By Cian O'Connell

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The tight knit GAA community in Amsterdam continue to enjoy an interesting adventure. On Saturday a bus load of footballers and supporters will make a two and a half hour journey to Masstricht for a Leinster Junior Club Championship encounter against Kildare’s Kilcullen.

Having impressed in the European Championships is the third year in a row for Amsterdam to be competing at this level. “Our first game in Leinster was against the Dublin representatives Craobh Chiaráin back in 2014,” captain Colm Brennan explains.

“For a lot of our team it was a step up to a whole other level of football, and maybe a little bit of self-belief was lacking as a result.

“We had a little bit of a self-crippling view of football outside of Ireland being of a poorer standard to that played in Ireland, and at the time we maybe lacked a critical mass of experienced players who had played at home recently enough, or at a high enough level, to know any different.

“In saying that, we gave a very good display and didn't, in my eyes, look outclassed, although the Dublin lads did overrun us towards the end of the game. We learned a huge amount from that experience, and took a lot of self-belief from it too. 

“We went into last year's match against Kilashee believing we had what it took to win that game, and we came extremely close. We actually led the entire game until we conceded a goal a couple of minutes from time, and were seven points up at one stage.

“It was a very tough loss to take, especially as it would have meant so much, not just to Amsterdam GAC, but European football in general, for a European club to win a provincial Championship game.

“Kilashee went on to reach the Leinster final last year, and strolled to the Intermediate title in Longford this year, so at least we can say we were beaten by very worthy opponents. We're hoping we can go one little step further this season, and keep doing the other teams in Europe proud.”

Pride is essentially what is keeping Amsterdam going with Brennan delighted by how the club has improved significantly during the last decade. “The club itself is relatively new - it has been going for about 13 years now,” Brennan says.

“We didn't have a huge amount of on-field success until fairly recently, but the club has definitely been a great rallying point for the Irish community in Amsterdam since its inception.

“It's a central part of many Irish ex-pats' lives in the city, and Amsterdam GAC is going from strength-to-strength at the moment. Numbers are increasing, support is growing and we recently started a hurling team of our own after just playing as part of a combined Netherlands team in the past. 

“For many of the team, our closest friends/partners/housemates etc. would also be members of the club, whether as players, volunteers or just supporters. I joined the club as soon as I arrived over to study for my Masters at the University of Amsterdam, and it has shaped my time here in the Netherlands to a huge extent. I owe a lot to the club and my teammates and really see Amsterdam as my home club now.”

Brennan is enthused by the spirit that exists in Amsterdam. “The club feels much more open to players of all abilities than a club at home might; lots of guys and girls have taken football or hurling back up again having not played for years in Ireland, and we get quite a few players who would have not played any football or hurling ever in the past. I never pucked a sliotar in a proper game of hurling myself until a couple of years ago.

“The club here, and it's probably similar across continental Europe, caters to players of all levels, and it's great to have players new to the game being able to train and play alongside experienced club footballers or former county players without feeling out of place.

“There are no cliques or factions within the club - the players run the club ourselves from top to bottom, and we're all in it together at all times.”

This summer Amsterdam triumphed in the European Championships which was a particularly sweet success according to Brennan. “We beat our two biggest rivals Brussels and Luxembourg in the semi-finals and finals respectively, so it was certainly hard earned this season.

“There are over 70 GAA clubs across Europe and most aren't quite big enough to field 15-a-side teams yet, but the bigger clubs in the Benelux region produce excellent 15s teams every season.

“Most Gaelic football in Europe is played as 11-a-side on rugby/soccer-sized pitches, so it can make preparing for 15 a side football a little bit tricky.”

Growing up in Claregalway Brennan was a club colleague of current Galway forward Danny Cummins, who has been nominated for a GAA/GPA Opel All Star in 2016.

“We're the same age, so I played on the same teams as Dan with Claregalway and St. Jarlath's College all the way up along.

“We had a lot of success in Claregalway at underage level; there were a lot of really talented young players around the same age at that time in the mid-2000s.

“Corofin were our real nemesis back then, and they seemed to beat us in every county final. A lot of those Corofin players have gone on to win the All-Ireland club title recently, but not too many of the Claregalway lads from my age group continued on to play beyond juvenile level for whatever reason.

“I never played any senior football with Claregalway myself either. I've only lived back in Galway for a year since I was 17, but I still follow the games as closely as I can and go to watch my brother play with the Juniors whenever I'm back for a visit.”

In Amsterdam, though, Brennan remains a committed footballer. “At the moment we'd be training two or three times a week. The 11-a-side football in Europe is played in one-day tournaments and hosted by various clubs around Europe, and we'd normally have one of those a month. The 11-a-side tournaments are particularly gruelling with all the starting and stopping involved between matches. The body is much better equipped for all-day blitzes at under-10s,” Brennan jokes.

“There is a fairly small Irish community in Amsterdam. We have about 40 playing members of the men's club, and the ladies players in Amsterdam combine with players from other cities in the Netherlands to make the Holland Ladies team. There's a lot of talent in the club for such a small pick.

“In our squad for the European final we had guys from 17 different counties, one lad from England and one from Denmark. Our biggest representation comes from Cork, and that has been the case for the past three or four years. Whatever is going on down there it seems they can't wait to get out.”

Brennan feels that Gaelic Football is developing nicely in Europe. “The game is certainly growing in popularity,” Brennan admits.

“We played a tournament in Galicia in Northern Spain last year, and the locals were huge GAA fans. I believe they have five teams in that small region of Spain alone.

“I also saw Gaelic Football being played at PE in the International School I work at here in Amsterdam in the week preceding the drawn All-Ireland final, so that bodes well too.

“To analyse the state of play very coldly, I would say the standard of football in the 11-a-side competitions in Europe has dropped somewhat in the past few seasons, but the levels being reached in the 15-a-side are, without a doubt, reaching new heights every year.

“It's quite possible that there is a trade-off there, as it takes a lot of organisation to get teams to tournaments and matches here, and there are only so many tournaments each club's players can afford to attend each year in terms of money and time.

“The 11s used to be the sole holy grail of European GAA, but now clubs need to make decisions about where to focus resources, and plan their seasons accordingly.” So Amsterdam’s evolving crop of footballers will hit Masstricht on Saturday carrying equal measures of hope and expectation.