World Footy News

These days plenty of expatriate Australians can claim to have played Australian football in more than one country, such as Australia and somewhere else. But few people have had the opportunity to play in established leagues in two countries, neither of which were the game's original home. Irishman John Enright is one such player, having grown up in Ireland, spent a year playing in the Ontario AFL in Canada, and now with a year under his belt with Leeside in the Irish league. worldfootynews.com thought John might have some unique insight into the state of the game in the two countries, and was pleased to interview this well-travelled football player. WFN: Thanks for chatting with us John. You're in a fairly unique position in that you've played Australian Rules in established leagues in two different countries, neither of which are Australia. Tell us a bit about your early sporting career and how you first came to play Australian football.

John: I was born and reared in a small town in Co. Kerry in Ireland. Kerry is known as being a very strong GAA county so I've been playing GAA since I could kick a ball. After I finished college, I went to spend a year in Toronto, Canada. After 3 and a half months of walking around in the snow I was looking forward to the summer and some competitive team sports!! I was drinking in a hostel in downtown Toronto when I saw the recruitment notice for the Dingos - as there was no sign of life from the GAA for another month or two I decided to try my hand at something new. I had only seen Aussie Rules a handful of times on TV and of course the International Rules series.

WFN: There's a bit of debate going on at the moment as to whether the International Rules series is good for Australian football. From the perspective of internationalising Aussie footy, do you think having previously seen the Ireland versus Australia series meant you were more likely to give Australian Rules a go?

John: The International Rules series definitely helps to promote Australian Rules football to the masses in Ireland. Large amounts of press coverage from the Irish media ensure that it’s the main talking point in Ireland come early October. Yeah I think it’s a fair point that I started playing Aussie rules because of the International rules series!! It looked like fun – there was legitimate reasons to rugby tackle someone on the pitch.

WFN: So how was your first season in Canada? (John is pictured above with the Ontario premiership trophy)

John: My first season was very interesting – learning a brand new sport, joining a team of people I’d never met before and trying to bounce an oval ball… so it was with some trepidation that I went to that first training session. Coming from a GAA background I had an advantage over the other rookies on the team but that was soon lost when it became apparent that I was being classified as an International Player and had to go up against the Aussie players for a place on the team. I played out the season in Toronto, missing a few games through injury and the fact that I was drinking in pubs a couple of thousand miles away. Unfortunately I was dropped for some games in favour of the Aussie Players - most noticeably (and painfully) in the Grand Final!

My style of play was something that the Canadians and Australians had never seen before – I brought an element of GAA to the league. I scored a few goals when people expected me to take a mark but I played on and ran straight by some bemused Aussies! It was fun. The Toronto Dingo’s were an amazing team – I had such a laugh with those boys! Straight to the pub ever night after training and drinking till the wee hours! I made some great friends over there and hopefully we’ll meet on the field of battle sometime next August!

I came back to Ireland with a medal in my back pocket and some great memories of the sport.

WFN: Bad luck being squeezed out by Aussies. I guess developing locals is a major focus for them. What sort of quota system do they use in the Ontario league?

John: The Ontario league is a well-established and well-run league. They were very strict on the amount of International Players on each team. Six internationals from each team on the pitch and another two on the bench. I think it was a good and effective system. It probably wouldn’t work for less established leagues such as the ARFLI but it did ensure that there were more local players on the pitch than travellers!

WFN: So that was in 2003? Then in 2004 back in Ireland you decided to look for a team to play for. Were you always going to stick with Australian Rules or did Gaelic football tempt you back? How did you end up with Leeside?

John: ah – the saga that was my 2004 season! I happened to be working in the one city in Ireland that didn’t have a footie team – so the Lions were the closest option. They were also the reigning champions at the time so that ensured that I joined their team. I also played with a GAA football team in Limerick city at the start of the season. It used to work out fine as the GAA matches were on during the week and the footie matches at the weekend! However sometimes I used to get confused as to which game I was playing, such as taking a ‘mark’ in a Gaelic football match and then wondering why I was being tackled…

However, halfway through the season when I got a job in Dublin city and then I had the option to change teams. I transferred to a Dublin based GAA team but decided to tough it out with the Lions for the rest of the season. Needless to say I spent a lot of the summer travelling between the two city’s!! All for the love of the game!!

