Den Haag GAA

Getting the donkey off of my, Keith Barr’s and Dublin GAA’s back.

18^th September 1995, Monday early afternoon, the day after the Senior All Ireland Footbal Final won by Dublin v. Tyrone (1-10 v 0-12). I was was attending the second year of my high school period in Milan (My city).

As I would do everyday, just after lunch and before starting my homework, I would relax and watch Tele+2, an Italian pay-per-view sports channel.

My intention was to watch some soccer. The first week of Serie A has just finished. 1995/96 was a lucky year for Juventus as they would go on to win the Champions League against Ajax in Rome.

But instead of the highlights from Roma – AC Milan (played the night before and won by Fabio Capello’s AC Milan 1-2, Abel Balbo for Roma and George Weah x2 for AC Milan) I got a surprise on the TV. There was someone dressed in blue, bouncing the ball like basketball, kicking the ball like soccer, scoring goals like soccer and points like rugby.

I ended up to be a bit confused, and I am sure the majority of the people that like me decided to tune their TV to Tele+2 had never seen a sport like this before in Italy (and most probably still to this day, that has been one of the few GAA games broadcasted in Italy).

I had understood at that time that it was something Irish. There were also the goalkeepers. And the goalkeeper of the blue team had, for me, a nice name, John O’Leary. I continued watching up to the end of the game, and the blue team raised the Sam Maguire Cup. During the game the commentator explained that the stadium was Croke Park and the fans of the blue team were standing on an end called Hill 16.

However, though I enjoyed that early afternoon (at that time we were not too much exposed to alternative sports as, in terms of team games, Italy was 90% football, basketball and volley with a bit of rugby which was still a niche for people coming from specific regions of the country…today is different), I did not try to understand more about that
game. I switched off my TV and I started to do my homework to be ready for the next day at school.

After that moment, I continued for several years my normal life without GAA…going to school, playing basketball, watching football…as all regular Italians, with not even too much information about Ireland, just the minimum that you study at school or read on the news;
– The myth of Guinness,
– The 1998 Good Friday Agreement,
– Ray Houghton scoring the winning goal for Ireland against Italy in the USA ’94 World Cup (that game sounded like a wake up call for Italy as then they reached the final game against Brazil, though lost at the penalty shootout)
– The results of the rugby national team in the Five Nations and Six Nations.

In 2006 after the end of my law school in Milan, I entered the job market and was hired by a company in Italy working in the Oil and Gas industry, and two years after in 2008, I started my expat life in Dubai as a first step before literally traveling the world for business, and that was a game changer for my GAA experience. I was living not far from the Irish Village, and I started to be exposed regularly to the Irish community. The Provincial and All Ireland Championships were broadcast through the summer regularly.

Little by little my memory started to go back 13 years to that early Monday afternoon of mid September 1995. No more John O’Leary who had retired from football, but again the blue team, Dublin! In honor of my GAA first experience in 1995 I decided to elect Dublin GAA as my favorite team.

A few years later I understood that my choice was brilliant. Having experienced in sequence a 3 in a row, a 4 in a row and then driving for 5 and then the 6 in a row. If it was not for the blanket defense of Jim McGuiness in 2014 we would have been talking of a 7 in a row and without a self-destructive second half of the 2021 quarter final against Mayo we would have been talking about a 8 in a row. A last minute long distance free from Shawn O’Shea in the 2022 semi final for 9 in a row and with the title won in 2023, we would have been talking about an amazing and successful drive for 10. All of this thanks also to a couple of people involved in that 1995 game…Jim Gavin and Dessie Farrell.

In that 2008 summer, Dublin (my new team) became Leinster Champions, and went up to the Quarter Finals where they lost against Tyrone, so for the semifinals and finals, since Dublin was out I elected to support Tyrone so that the final between Tyrone and Kerry became the first of many more Gaelic football games in which I supported Kerry’s opponents. Last year, I went to Croke Park for the semi-final against Kerry with my new Armagh Gaa jersey as a perfect Crossmaglen guy…

In few games I started to become so addicted to Gaelic football, which now is my favorite sport. Through the GAA it started also my passion for Ireland, as you cannot start understanding GAA if you do not try to understand Ireland.

Over time, technologies helped even more to support my new passion, GAAgo, the online subscriptions to the Irish Independent, Belfast Telegraph, Sunday World, and also Irish News. Amazon, BOL, and other online shops which started to deliver easily worldwide books about Ireland and GAA.

….you know…now I am a complete Irish lad…a boy in blue!

I tried also to play Gaelic Football, in Malaysia and Thailand, but I started to get old (now I am 45…) and too many former intercounty players in Asia to be able to compete…but GAA is not only for players, is a true community summarized by the motto “where we all belong”. Being a social member is still a nice way to be part of it!

In brief this is my story up to date, many games watched online, many remarkable experiences watched live at HQ. Among them, 6 All Ireland Semifinals, 3 Tailteann Cup finals, a Senior All Ireland Club Football Final (on St. Patrick day 2019, Corofin v Dr. Crokes…the first and only time I watched the “Gooch” live…) and on the same day, a Senior All Ireland Club Hurling Final (Ballyhale Shamrocks v St. Thomas…TJ Reid & Co…poetry) … an amazing journey…

Before leaving you free from this short story, I would like to quote Keith Barr (Dublin) after the abovementioned 1995 final… “winning the All Ireland was like getting a donkey off our back..” (the previous All Ireland won by Dublin before that 1995 title was in 1983 when the final against Galway is still knows as “the game of shame”… won by the “dirty dozen” as Dublin won the game in 12 after 3 players where sent off)… as a proud Dub, I like to think that even involuntarily (as I did not know yet that I would become a football addicted and proud Dub) my karma helped in 1995 for Keith to get that bloody donkey off his (and our…) back!

Up the Dubs, Den Haag GAA Abu’!

-Alessandro Escalona