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| The History of the Gaelic Athletic Association in AucklandGaelic Games on an organised basis were played in Auckland as far back as 1949. Prior to that young Irish immigrants carrying their love of the games to New Zealand played as isolated groups. However under the control of the Auckland Irish Society the games flourished.The first provincial games took place at the annual Feis of the Irish Societies in Christchurch in 1950 where Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch fielded teams. From then on every annual Feis had representative teams in football and hurling. An important year in the annals of the GAA was 1953. The then government of the day decreed that a power station be built at Meremere south of Auckland. Hundreds of workers from overseas following the construction soon formed their Gaelic football team and provided opposition for Auckland. More importantly out of this an independent GAA was formed. Through the fifties and sixties the games enjoyed a resurgence with a youthful Irish zest from nearly 100 per cent of Irish born players. Through the good grace of Auckland Rugby League a playing field was obtained at Cornwall Park and there for a long time the high point in the week was the gathering there. In 1955, as a result of proposals by John Broderick of Kerry and Kawerau, to Vincent McHale of Mayo and Auckland, the Kawerau team came to play Auckland. The Kawerau team consisted of Irishmen working on the building of the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill. Unfortunately when the mill was built the men scattered and the club lapsed. However a number of players came to Auckland and settled here. In 1956-57 a team from Pukekohe was formed through the energy of Father Daly of Pukekohe and the Farrell family. This resulted in a series of games both in Auckland and Pukekohe. Players of those days who are living today nearly fifty years on will recall with affection and nostalgia the simple pure enjoyment of those times. In 1959 the Kerry team on a World trip, as a reward for winning their 21st All Ireland Championship, came to Auckland and played at Carlaw Park. It was a glorious afternoon and the boys from Kerry soon found that the well-trained Auckland side was no push-over. It was a tense game with Kerry running out winners, but they individually expressed surprise that way down here at the bottom of the Earth we could produce players of such calibre. Arguably the team which stands out in many people’s minds is that of 1962. Indeed it has been said that no Auckland team since could beat them! Their pinnacle of success came at the Auckland Feis of 1962, when at Carlaw Park they beat a confident and talented Lower Hutt team by a solitary point lofted from way out by Mayo man Vincent McHale. The big crowd that had been screaming their heads off as the see-saw game progressed suddenly fell silent as the ball wafted its way goal wards, hesitated in the wind and then as if gently pushed dropped over the bar. Pandemonium! The same day our Hurlers though they battled courageously were beaten by Wellington. However the game that aroused intense interest that day was the Camogie final between Auckland and Wellington. I have up to now omitted the girls and the roles they played. There was not a great number of Irish girls in Auckland in the fifties but many came to the games and their presence was a happy and joyful one. Not to be left out they formed a Camogie team together with New Zealand born girlfriends and with encouragement from the footballers and hurlers they grew very skilled in the game. This was evidenced by their winning the Leinster Shield in 1962 at Carlaw Park against Wellington. The girls had grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, footballers, hurlers and a host of others who got caught up in the frenzy cheering them on. They are a little? older now but they must cherish memories of that great game. Further on down the years more clubs formed as the membership increased. St Pat’s, Celtic, Roskill Rangers, Papatoetoe, Shamrock Rovers, Tir Na Nog to name some. Then came the notable years of the visits of our friends from New York instigated by that ‘Doyen of American GAA’ John Kerry O’Donnell. In 1964, 1968, 1975 and later in 1997 (you will see this in the nineties ‘one mans view’) they came and played football and made friends and enjoyed our hospitality which they said was – and I quote – “The Best”. They liked us. We liked them. Their visits created a bond of friendship that still exists. In the lifetime of any sporting code, there occurs from time to time certain changes which affect the direction and substance of that code. In the late 1960’s there came what I refer to as the ‘Kiwi input’. Young men, sons of the Irish players of earlier years and their Kiwi friends joined the code and added a sparkling new dimension. From this time on the majority of players were New Zealand born. They were fit, keen and enthusiastic for a game that is different. Their speed, ball control, dexterity both on and off the ground and their mental agility to read the play has given the game a degree of spectator and player enjoyment hitherto lacking. Coaches like Dan Bass and Jim Connolly certainly provided the basics, but underlying that, they had natural talent to probe and resurrect, which they did. The 80’s became a new phenomenon for Auckland. The creation of the Australasian Gaelic Games. In 1980 a team went to Sydney to compete in football and every subsequent year except 1985 when we hosted the games at Carlaw Park and competed with hurling and football teams from the Australian States. It was not until 1992 that Auckland won the Senior title in Adelaide but the Minors did which leads me back to our Junior Board. Way back in 1962 Father Leo Doyle formed a Junior Football Board with the help of a few more dedicated people. Players were drawn mainly from Catholic Schools in the Auckland area and were an instant success. The far-sightedness of the scheme was evidenced by the processing of Junior players to Minor and Senior levels thus ensuring a steady flow of experienced players. So it was in 1989 that Auckland Minors beat the pick of Australia to become Australasian champions. A noteworthy effort. Because of the brevity of this pocket-sized history from the 50’s to 90’s certain sacrifices had to be made. Names are generally left out because of the vital contributions made by so many on and off the field. Efforts made on our behalf by so many Catholic Priests and the co-operation by Catholic School Principals in allowing us use of their grounds. – Paddy Somers The nineties follows as ‘one man’s view’Auckland Gaelic Football people will remember the Nineties and remember good times. This was the decade when Australasian success finally came our way. Whether it was the fact that we ran a domestic competition that continuously involved five clubs and some seasons six that led to this period of Auckland’s success or whether it was because of men like Jimmy Connolly, Aidan Heron, Gerry