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24th October 2024
03:10pm BST
A GAA club based in Barcelona, Spain are set to make history next week when they travel to Ireland to take on Kilkenny team Conahy Shamrocks at Nowlan Park.
The occasion will mark the first time that an Iberian team has competed in the Leinster Club Junior Football Championship.
Barcelona Gaels have been the home of Gaelic Games in the Catalan capital since 2001, training weekly at a ground in the Sant Marti area of the city.
The Gaelic football team have had a remarkable rise to glory in recent years, culminating in a European Championship win over Berlin GAA with a decisive score of 4-15 to 3-09 last month.
This victory has set the stage for their upcoming adventure in the Emerald Isle.
Speaking to RTÉ 2fm's Game On, club chairperson Eoin McCall said: "We're the largest club in Europe. Especially since Covid, we've seen a massive boost within the club in terms of people moving to Barcelona – people either working remotely or people just deciding to move here.
"Look, it’s two hours from home, it’s really nice weather, it's a great standard of football," McCall added. "It’s hard for people not to want to move here. It’s really booming within Barcelona and then obviously across Iberia and Europe as well.
"The vast majority (of the players) would be Irish. We’d have quite a few Catalans involved with us, we’d have Australians as well. But the vast majority would be Irish.
"It’s hard to walk down the street at the minute without hearing an Irish accent. There’s a lot of Irish living here and that’s a great thing for us as a club. It really help us to improve numbers and participation, and then the success we’ve had in the last few years as well."
He continued: "We've two huge events in the history of the club happening on the same day about 3,000 miles apart."
While the trip to Nowlan Park will be a monumental day out for the club, it's not the only significant date they have on the calendar.
"On the 2 November we also have a Gaelic 4 Mothers and Others blitz in Barcelona as well," McCall added.
"We’re going to have about 150 women coming over to play football here plus spectators and everything like that, while our men’s side are going to be in Ireland. We’ve two huge events in the history of the club happening on the same day about 3,000 miles apart.
"But we’ll take it as it is. It’s a great situation to be in. They are good problems to have."
It won't be cheap for the players and staff making the journey to Kilkenny.
Each participant incurs around €1,000 in travel expenses, underscoring their passion for the sport and their shared commitment to the tight-knit community they’ve built.
Throw-in for the game is scheduled for 12 pm on 2 November. Tickets are €15 if you live near the ground, but for those watching on from elsewhere, it'll be streamed live on Clubber.
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