Enthusiastic young members of Simba Wolfhounds in Uganda.
By John Harrington
New ground has been broken with the establishment of the first GAA affiliated club on the African continent.
Simba Wolfhounds in Uganda are already thriving with thousands of children registered as members and ambitious plans for further growth in the coming years.
The driving force behind Simba Wolfhounds is John Walsh, who met his Ugandan wife Debbie in the unlikely location of Dalian in China when they both joined Dalian Wolfhounds GAA club.
They’re now living in Uganda with their daughters Kathleen and Mamara and John is a hugely active member of the Irish community there.
For a number of years he has promoted the playing of Gaelic games in various locations in the country but the dream was always to some day establish a club that was fully affiliated with the GAA.
After two years of hard work he has realised that dream with Simba Wolfhounds now affiliated to Munster GAA.
‘Simba’ is the Swahili for ‘Lion’ or ‘Brave’ and Wolfhounds is a recognition that this journey began for he and Debbie when they met while playing with Dalian Wolfhounds.
“It's fantastic that we’re the first GAA affiliated club in Africa,” says Walsh. “I have a great team here, a mixture of Irish and Ugandans. We have a fantastic executive committee with great talents.
“It was so relieving to have that and to be connected with the GAA because it's such a great organisation.
“It’s not just the games, it’s the community spirit of it. You just do not see that anywhere else. That's what's going to resonate with people down here, that real community spirit which we take for granted in Ireland.”
Simba Wolfhounds estimate they will have 5,000 playing members by the end of the year.
Simba Wolfhounds are mainly based in Jinja in southern Uganda but work with a network of schools rather than drawn their players from a defined geographical area.
“There is no disposable income here for this so we're going through the school system and partnering with schools,” says Walsh.
“So, we're based on a school location rather than a parish location at this time. We're in a few different places but right now the home for Simba Wolfhounds is Jinja and we're also in two other places in Uganda where there’s an Irish presence.
“There's approximately 1,000 kids in each of the schools that we are involved with and we're in ten schools so I would imagine we'll register around 5,000 kids this year.
“In Jinja there are five schools in the one community. The community is for a huge sugar plantation so the adults all work in the sugar factories and sugar farm. That community which makes up a big bulk of the club's membership.”
More new ground will be broken in June when nine GAA coaches will participate in a UCD Volunteers Overseas project in Jinja to coach Simba Wolfhounds coaches and players.
The nine UCD students all recently completed the Introduction to Coaching Gaelic Games and Safeguarding Integrated course and Walsh is excited about the lasting impact their visit will make on the club.
“Because we're the first ever registered club in Africa it's the first time that coaches have been specifically trained to come to Africa for volunteering purposes,” he says.
“The great thing about it is that it is skill building. When those UCD students come the most important thing they will leave behind are the skills.
“Not alone are they going to know how to coach and teach the kids which will improve the kids, they’ll be coaching the teachers as well.
“There's as huge hunger for that professionalism and that knowledge that the GAA is providing us. It's going to make a huge, huge difference as to how we can provide very professionally run sports for kids at no cost to the school.”
Simba Wolfhounds have partnered with local schools to bring Gaelic football to thousands of children.
Simba Wolfhounds are almost a victim of their own success in so far as their biggest challenge is providing their players with the equipment they need to play Gaelic games.
“Yeah, that's our biggest issue,” says Walsh. “We have the numbers but we don't have the equipment. When I say equipment it's mainly boots, balls and gumshields because we’re concentrating on Gaelic football.
“For me hurling is the game of the Gods, it's a great game, but it's too much cost, too much everything out here. Whereas with Gaelic football we can easily partner with other organisations.
“If you have gumshields for Gaelic football they can be used in the school for other sports. If other sports have football boots they can be used, and then it's just getting enough balls, that's the big one.
“People are great at home and say they'll get you a set of jersies, but it's the gumshields and balls that really make a difference. A lot of the kids are playing sport in their bare feet so we've learned ourselves that the quick touch Gaelic football is brilliant.
“We soften it a slight bit, I wouldn't pump it as hard as you would back home. The gumshields are the only really big thing.
“There is no free medical down here so health and safety is involved. That's also another reason for Gaelic football. There's a lot less injuries in Gaelic football. If you're hurling at a young age it's easy to get a broken finger or something like that which we have to avoid at all costs.”
Simba Wolfhounds cater equally for young females and males.
A feature of Simba Wolfhounds is that they cater for as many girls as they do boys.
“We’re really going after gender-parity and we’re pretty much there already,” says Walsh.
“We're hoping that in five or six years’ time we will have a quality LGFA minor team that will be able to travel to Ireland and play a few LGFA teams in Ireland or else that some transition year students in Ireland could come over to play teams here.”
Simba Wolfhounds have plans to build a handball alley later this year, just one element of an ambitious development plan that Walsh hopes will bring Gaelic games to tens of thousands of children in the coming years.
“I see it growing exponentially,” he says. “Because Uganda is an underdeveloped country the schools and the Government just don't have the funding for sport.
“What we're doing is we're providing sport at a very high level and the sport we're bringing, Gaelic football, is a great sport. It's easy for the kids to pick up because it's similar to other sports they play.
“Why we're concentrating on the schools, especially primary schools, is because as we move forward we will be working closely with the GAA on developing fundamental movement skills and coaching that we can offer to schools.
“We're hoping now that we're recognised by the GAA and affiliated that we can work with the Ministry of Sports and Education here to start a pilot scheme involving between 20 and 50 schools by next January. Every school has around a thousand kids so that will be a lot of children.
“I see rapid growth in the short term but I see it being a sport that's played in schools. You're not going to see a lot of 20 or 30-year-olds playing Junior, Intermediate and Senior, the opportunities just aren't there.
“But what we can have is a huge school-based game that can be played in a championship and league format through the schools.
“My goal is that within two to three years we'll have 50,000 Uganda kids playing Gaelic games. It is very attainable.”