Some set-up.
It’s been a rough week. All across Ireland, matches and training sessions have been called off due to the goddamn snowpocalypse.
The GAA were forced to completely wipe out this weekend’s Allianz League football and hurling action, with hundreds of GAA clubs taking to social media to advise their players to stay indoors.
England isn’t faring much better. The conditions have been equally treacherous across the Irish Sea. Basically, The Beast from the East and Storm Emma are fucking everybody’s shit up, but some are luckier than others.
Take this Gaelic football team in London. Like pretty much everyone else, their outdoor facilities are unplayable but have been able to use a glorious indoor set-up, training under a glorious-looking dome at QPR FC.
Who would have thought in the snow London Gaelic football team would manage to get access to better facilities to train in than most Irish #GAA teams! The full sized soccer pitch in the indoor Dome in work at QPR FC has certainly come in handy for us this week!👍 pic.twitter.com/TU0x8cKC83
— Ciaran Deely (@CiDeely) March 1, 2018
Money talks. Considering that QPR once spent £12.5m on Christopher Samba, it’s fair to say they have a bit more spare cash knocking around than your typical GAA club.
Thanks to their financial muscle, they were able to launch a state-of-the-art academy training dome at Cranford Community College. It’s officially called SuperDome, which makes us like it even more. Ciaran Deely, London’s manager, has a day job as a sports scientist at QPR, so he clearly put his connection inside the club to good use to ensure that Thursday’s training session would go ahead.
The Phone box- a simple movement practice warm up game-player in possession in tight area, multiple gates to escape out of; less defending players than potential gates, so defenders must shift their position & communicate together. Focus on moving their feet than being physical👍 pic.twitter.com/5NlN15L2sX
— Ciaran Deely (@CiDeely) March 2, 2018
Armed with a full-sized 3G pitch, it’s come in very useful for London. Yes, the irony of the finest facilities being available to a Gaelic football team outside of Ireland isn’t lost on us.
It’s interesting, though, that Deely told the official GAA website just last month that London GAA not having access to a full-size GAA training pitch with floodlights has been a source of frustration.
You can’t help but feel jealous. It’s completely, 100% snow-proof.
Compare that to what your average outdoor pitch looks like right about now. Yep, living in London certainly has its perks.
Wouldn’t advise trying to get to the GAA pitch anytime soon folks, maybe do a bit yerselves to keep things ticking over 😳
Photos thanks to Les Szwaglis #BeastFromTheEastireland pic.twitter.com/fIoL4YvGLG
— Park/Ratheniska GAA & LGFA (@parkratheniska) March 2, 2018
