Ghanaian fishermen show their GAA skills in Ardglass

Ghanaian fishermen show their GAA skills in Ardglass

26 August 2020

ARDGLASS GAA club has extended the hand of friendship to a group of fishermen from Ghana.

A number of men from the African country have been working out of Ardglass for the last year.

Recently they were introduced to Gaelic games and now they’re catching footballs as well as fish.

Ruth Curran, Ardglass GAC secretary, explained: “We met a few weeks ago and we were talking about gaelic and having a bit of banter about how you have to play gaelic when you come out to our club.

“We got our senior manager to put on a bit of a training session with them and go through some basic skills.

Ruth says it’s an opportunity for the club to promote the health and wellbeing of everybody in the local community.

The men are all aged in their 20s and 30s and have been living and working in the town for the past year, but this is the first time they have taken to the GAA pitch.

“They are very much part of our community and we want to make them feel welcome,” Ruth said.

“They came to Ardglass last year and have been fishing and living on the boats since then.

“A local social worker contacted me and said that there were around 30 of them using one shower and one washing machine.

“So we offered the use of our changing rooms where there are 16 showers that could be used, but that is obviously on hold due to Covid.

“I Assist NI, which is a befriending service for ethnic minorities, has come on board which is fantastic for the men too.

“Last weekend we had them at the club where there was more African food and music and the boys learnt some basic Gaelic football skills. “They absolutely loved it.”

Ruth added: “We hope to get them down again and involve our senior players with them as well.”