Wednesday the 13th of March 2010 was an historical day in the sporting annals of Toulouse. Known in the world of sport mainly for its towering rugby team Stade Toulousain, Toulouse witnessed the arrival of Gaelic Games to the South West of France and the tentative first steps of the Tolosa Despòrt Gaelic. La Ville Rose is a long way from the lush green fields of Ireland, where this skilful game was born centuries ago, but nevertheless La Ville Rose was indeed the setting for the first exhibition match of the mighty Tolosa Gaels.
Having formed in November 2009, when six brave souls took to the field with little more than a Gaelic football and passion in their hearts, Tolosa Gaels have gone from strength to strength in a relatively short space of time. The original 6 players have swelled to over 20 and on the 13th March, 28 players took to the field at the Argoulet all-weather American football pitch to prove to anybody who will listen that Gaelic football has arrived in Toulouse and that more and more people are hearing its call.
The objective on March the 13th was to gather as many players as we could to show the French public the beauty and simplicity of this Gaelic sport which dominates the sporting landscape of Ireland, yet which remains relatively unknown in the rest of the world. Experienced Irish footballers, along with their French teammates who have been with the Gaels from the beginning, mingled with complete beginners who had come that Saturday to discover the game. In drills organised by trainers Chris Bullock and Doireann Ni Dhalaigh, experienced players explained the rules and demonstrated the techniques of Gaelic Football to eager dilettantes. Under the flashing cameras of eager spectators (see the photo gallery) and of La Dépêche de Midi, experienced players led the novices through a typical training session, the likes of which take place every Saturday morning at 10 am. Players practiced the main skills of the game, including the pick up, the solo, the fist pass and the graceful art of fielding the high ball.
The Gaels then finished off the day with a match, allowing the beginners to put their newly acquired skills into practice and giving an idea to the journalists present, as well as the curious spectators, of what a Gaelic football match actually looks like.
The day was a fine success for Tolosa Despòrt Gaelic. Tolosa Gaels took this opportunity to showcase their unique sport and to recruit new players. Feedback from these new players and spectators alike were overwhelmingly positive. The fact that several potential recruits contacted Tolosa Despòrt Gaelic after reading the glowing report in La Dépêche de Midi was proof that occasions such as this are an important means of promoting our fledgling club and reaching new audiences. The club looks forward to a similar event in July when we shall take to the sand of Toulouse Plage from July 18th to the 25th to showcase Gaelic football to multitudes of Toulousains.
In 1884 when 7 men took a stand to halt the decline in the traditional sports of Ireland by forming the Gaelic Athletics Association (the GAA), little did they imagine that their association would become the largest organisation in Ireland with over 1 million members. This bastion of amateur sport which is at the heart of thousands of small Irish towns and villages, has now arrived in Midi-Pyrénées and I would love to know what Michael Cusack and Maurice Davin and the other founding fathers of the GAA would say if they saw the passion that was on display on the 13th of March in Toulouse.
Stephen Duffy