Na Fianna Fall At The Feet of Belgium Hurlers & Beer

Trying to get challenge games in Belgium is harder than you might think at this time of year!!!Teams are generally reluctant to venture outside the cosy county bounds to take on the best of the rest of Ireland, not to mention the rest of the world. We have tried to build relations with clubs at home in the last year to try and entice them over. In 2008 we welcomed St Fechins (Louth) hurlers and St Peregrines (Blanchardstown) footballers to Brussels for challenge matches.

Neither went off without incident. The root cause of all incidents being drink, as you might expect. By the time teams land in Brussels they have already filled up with pint bottles of Bulmers in Dublin airport and within an hour of dumping their bags in the hotel, you can be sure they have passed through the sacred arches of either O'Reillys, Nua or Celtica.

Fechins arrived out to Tervuren for last February's match down two men who had been arrested the night before. A dance-off that didn't go their way apparently. They were a young enough outfit that they could run off the excesses and they beat a very understrength Belgium by a few points. This was pre-takeoff of the club and players were scarce.

Fast forward to October and the arrival of Peregrines. Again they let loose on the Friday night and stories of 10am finishes, pick pockets etc filled their pre-match banter. It was the week before we travelled to Rennes and with a few new players on board, we needed a good game. They arrived in Parc50 in a disasterous state. We ran up a big score and in the end they knew they had let themselves down. No self-respecting GAA team would like the idea of being beaten by a crew of exiles.

Of course you can't really blame them for their behaviour as its more about the craic and teambuilding for them. Also, as Irish people, we probably think we are well able for a session. However, the weaker beer and early closing times in Ireland are no match for the strength of Belgium's finest brew and the all night drinking. By the time you realise this, any chance of sensible decision making is long gone and there is no quick fix.

Na Fianna were the latest tourists to land on our patch last Saturday. In July we had travelled to Dublin to play themselves and Whitehall the week before our home tournament. Na Fianna got it in their heads to come straight away and in fairness they stayed good to their word. They were full of life when they got to the pitch, seemingly energised by the events of the evening before.

The game started at a lively enough pace and we were 0-3 to 0-1 up after ten minutes. With the ball down the other end of the field, i threw my eye to my right to see one of their players running in a distressed state before he hit the ground. Players rushed to his side and were able to put him in the recovery position quickly. Adrian called the ambulance which quickly arrived. Whilst the medics were treating him, their manager and stand in referee collapsed. Next thing we had two ambulances and an army of medics. The medics were on the ball in fairness and looked after the two lads well and carted them off to hospital.

With those incidents behind us, the Na Fianna boys were eager to continue. The delay meant Eoghan had to take off whilst i had a previous committment which limited my involvement to another twenty minutes. However, Hough had dragged his sorry arse out of the scratcher and whilst unlikely ever to be described as a 'competent' replacement for anyone, he did manage to take his place on the team. Reports suggest he even tacked on a few scores.

With the main event out of the way, next stop was The Old Oak for the arranged dinner and rugby match viewing. Again, i missed the ceremonies and Mr. Keary's ministerial address but I gather they went off well. The craic was good and most headed to town shortly after midnight. The following day there were sightings of our guests in de Valera's continuing on their merry way. The player who was brought to hospital is being retained until Wednesday for further tests but the manager was released on Saturday evening and could be found in good humour
that night.

Next up are the men from the wild West. Clare Island arrive this Friday along with Roger Casements of Coventry for the first Brussels Invitational Tournament. Instigated by Olof, who hails from the Island, it should be a cracking day. We will have a girls and lads tournaments and we're hoping to have two men's teams competing. Again, the Old Oak will host us and a massive night is expected.