French connection was special for Armagh's Grugan

By John Harrington

As a French teacher in St. McCartan’s College in Monaghan, Rory Grugan will know better than most that results are reflective of the work that you put in.

He deserves to be pleased then with the impact of the 10 weeks he spent in France late last year coaching Gaelic football in clubs and schools through the medium of French on a pilot International GAA Player Exchange Programme organised by Gaelic Games Europe and supported by the GPA and McKeever Sports.

The Armagh star visited 17 clubs and 23 schools, upskilled 50 coaches, coached 640 club players, and introduced 940 students and 40 teachers to Gaelic football.

He was interviewed by France 24 TV which is broadcast in 74 countries with a weekly audience of almost 100 million and also featured in France’s most-read newspaper, L’Équipe, which has over 2.5 million daily readers.

As well as that, the videos he produced with Gaelic Games Europe as part of the programme generated 460,000 organic digital views.

“When you see that real impact in terms of numbers and social media and the legacy of it, it’s something you couldn’t help but be proud of,” Grugan told GAA.ie

“And then also on the actual experience side of things, it was just amazing. We knew it was so unique going and there was that kind of sense of nerves or trepidation before you left, hoping it would be a success and all that, but it was just such a special experience on a personal level as well.”

Grugan hit the ground running right from the off. He took the overnight ferry from Rosslate to Cherbourg, and on his very first day in the country had a meeting with France GAA Secretary, Stephen Hegarty, and held his first coaching session in a school.

The next 10 weeks were planned with military precision as he drove himself around the country and made the very most of the time he had there.

“Everywhere you're going you have a point of contact where they can plan with you in advance what you do, whether that's a school and it's total beginners, or a club with more experienced players, and you can come together with a bit of a plan,” says Grugan.

“With every school, every club, it was only ever one session, so that was what it looked like, thrown straight in, and the first couple of weeks were definitely what I would call a whirlwind in terms of intensity, but it was very cool.

“You were driving and someone was putting you up in their house that night. Usually you’d do an adult session with the local club, you stay with someone involved in the club, whether it's a manager or a player, and then you're up and at it the next day, driving away somewhere else to another school, whether that's an hour or two hours away, to do maybe two or three sessions with the school during the day, and potentially another adult session that night.

“It was a serious logistical operation, and credit goes to Chris Collins in Gaelic Games Europe and the French Federation for putting that together. Then obviously the responsibility came on me to be there myself and to organise it along with people there on the ground so it was a really big operation.”

The opportunity to stay with people in their homes and converse about Gaelic games with them in their native tongue was an unforgettable experience for the Armagh footballer who had previously spent a year in Brittany as part of his undergraduate degree.

“That was the beauty of it for me, it was so authentic,” says Grugan. “You're going and staying in someone's home who most of the time was French, so they're making you a French dish and they're talking about why they love the GAA and how they discovered it.

“They're asking you lots of questions about how you train and how you play at home, and the structures of the championship and how it all works with your teams, they were just really curious.

“That was the beauty for me - going to new areas, new clubs, new cities that I had never seen before in France and meeting so many people along the way. It was such a rewarding, enriching thing for me.”

Grugan was well-briefed on what to expect when he got to France but he was still taken aback by the enthusiasm of everyone involved with growing Gaelic games in the country and the well-run structures they already have in place in terms of governance, coaching, and games programming.

“Yeah, the pure scale of it surprised me,” says Grugan.

“You heard numbers before you went about the amount of clubs, the amount of players, the fact that they're majority French.

“I knew all those, but I think when you're actually on the ground and you look at a map of France, when I was kind of tracking the distance and the kilometres that I was covering, to think of the scale of what's going on in the country is amazing.

“Within that then they're obviously trying to grow it and to make it become an official sport, but the work that's already been done with regards to administration, creation of clubs, facility development, volunteerism, and their level of ambition to push things on with senior level clubs and run really well structured competitive championships, it was all seriously impressive and you’d be completely ignorant of it when you’re at home.