Next season will be heartbreaking when I have to leave the Lions and play against my good friends and teammates! My services are available to the highest bidder in Dublin!

WFN: Obviously you had a good year personally, making the Ireland squad now in training for the International Cup in Melbourne in 2005. Is the excitement building amongst the lads for the chance to defend Ireland's title?

John: The excitement is certainly rising but so is the pressure. Ireland went to the last International Cup as complete unknowns and went on to win the tournament. We wont have that element of surprise next time and the lads know this! Every team we come up against are going to raise their game and play their very best against us! The team is gelling more and more with every session and with it is the self belief! Come next August we’ll be ready!

John in pursuit of a Dublin Eagles opponent

WFN: You must be better placed than most to compare the Irish and Canadian leagues. Obviously Ireland has the advantage of players with a GAA background, but currently the league is smaller and younger than Ontario's. What would the major differences be in overall levels, and also specifically those of the non-Australians? Any major style differences between the two countries?

John: There is definitely a major difference between the two leagues and it all comes down to the pitches the games are played on! In Ontario we played on full ovals which lead to a more open game - more space, more running, more of a chance for a good team to run riot! In Ireland we play most of the games on GAA pitches with the corners rounded off. The games in Ireland are tighter and the defences are meaner! Again the GAA training comes to the fore with man-marking being a lot better in our league.

On reflection, the Ontario league is a faster freer flowing game with more emphasise on the forward line than the defence. The defences in the Irish league are incredibly tight and the forwards have to be accurate with ever half chance. It’s not fair to compare the two leagues as they are very different to one another and both excel in their own various ways!

In a match between a strong club team in Toronto and a strong Irish team I’d have to give the edge to the Irish team merely because the Irish lads have been playing a variation of the sport since they were 6 years old!

WFN: ARFLI launched their great new website earlier this year, but it went quiet for a while. In fact with a few teams in trouble, from afar, the whole Irish Aussie Rules scene looked a bit unhealthy in the middle of the year. You've stepped in to help out with the website, and lately there seems to be a fairly upbeat attitude towards consolidating existing clubs and maybe even expanding (see earlier report on expansion into Galway). How have you found things now that you are involved with the ARFLI inner workings?

John: Its good to be involved in something as amazing as this League. It’s a very young and small league and everybody knows one another!! We all go to the pub after ever match and compare bruises and war stories! Everyone does their bit to ensure that this league survives and flourishes! Diarmuid O’Riain has been doing fabulous work in Galway getting the team going and Tony, Amanda and Smithy have put a lot of work into the third Dublin team.

I wanted to do my bit and as my area of expertise was web development I took over the website and made sure that it did its bit to keep the league up and running! The league can only get bigger and better and I’m going along for the ride…

WFN: With the AFL success of Tadhg Kennelly in Sydney and the good prospects for Setanta O'hAilpin at Carlton, plus the International Rules series, is there greater interest amongst players and juniors in having a go at Australian Rules?

John: There is generally a lot of interest in players giving it a go but the problem is that it generally clashes with GAA commitments!! When players have to make the choice between the two codes they generally opt for the GAA as it is a religion in Ireland and hard to walk away from. A sport like Aussie Rules is unique in Canada but in Ireland the GAA rules supreme and it’s a lot harder than you’d think to recruit new players!

WFN: So what sort of work do you do when you aren't playing and helping footy?

John: GAA is my main commitment at the moment as I have a semi-final of our league to look forward to. Once that's over I hope to have a relatively quiet month over December before getting stuck in preparation for the new season begins! Apart from that I enjoy watching soccer, music, computer games & cinema outings.

WFN: Have you been to Australia before? Have you had the chance to see an AFL match live?

John: Haven’t managed to get to the ‘land down under’ but I’ll be there next summer be it as a player or a spectator at the International Cup! [editor: it may be summer then in Europe, but it will probably be a chilly winter in Melbourne!]

WFN: Good luck in your pursuit of a spot with Ireland, and hopefully we'll see you in Australia next year.

John: Thanks



John works for Interactive Services.