not understand what was being played out before their eyes – the pushing, the shoving the grabbing of jerseys.
When I asked one of the Catalan group to describe his first impression of Gaelic football in one word, he replied “primitive”. But what he perceived as aggression, we justified as raw passion and determination. The stakes were high for both teams, but particularly for Mayo. I think we completely lost our new Barcelona friends when we tried to tell them about the curse that has prevented them from winning an All-Ireland since 1951.
The issuing of a black card to Mayo keeper Rob Hennelly proved equally baffling to them. What was the point of that rule? It was a forced substitution rather than a sending off. You wouldn’t see the likes of that at Camp Nou.
As the pub erupted after the final whistle, with Dublin securing a one-point victory, the Barcelona boys seemed to enjoy being caught up in the euphoria. But more than anything else, they were completely shocked to learn that the incredible athletes they had just watched were unpaid amateurs; driven by pride for their respective counties rather than wealth and privilege.
A quick Google search confirmed that there is an active GAA scene in Barcelona. I think we may have recruited a few new converts.
t.mccullagh@dublinpeople.com