By Ashleigh Swan, BBC News NI
BBC“The only way to practice is to come to Ireland because we know this is where the best level is in Gaelic football.”
Stephen Hegarty, who is a secretary for France GAA, and the country’s GAA national team have arrived in Ireland to take part in their very first 15-a-side Gaelic football game.
The team, which consists of 23 members, arrived in Dublin on Wednesday evening.
They are visiting to help grow the GAA scene in France.
Currently Gaelic football teams in France only play nine or eleven a side games due to a lack of resources.
Over the next few days the team will play three Irish teams.
The first game was on Thursday night against Portobello GAA club in Dublin.
That was the first time staff and players got experience in playing a 15-a-side game.
The score ended up 1-10 vs 0-02, with France taking the victory.
“As a player, I am happy with what I did.
” I will be sore tomorrow but I am proud of our team,” said Jean Tisserand after the game.
Jean, who is from Normandy, started playing GAA as a wing forward 10 years ago, “out of curiosity.”
He now plays for the French National Team and his club team, the Paris Gaels, which was the first GAA club to start in France almost 30 years ago.
The club was founded by ex-pats from Ireland but now has a majority of native French players.
“I had a few training sessions and got completely hooked, it’s a new passion for me” Jean said.
Jean also plays hurling, which is not as popular as Gaelic football in France, but nevertheless, Jean said he is “adapting the fighting Irish Spirit.”
Although this trip is a first for the team, it is not their first time playing on the island of Ireland.
Last year the team competed in the final of the GAA World Games in Derry but lost to Great Britain.
Lack of Resources
Assistant coach of the national team, Mark Brannigan said the preparation for the teams trip to Ireland had been tricky.
The reason for smaller GAA teams in mainland Europe is because teams only have access to soccer or rugby pitches.
“To prepare for a 15 a side game was hard because getting that many players on a pitch is impossible” said Mark.
There is currently only one 15 a side Gaelic football pitch in France, which is located in Rennes in Brittany.
Stephen Hegarty, said it’s not really an “official” GAA pitch as its just two soccer pitches put together.
“This makes it almost impossible to play the game properly” said Stephen.
“We tried to get the positions down because there are positions that you play with a nine or an eleven a side that don’t actually exist on a larger pitch, but this trip will help us find out who should be playing where” said Mark.
‘The idea is to catch up’
At the moment there are currently 30 GAA clubs in France with 1100 registered players in the country.
But Stephen Hegarty said he wants the game to continue to expand and eventually get fifteen a side pitch.
“We need support to get the pitches built in France but we are trying to work on that, which is why we are here.”
He also said a long term goal is to get the team involved in the all-Ireland junior club football championship – a GAA competition which involves inter county teams”
“New York and London have a large Irish diaspora so the structure and pitches are there and they have a big head start, so the idea is to catch up” said Mark.
Later on Friday the team will take part in a training session with the Dublin Senior women’s team before they play Na Fianna, another Dublin team.
The last game will be against Beann Eadair on Saturday.