Moate man sets up one of the world’s newest GAA clubs

Moate native Stephen ‘Sid’ Byrne is a central figure in the newly formed Townsville Wolfhounds GAC in Queensland, Australia. The club is one of the newest GAA clubs in the world.

Having played with his home club Moate All Whites for several years, Stephen emigrated to Australia and he has been living in the city of Townsville since 2016.

Stephen became involved in the North Queensland Irish Association and, although Townsville has a much smaller Irish community than some Australian cities, he felt that the lack of a GAA scene in the area was “a glaring omission”.

Townsville, located north of Brisbane, has a population of around 200,000 people. “We have a small Irish community here, but I have always felt there was an appetite for Gaelic games in the region,” Stephen told the Westmeath Independent.

Earlier this year, Stephen along with Christy Agnew from Antrim and Darren Curry (described by ‘Sid’ as “a Scouser married to a Limerick lady”), decided to start Townsville Wolfhounds Gaelic Athletic Club (GAC).

The trio “started the club from scratch” and after it was established in April of this year, they ordered their first set of jerseys this summer.

“It’s been a busy few months with all aspects of getting the club started from design of jerseys to writing a constitution, from getting affiliation with Australasia GAA to sourcing equipment,” said Stephen.

In addition to being the club’s president and chairman, Stephen plays for the masters team and also coaches with the club.

Stephen is in no doubt that his positive experiences with Moate All Whites were a key factor in his decision to establish the Wolfhounds in Townsville.

“I was coached at underage level by Moate GAA royalty with Ger Heavin, Kit Gillivan and John Murray impressing upon me the values of the GAA. My way of giving back was to set up the Wolfhounds,” said Stephen.

When he moved into the adult ranks with Moate, Stephen recalls training with people like David Mackey, Trevor Kelly and Pat Murray. “It wasn’t for the faint hearted,” he quipped.

Townsville Wolfhounds played in their first competition, the Carpenter Cup, in Cairns in August. The Wolfhounds fielded three teams in the Carpenter Cup. The men’s team won three games in the group stages, before they unfortunately lost out in the final. The masters’ team also made it to their final where they were denied on penalties, while the ladies also put in some good performances on the day.

“It was a huge effort in the lead up to the tournament to be able to field three teams and in a way it symbolised all the hard work that was done over the previous few months to get the club up and running. It was a successful first outing for the club at competitive level and certainly something that we will build on,” said Stephen.

Since then Townsville Wolfhounds have gone on to win the ladies’ and masters’ titles in the North Queensland Championships last month.

Seven players from the Wolfhounds represented North Queensland in the recent interstate games held in Melbourne. The Australasia Gaelic Games Association was celebrating its 50th anniversary and the event was attended by GAA President Jarlath Burns.

Though admitting that Townsville is “unlike most of the major cities that the Irish population gravitate towards”, Stephen has certainly grown fond of his new home. Describing Townsville as “a beautiful place” and “a gateway city to the Great Barrier Reef”, he says it has “a tropical climate with sunshine nearly all year round”.

“We initially started with some social meet-ups and the response was phenomenal with 50 to 60 people from all ages turning up to our sessions. We have a large amount of Irish backpackers in our ranks who chase the sun and move to Townsville to complete their 88 days of regional work so that they are eligible for their second year visa here in Australia,” explained Stephen.

“These backpackers mix with the local Irish community and our meet-ups are used as a focal point for the backpackers to swap stories and network all through the medium of Gaelic games. The backpackers in turn boost our numbers and help train our younger players. There is something quite special about kicking an O’Neills football to a stranger and an invisible bond is created almost immediately. It’s something uniquely Irish.”

Stephen admitted that he “probably underestimated the workload” involved in setting up the club. “To start a club from scratch took a lot of effort and commitment. We had to write a constitution, become affiliated with Queensland GAA, design jerseys, come up with a name and sponsorship to mention a few of the tasks,” he said.

“We have a number of Australians involved in the club. Some of them have a background in AFL which has a similar skill set to Gaelic football and makes the transition easier. We also have many members who have never played Gaelic football before and are intrigued.

"The support the Wolfhounds have received from Queensland GAA and Australasia GAA has been extraordinary. The people involved in these organisations have a real desire for Gaelic games to be promoted in this part of the world and that in turn made our job of setting up the club easier,” continued ‘Sid’.

The Townsville Wolfhounds men’s team includes players such as Patrick O’Connor from Wicklow, Keelan Brosnan from Kerry, and Steven Doherty, who has played hurling with Donegal.

Yet Stephen says the Townville club face “significant challenges” compared to the clubs based in larger cities like Melbourne, Brisbane or Sydney.

“Mainly we don’t have a huge permanent Irish population here in Townsville so we rely on the nomad Irish traveller to stabilise our numbers,” he said. “Our nearest GAA club is the Cairns Chieftains which is a four-hour drive north. This can make it difficult to get regular competitive games. Brisbane have multiple teams but it’s about a 15-hour drive south. Taking all this into account our club offers much more than Gaelic football and hurling. We are a family orientated club that offers the Irish diaspora a little taste of home in the tropics.”

The Townsville club also has a Pups nursery programme which introduces younger members to the skills of hurling and football.

“The club is very much in its infancy at this stage and the future is very bright for Gaelic games in this part of the world. It’s nice to be part of that. For a period of time we were the newest GAA club in the world and that’s special,” added Stephen.