Tommy Smyth

Tommy Smyth was born in Louth in 1945 and played for local club St Bride’s Knockbridge and for Louth Minors. He was secretary of St Bride’s at age 15 and paints a vivid picture of the central place of GAA in village life – the role of the club, clergy, the local paper and the radio, local rivalries, as well as the celebrations for Louth when they won in 1957. The interview also takes in comment on GAA tactics in his youth, the impact of the ban and the Irish language in the GAA. He emigrated to New York in 1963 and was a mainstay as player and manager and administrator of the Louth club in New York for many years, until the club ceased to exist due to lack of numbers. He is a television broadcaster by profession, commentating on soccer for the major US network, ESPN, and he also commentated on GAA live at Gaelic Park for many years, as well as presenting Irish and GAA programming on New York radio, especially on All-Ireland Day. The interview covers the difficulties in keeping a club going in New York and of keeping in touch with GAA news from home, the mixed blessing of players being brought over from Ireland to play, and the relationship between the GAA in New York and Ireland, as well as the vibrancy of Gaelic Park and the GAA network in 1960s New York and the tough but good football of that era. There are also views on how the GAA could have been more successful in the USA and internationally.