The Dilemma of Working Together

Last weekend, two prominent groups in the Irish Expat circle of Brussels were busily conducting separate events. The Munster Supporters group held a dinner at which Mick Galway was guest speaker and as you know already we had Mike McGurn over for some coaching sessions. In addition to this the Ladies Footballers were also training. Of course the soccer club had all six of its soccer teams in action and I’m sure there were many other activities going on too.

The Irish seem to be very active in Brussels these days or at least I am noticing more. However, we tend to work in silos with little awareness of what each other are doing. I met one Irish guy who was visiting Brussels for the weekend and it was obvious to him that we had no common communication network.

Events like the Patricks Day one which has been going on now for a few years, have started to bind the communities together. It has really taken off in the last two years and has now become a day for all the Irish community here. Even with this increased contact, we still don’t really track each other during the year.

When we got the football going in the G.A.A. club here, we knew there were guys who played in Brussels years ago and we tried to get them involved but they had little interest which was disappointing but understandable as they probably felt they had done their time and had other priorities now.

One wonders was our failure to entice them a good or a bad thing. On Saturday, I had a fella telling me, with a great degree of certainty, that the only reason the G.A.A. club has taken off in the last couple of years was because of our sponsor’s money. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; from someone I had never met before, ever seen at training, a tournament or a club night out.

It’s the kind of small minded comment which makes my blood boil. Just short of two years ago, our club fielded two teams regularly. Now we field six, in four codes, as often as possible. Such participation amongst expat clubs in Brussels is only rivalled by the soccer clubs and even in the case of FC Irlande, we can match them in numbers of teams, if not overall participation numbers.

Our club didn’t grow because of money or one or two individuals. It grew because of a succession of driven people getting involved and working together to make the club what it is today; the most vibrant G.A.A. club which has ever been in Brussels.

In fact, the irony of all this is that it wasn’t money coming in which had the biggest impact, it was a move which stopped money going out which helped the most. When we switched training from the outskirts of Brussels to the cheaper and more central Parc50, we say our numbers surge. These types of facts are lost on the types of individuals which make such comments.

Hopefully we can contribute to bringing all the Irish organisations in Brussels together in the future. However, in doing so, hopefully we won't encourage such attitude out of the pub and into the committee rooms.