Martin Harrell with his son Oisín and late father, Tommy, who provided huge service to the GAA in London.
By John Harrington
The 2023 FRS GAA World Games will be a celebration of how dutifully our national sports have been nurtured beyond these shores.
This safekeeping of our sporting heritage has an especially strong tradition just across the Irish Sea in England, and it’s fitting that a club like Fr. Murphy’s from London will be among those competing at the World Games in Derry next week.
Not only do they have a proud tradition of encouraging native born Londoners to play Gaelic games, this year also marks the senior club’s 65th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of their youth teams.
It was former London County Board chairperson and London hurling team manager, Tommy Harrell, along with the club’s Life President, Phil Roche, who established the youth teams structure 50 years ago.
A legendary figure in London GAA, Harrell has since passed to his eternal reward, but the flame is still proudly carried by his son Martin who also possesses the family zeal for Gaelic games.
He’s 41 now but still lacing his boots up and is keenly looking forward to representing Fr. Murphy’s on their all-London born and bred team next week.
“It'll be an unbelievable celebration of the club,” Harrell told GAA.ie “What better way to mark 65 years of your senior club and 50 years of your youth club.
“Our fathers, Grandads and Uncles all played together and we’re carrying on a tradition and carrying on the legacy of the various families who long been involved in the club like the Divineys, the Howlins, the Butlers, the Wellers, the Roches, the Ryans, the Furlongs, the Fortunes, the O’Learys and the Harrells as well. We are very much a family orientated club’
“It’s going to be a brilliant week.”
The Fr. Murphy's U-17 hurlers who were shield finalists at the 2023 All Britain Competition.
Back in 2017, Harrell restarted the club’s youth hurling team and since then they’ve gone from strength to strength by bringing through a new generation of London born and bred hurlers.
“We started off with seven hurlers in 2017 and now we have over 60 hurlers playing at U-7, U-9, U-12, U-15, and U-17 who were all in action at the All Britain Competition this year,” says Harrell.
“I’m over the moon with the growth. Last year we went to the Féile and that was unbelievable. We had an U-15 London hurling team go there so the Player Pathway is working and we're bringing the kids through and making history.
“I'm very lucky to have amazing youth coaches that are pushing it. Because without those coaches helping me I wouldn't be able to run all the different age-groups.”
With less Irish people migrating to England in recent years, what was once a steady supply of ready-made hurlers and footballers for GAA clubs there is no longer as reliable as it once was.
That being the case, Harrell believes it’s imperative for clubs like his own to become more self-sufficient and place a big emphasis on bringing through their own players from the underage ranks.
“The club as a collective is doing great work and it's important we work hard at underage level because immigration has reduced and Irish people are now going to other parts of the world like Australia, Canada, and the Middle East,” he says.
“So, the youth system is now all the more vital to keeping the purple and gold alive, really.
“Having healthy grassroots is essential. Without it I think that's the reason why clubs die because they never bought into having a youth system.
“I appreciate there’s often a drop-off from U-7 to U-17, but those that you do bring through are essential to keeping the club alive.”
The Fr. Murphy's U-12 team that took part in the 2023 All Britain Competition.
Fr. Murphy’s have always had a tradition of bringing through London-born players.
When they won their first ever senior championship in 2000, three of the team were London-born, which would have been very unusual for the time.
Harrell hopes that in the coming years more and more London-born players will be wearing the purple and gold of Fr. Murphy’s, and that the World Games will provide a great outlet for them.
“Big time,” he says. “With all the players filtering through we'll probably end up having potentially a second team that would be made up predominantly of London-born hurlers, and we'd also have more and more of the London-born players on the senior team.
“The World Games is an unbelievable event for them to aim for and say I want to play against other countries around the World and against other hurlers who aren't born in Ireland.”