“They're a French version of GAA and they're very proud of that, but they feel a real connection with Ireland, especially in Brittany.

“So it's a slightly different version, but all the good values of the GAA are there and I think that's what's really nice to see when you see how they buy into that and how they kind of take on that sort of sense of being proud of your area.

“They're competitive and they want to win the tournaments that they do enter, but often with the logistics of travel and the numbers of teams, they amalgamate teams to go and play a tournament.

“One week they could be playing against each other in a regional competition, and then the next week it's the national tournament and they have to combine all the teams to make a representative team in the same way that clubs come together as a county.

“They very much have an adapt and conquer mindset and do whatever it takes to get it done. They travel 10- or 11-hour bus journeys on a Friday to play in a tournament on a Saturday and it's midnight when you get home on the Sunday. This type of stuff. It's just serious commitment.”

Wherever Grugan went he found very capable people hungry for more knowledge, especially the coaches he worked with.

“You’d be chatting to someone and they’d be telling you about the All-Ireland season from the year before and how Armagh did and the structures of it and all.

“When I’d do the evening sessions with an adult club teams then there was a great social side to it afterwards.

“It was very French with cheeseboards, charcuterie meat, and a glass of wine or bottle of beer, all this stuff to put on a real show for me which was so lovely and welcoming.

“You’d find yourself surrounded then and it’s all sorts of questions about what should we do with our kickouts, how to work on kicking technique for shooting, and asking you what your ideas were about this or that.

“They were all very curious and keen to make the most of the fact that you were there and maximise their learning.”

Grugan’s fluency in French helped make that an easier process and he also took the time to produce some coaching videos that will continue to be a resource for the clubs and the schools involved.

Breaking into mainstream sports coverage through his interviews with France 24 and L’Équipe was also enthusiastically received by those working hard to raise awareness of Gaelic games in France.

“Yeah, it's nice to hear from people who I've worked with along the way in the 10 weeks getting in touch with you to say that they're proud that they've seen the coverage of their club or the project on the TV or in the local newspaper.

“They know the support that's garnering and the good work that's been done the Irish Embassy in Paris to help them push hard to get their full accreditation as a sport, the media coverage also really helps with that.

“They’re doing great work to grow the game, especially through the Gaelic Games Youth Officer Pearse Bell.

“Schools is something they’re really focusing on and there’s already been a good legacy from the programme where they’ve gotten people into some of the schools I visited to deliver Gaelic football as an after-school programme or as an eight-week block in their PE programme.”

It’s a testament to the impact that Grugan made in France that his pilot International GAA Player Exchange Programme will now be repeated with more players in the future.

“The pre-project aim was that it could be replicated and there were going to be future opportunities but, without letting the cat out of the bag, there will be something coming on that definitely,” says Grugan.

“It looks like the it's in the works for a few people to do a very similar thing later this year.

“I’m very happy and grateful to know I’ve been part of that legacy by being the first one to do something that will now be continued into the future.

“I filmed some of the skills of Gaelic football in French as coaching resources for young players in clubs and schools and I think they hope to do more of that as well so that’s another positive legacy of it.

“I know there are also plans to deliver Gaelic games through other languages in ways like that so there's loads of kind of takeaway pieces that have come from it I think that signals the success that it was.”

With his adventure in France now in the back-mirror, Grugan is very much focused again on helping the Armagh senior footballers win some silverware this year.

He’s still rehabbing from Achilles surgery and is unlikely to play any part in the remainder of their League campaign, but hopes to be available for selection in time for the Ulster Championship.

“As an impatient kind of person the recovery has been a bit slower than I'd like,” says Grugan.

“My aim is probably to be back for championship at this stage. The league flies through and the weeks are running out and as much as I'd love to be there and help given how it's all going I'll probably just have to get my powder dry until championship that's the target.

“It's just the kind of pain that there is with it in the heel and I suppose I'm at a stage in the career with the age I am that I have to try and get it right for the long term and that it isn't just a short-term fix to play a couple of games and not be thinking about everything after.

“Like I said, a bit of patience is required, which isn't always my best virtue.”