Roper, Frank Heffernan, Danny Bass and other GAA people who decided that it was about time there was minor under 18 football in Auckland or maybe it was a combination of the two and other variables, we can only guess. We do know that whatever it was it led to some special times.1989 saw our first Australasian victory. The minors under Jimmy Connolly brought home the minor championship trophy. This was the beginning of three in a row victories for the Auckland Minors – Brisbane 1990 and Auckland 1991 following on from the win in Melbourne. Auckland 1991 saw hopes raised for a senior victory but the team fell short of the standard required to secure the championship. However lessons were learnt and the following year in Adelaide under player/coaches Michael O’Malley and Rocky Conway and mentor Malachy McAfee the Auckland seniors finally triumphed in a game involving two periods of extra time. Captain Paddy McCahill stood in the fading daylight and lifted the silverware over his head to the cheers of all the Auckland people who had made the trip. That particular day was a day that experienced players among the Auckland team combined with the youth that had come through the minors to show what can be achieved if you never say die. These players set the new standard for future teams.  Winners of the Australasian Gaelic Games Senior Football Cup in Adelaide 1992. Back Row: B Batey, A Redmond, B McCahill, J Kilkenny, Peter Tinneny, M McLoughlin,S Davidson, P McCahill, J Fox, JJ Doyle, C Bass G Quinn Front Row: G O’Brien, M O’Malley, J Connolly, B McCahill, G Heffernan, N Kilkenny, R Conway, M Fox, A O’Toole, C Connolly, D Kelly, D Magee, A Heron The games in Perth in 1993 saw competitive efforts by both seniors and minors falter when faced with higher class opposition. Much the same can be said of touring teams to Sydney in 1994. 1995 saw the Auckland ladies Gaelic team travel to the games for the first time under the supervision of Mary McCahill, Aidan Heron, Annie Gallagher and Paddy McCahill. This time Victoria were the hosts. These ladies were very much travelling into the unknown but they too had the Auckland fighting spirit. After playing very well throughout the tournament they were pipped at the post in a very exciting final by New South Wales. Indeed so exciting was the game that even the commentators lost their voices. Despite the disappointment of losing, the ladies joined in the Auckland celebrations because the minors had found their winning way again. 1996 saw the Australasian team travel to Ireland with four Auckland players in their line-up. Chris Connolly, Brendan McCahill, Frank Roberts and Gerard Heffernan. No Australasian tournament was held because of that tour. This year off must have been just what the doctor ordered because as we all travelled to Wellington in 1997 no one could have imagined what lay ahead. In what turned into an Auckland GAA extravaganza, the seniors, ladies and minors all won their respective competitions. This great achievement itself was unprecedented in the history of the Australasian Championships, but the manner in which it was achieved was so emphatic as to make people wonder whether it will ever happen again. Not one of the three teams lost a game and the only point dropped was by the seniors in a drawn game against Victoria. For some Auckland players this was the last time they would line out for Auckland Gaelic Football. Men like Peter Magee, Aidan Redmond and Michael O’Malley had played with pride for Auckland for many years but it was time to move aside for some other player to make his mark. However these players along with thirteen other Auckland team mates under Auckland coach M O’Malley had the honour of representing New Zealand against Australia the next day. This game followed a game between the New Zealand ladies Auckland Team and Australia. To cap off that most memorable of years Auckland hosted a game at Albany between New Zealand and New York a month later. It was New York’s first visit in 22 years and even though the result did not favour the home team the day was a good excuse to celebrate that year’s achievements in our home base. 1998 saw the three 1997 champion teams travel to Brisbane to defend their titles, but despite gallant efforts, (the seniors eventually making the final under Rocky Conway’s leadership) the Australians were in no mood to allow a repeat of the previous years result. The upshot being Auckland returned home a lot lighter than how they left. The last year of the old millennium and the first year of the new did not see Auckland compete in Australia in any section of the competition. Early 2000 saw Auckland host the Allied Irish Bank team. This was a wonderful event socially as well as on the pitch and a great time was had by all. It was this tour that enthused the following years and our move to a more permanent venue at the current leased premises of Western Springs Association Football Club. Our club tournament ticked over as it had for the previous ten years with its close rivalries and epic championship contests providing great entertainment on many a Sunday afternoon.  Then came 2001 there were mumblings from early in the year suggesting that it was time we made the big effort to travel to Australia again. This gained momentum throughout the months and it was only with weeks to go before the tournament started that the senior team pulled out. Player withdrawals, consistency from day one of training had put us in the position of having to travel too light on players for such a hectic competition. However while all this had been going on Jim Connolly and his minor squad had been quietly going from strength to strength at training. It was they who finally were the only Auckland representatives to tour. After what has been described since as “the wake up call” in the first game these first time Gaelic players grew in stature from game to game and eventually kept the tradition of successful Auckland minor teams going by beating Queensland in the final. Early 2002 saw the start of what will hopefully be our Annual Sevens Tournament. This competition while being a huge success in having twelve teams take part was also instrumental in the rebirth of Auckland Ladies Gaelic and it has now grown to the point where Auckland have now been able to put together a squad to compete at the Australasian games again. 2003 our Auckland Minors won again in Melbourne. In 2004 came the inaugural International rules game between Auckland Gaelic Football and Auckland AFL. This was an excellent game and will become a yearly feature of our associations. January 2005 saw Auckland host the All Ireland Cork Hurling team to Auckland. A Hurling match was played against Cork on Sunday 15 January. A great reception given by the Auckland Gaelic Football was had by many and the Cork team took back many fond memories of their visit. October 30th 2005 sees Auckland again hosts to Bank of Ireland and AIB Bank teams in both Hurling and Football. This promises to be a great occasion for all. |
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