Football question for you all...

decrrrrrr

Over the years Ireland has seen an increase in people coming to live here from foreign countries. It's great to see them integrate so well into our communities, with many even taking up our native games. This got me thinking...

The question I have is who was the first black person to play inter county football..?

I think I have an answer and I even recall watching him play in the mid 80's. Not sure if it's right though...

Clareman

I think there was someone for Galway wasn't there??

In Ennis some of the young lads a fantastic at hurling and football, it's refreshing to see lads around in Clare jerseys, the "locals" go around in soccer jerseys

EoimarMuppet

isnt it funny how GAA's first "sex symbol superstar" was vietnamese and Hurlings was a family of Fijians!!!

An Citeog

Have you seen the Cumann na mBunscoil finals lately?

There are some very good players from different ethnic origins, particularly at juvenile level. A lot of the black kids tend to develop at a much earlier stage than your typical Irish 14 year old and can dominate at that level.

shiibata

think armagh had one away back..a corner forward..probably totally wrong.. mcconville springs to mind (no not oisin)

shiibata

there was a joey cunningham too, that name def rings a bell..not mcconville

yahoo_moe

anyone at dublin v tyrone under lights at Croker last year? The half-time kids' game was highlighting the GAA's multi-ethnicity...

until one of the lads did a soccer stepover and got a huge cheer...

whereupon more soccer playing followed, including two very classy goals... absolutely hilarious, had everyone in stitches

as for the original question - sorry, no idea

decrrrrrr

Yep, Joey Cunningham who played for Armagh, was who I had in mind...

On a side note, and in line with some of the other posts in this thread, I have played intermediate football this year against a Nigerian, 2 Polish and a Latvian.. all more that capable of holding their own on a football pitch... it's great to see..

blackbelt

Yes its great to see alright although at half time last Feb in Croker,we were shouting for them to use their hands.:D

patmac

Our club lost an Epic Div2 Feile final AET this year to a very strong Kildare team with 2 "Black Lads" as the locals called them, twins afaik . Very stylish, they are already county U-14's will be interesting to see how they develop. As for the OP now idea.

The Chessplayer

While I have seen a couple of young black kids walking around the city with hurls, I've never seen one at inter-county level. Am sure there is a good few challenging for places at minor level.

MrJoeSoap

LiamWalkinstown wrote: »

isnt it funny how GAA's first "sex symbol superstar" was vietnamese and Hurlings was a family of Fijians!!!

DJ Carey was Fijian?

Afaik, Wexfords county champions Oulart-de-Ballagh have at least one black player.

aidan24326

The first one was probably the Armagh lad I'd say.

In 10-15 years it will probably be the norm for most GAA teams to have at least one or two foreigners, be they Nigerian, Polish or whatever. Especially in the counties with large urban areas like Galway,Cork,Dublin. If more protestant/loyalists in the North start to play GAA that will add another dimension aswell, give the nordie teams a bigger pick.

Mushy

In answer to the question, I've no idea, I'm probably too young to remeber any "black person" play at inter-county level.

Saw a CnM final there recently, and there were some coloured lads playing, all well and good, but I really hate the way they barely pick up the ball. Nobody really tackled them for fear of having their legs taken from under them. This is the aspect I dont want to see coming into the game, I tink its great to see that the GAA will have changed so much when these lads come on stream for senior inter-county level.

Flukey

Speaking of foreigners playing Gaelic Games: in just the past couple of weeks I fell into that category myself. I was playing Hurling... in Malawi. While I was a foreigner there, some of the locals were pretty handy with a camán and I was playing in a pitch that, with the nearby high mountains, reminded me very much of Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. We had a mix of ourselves and the locals in both teams. I won a penalty when fouled by a goalkeeper from Fermanagh. According to those watching, I acquitted myself quite well for a Dub playing Hurling.

Flukey

Mushy wrote: »

In answer to the question, I've no idea, I'm probably too young to remeber any "black person" play at inter-county level.

So are you telling us that you are too young to remember Seán Óg ÓHailpín playing Hurling within recent years or Jason Sherlock playing football? If you can't remember 3 months ago you must be very young, or an extremely fast developer.

Mushy

Flukey wrote: »

So are you telling us that you are too young to remember Seán Óg ÓHailpín playing Hurling within recent years or Jason Sherlock playing football? If you can't remember 3 months ago you must be very young, or an extremely fast developer.

Ah touché! Nah, I just don't rate them as being "black" as such. Not quite "white" either though.

Tomthepost

An Citeog wrote: »

Have you seen the Cumann na mBunscoil finals lately?

There are some very good players from different ethnic origins, particularly at juvenile level. A lot of the black kids tend to develop at a much earlier stage than your typical Irish 14 year old and can dominate at that level.

Given than Bunscoil translates as Primary School I'm sure any 14 year old with 2 left feet from any country could look good in it .:D

jacksman

Tomthepost wrote: »

Given than Bunscoil translates as Primary School I'm sure any 14 year old with 2 left feet from any country could look good in it .:D

whaddya mean by that? Cumann na Bunscol maybe a primary school but that doesn't mean that there are young lads playing who will stand out from the crowd - like in any other sport at that level - it's not Go Games mate

Tomthepost

I mean that most kids tend to leave primary school at 11 or 12 and thus a 14 year old would generally have a big physical advantage.
As for what your on about 'go games' what is that???

An Citeog

Tomthepost wrote: »

Given than Bunscoil translates as Primary School I'm sure any 14 year old with 2 left feet from any country could look good in it .:D

Tomthepost wrote: »

I mean that most kids tend to leave primary school at 11 or 12 and thus a 14 year old would generally have a big physical advantage.
As for what your on about 'go games' what is that???

They were two different paragraphs and weren't referring to the same thing, smartarse!

The first was about the amount of foreign/immigrant kids taking part on primary school teams, whereas I was talking from personal experience in the second. 2 lads in particular I used to play against were absolute monsters. They weren't particularly gifted footballers but their raw power and fitness were far superior to those of your average Irish teenager.

K-9

shiibata wrote: »

there was a joey cunningham too, that name def rings a bell..not mcconville

It maybe him alright. I think he scored a goal or two the day Armagh walloped Donegal in the Athletic Grounds in 1988. I remember because everybody was asking the fella beside us with the transistor radio was it still 1-0 in the Ireland England match in Stuttgart.

At least one Donegal man got man of the match that day! But it was in Stuttgart.;)