Different Ball Game

Having skipped last season to give the back a break, I’m gearing up for a winter playing with FC Irlande. The club was a massive help when I was trying to settle in Brussels. It provided regular training and games but more importantly, a lively social network.

I played regularly from the 2006/07 season and combined that with club trainer duties from 2007-2009. It was an enjoyable time but with the G.A.A. club beginning to boom from 2008 onwards, my involvement lessened. The G.A.A. became all consuming and by the 2009/10 season, my appearances were more irregular than regular.

Last Monday night I lined out at right back for the seconds against the first team. When I got onto the pitch I was happy to see I wasn’t alone in making my comeback. Emmett Devine, captain of our 2008 Euro Championship team was also there. We would have formed a tight bond on that maiden voyage but with Ruby and Mia having arrived in his house in recent years, we’d rarely see each other anymore.

There are a few glaring differences between FC Irlande and Belgium G.A.A. The first is the number of foreigners. FCI is awash with them and their different customs and languages. Everyone shakes hands when they see you, regardless of if they know you are not. If they don’t know you, they will most often just shake your hand but not actually introduce themselves.

Of course then there is the nature of the soccer player which tends to be a little less impressed with physical contact beyond a friendly handshake. It is particularly bad in the league we play in here, where you can barely say boo to someone.

Yesterday we had our first game of the season. I lined out with the seconds who had no less than nine Irish in the match day squad. This was way above average for the club and is a big draw. It has a cluster of current and former Belgium G.A.A. stalwarts. The likes of John O’Donnell and Emmett Devine from the ’08 generation. Paul Gavin is still dual assigned. Pat Ahern flirted with Gaelic for a time and of course, we cannot leave out Ollie Smith, the controversial Cavan man who lined out for Munster in the 2010 Intra-club league.

We won the game 1-0 with a late goal from Pat. I did fine at right back but it’s not necessarily a natural thing to me. Playing 5-a-side is one thing but 11-a-side is completely different. You need to keep a shape in soccer and in defence that means you all need to move back and forward together, managing the offside trap.

It’s the touch that’s a killer though. I’d be fairly confident of ‘trapping’ a gaelic football descending from the sky but a soccer ball is totally different. It’s lighter and more inclined to fly off your foot when you are not used to the weight of it. Even a straight forward pass can pose issues at the beginning as the ball doesn’t come off your foot with the same consistency.

Kicking the ball poses another issue. You’d be surprised how much shin guards affect it when you aren’t used to them, especially when they begin to slip down your shin during the game.

How to keep your balance is also different. You can use your arms a lot more when backing up to catch a high ball in G.A.A. In soccer you can’t use the arms in the same way and I ended up on my arse a few times Monday night.

Still, with a group like we had on Saturday, it should be a good way of keeping active in the winter. Plenty of the G.A.A. lads are talking about joining up so they should swell the ranks further. I’d certainly recommend it.