gaelic gridiron – Gaelic Gridiron

I’ve been playing American football for a long time. Over 11 years in fact. I’ve been on some great teams, acquainted myself with some fantastic lads and made tonnes of great memories along the way. But the one that stands out the most actually comes from early on in my playing days.

The Drogheda Lightning were about to play the Meath Bulldogs at home for the first time. It was the Lightning’s inaugural season, in the old DV8’s division. (For the uninitiated, an 8 a side development league). I remember sitting in the dressing room with my 9 other team mates, dreading the prospect of facing a 20 something strong Bulldog side. It seemed like an insurmountable challenge. We were completely outnumbered and there was already a sombre mood hanging over us.

Coach Russell Kerley walks in and lays it all out for us: ‘Yes there are more of them. No it doesn’t look good. Just go out there and play your fucking arse off” ( I’m paraphrasing a bit, it was 9 years ago.) But I just remember sitting there and thinking to myself: “Fuck it, what do we have to lose?”

We ended up winning by over 40 points.

10 players went up against a squad double their size and recorded the most memorable victory in Lightning history.

I don’t remember much else from that game, but I do remember the feeling of absolute elation.

Things with the Lightning went to the dogs a season later, so it’s nice to have some positive memories of a team I had a hand in creating to look back on.

Winning the IAFL 1 championship in 2019 is a close second as my favourite footballing memory. The fact I won some hardware in what was likely my last kitted season, makes it slightly bittersweet though.

Now that I’ve moved on to competing in flag football and coaching, I’m sure there are plenty more amazing football memories to come! What’s your favourite football memory? Let us know in the comments

Teams representing North America, Europe & Australia will converge upon Chester Country Club on October 17^th this year, for the inaugural edition of the Schymder Cup. Players from different countries will come together and compete to raise funds for American Football mental health charity “Lifting the Lid”.

(Important Note: The players are primarily UK based, with some international players participating. Team Canada/USA/Australia were created to accommodate the number of players who signed up. These are not official international teams.)

The charity game is the brainchild of Razorbacks player and former Thundering Herd General Manager, Mike Ireland. Mike has had great success with charity matches in the past; previous iterations include the “East West Bowl” a “Comic Book Bowl” featuring Marvel vs DC and even a “Star Wars Bowl” with Team Jedi squaring off against Team Sith!

All funds raised will go to Lifting the Lid, who are doing amazing work in raising awareness around mental health in American football.

Since announcing the tournament Mike has received a huge response, with over 150 players and coaches expressing an interest in being involved in some shape or form: “It turns out if you take football away from people, then there’s any sniff of a game they’ll jump all over it!”

Given the lack of football on at the moment it’s really no wonder that players are snapping at the chance to strap on a helmet and pads! Such has been the uptake that Mike has had to turn people away and even convert a few to coaches in order to get them involved: “I felt bad though – I’ve had to turn a lot of people away, or some have done, convert them to being coaches! So we have the likes of Nicholas Jones, Glen Toonga and Sam Astley, all top level ballers standing on the sidelines shouting at the poor souls doing the running around on the pitch!”

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Showing up for Ireland in the Schmyder Cup is none other than Tosan Memuduaghan! The former South Dublin & UCD signal caller will be representing Team Canada (don’t ask us how lol) alongside former Panthers teammate Ben Arulogun. Rounding out the Irish contingent are Euan Maclean, Carl Rugen, Liam McNally , Paddy Hart, Eamon McManus, Jamie Somers and Chrisie McKee, all of the NI Razorbacks!

The game will be streaming live on the official Scmyder Cup Facebook page, and presumably there will be various other streams available to watch. Keep an eye out as well for the slick jerseys being sported by the players! The official kit provider is none other than Ridge Sports and we all know they make some nice gear. All in all it sounds like it’ll be a great day out, raising funds for a great cause!

Tag: gaelic gridiron

My Favourite Football Memory

American Football Charity Tournament set for October