Ahmed Alsaffar
By John Harrington
Ahmed Alsaffar surely has the distinction of being one of the first Saudi Arabians to ever play in a Gaelic Football All-Ireland Final.
He was the goalkeeper for the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) team that contested last weekend’s Independent.ie Higher Education Corn na Mac Leinn Final against Ulster University Magee.
Medical student Alsaffar only took up the sport two years ago, but a background as a soccer goalkeeper helped him make a quick and successful transition.
“I was the soccer goalie for RCSI and the goalie in the GAA team got injured so they called me in for one of the League matches and I did really well,” he told GAA.ie. “That was two years ago, and I'm still here.”
The Saudi native might be a natural, but there was still a steep learning curve to negotiate in his first couple of matches for RCSI.
“The first couple of games he played he was coming outside of the 13 yard line and anytime he did he just kicked it because he didn't realise he could pick it up,” says Alsaffar’s RCSI team-mate and club chairman, Ian Kelly.
“And when he had it in his hands he was holding onto it it, there were people coming in on him, and he didn't realise they could tackle him.
“So it took the first two games last year to get him into it. If there's a fella running in towards you it doesn't take you long to realise what's going on!
“He's been playing for us for the last two years and he has been doing very well for us. He loves it. He's at every training session and he gets involved with the club and everything.
"He's a very good goalie too as it happens, which is also a plus.”
RCSI
Alsaffar admits he’s still getting used to being a marked man whenever he gets the ball, but he’s learned to love the physical aspect of the game and sense of fair play.
“Yeah, it's kind of weird when I get the ball, there's a lot of pressure on me,” he says.
“It's different to soccer when you get the ball and it's just 'safe hands'. Everyone is tackling so you just need to pass it as fast as possible.
“I love the game, it's a tough game, fair-play. There's no diving here unlike in soccer. It's a tough game, everyone gives their most and I really love it.”
Alsaffar isn’t the only player for the Middle-East on the RCSI Gaelic Football panel this year. They also have two Iraqis, Ali Ahmed Khasan and Ali Alshawi.
RCSI have a long history of recruiting non-Irish players, partly because they’d have shallower playing resources than most third-level teams.
“We've a miniscule pick,” says Kelly. “I think the college has 4,000 in total. But only 10 per cent of the college is Irish.
“And then on top of that I think 60 per cent of the Irish are people. So we'd have a very small number and that's why we'd try to get foreign students involved.
“Generally if they've played soccer they can be pretty skillful, it's just about getting them used to playing with a football in their hands is the biggest thing really.
“They can take to it quite quickly though because they tend to immerse themselves in it. It's just straight in and give it everything.
“Their attitude is that because they're going to be spending five or six years in Ireland doing their course they want to go hell for leather at it and get something out of it.
“Our college sponsors jerseys and stuff for some of the teams over at the Asian Games. That helped us when it came to getting people to sign up.
“We were able to put up their jersies and they were places that were close to their home. Because of where they were from and RCSI were helping them, they were deciding they wanted to see what this was all about, kind of a thing.”
Ahmed
The perfect end to the Alsaffar story would have been him winning an All-Ireland medal last weekend, but instead RCSI were edged out 1-17 to 1-14 by University Ulster Magee.
The defeat stung, but the Saudi Arabian is still grateful of the experience and hopes to find a way to continue playing Gaelic Football even after he returns home.
“I'm really disappointed with that (defeat)”, he admits. “But I would just like to thank the team for giving me the experience, to be honest, it's a lovely game.”
