Noel O'Sullivan, chairperson of the All-Britain Competition organising committee. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
By Cian O’Connell
The All-Britain Competition is occupying a central role in the development of homegrown talent.
Noel O’Sullivan, chairperson of the All-Britain Competition organising committee, is hugely encouraged that Gaelic Games is flourishing in so many clubs and schools with 350 teams set to take part between July 4 and 7.
Having operated in several different administrative roles, O’Sullivan acknowledges that progress continues to be made. “There is no doubt about that,” O’Sullivan says.
“I've long experience, I was chairman of the London minor board for 15 years practically. The growth has been unbelievable.”
Producing players for clubs is critical according to O’Sullivan. “When you think about in the All-Ireland Junior Championship, we have all the counties taking part,” he adds.
“London and Warwickshire are obviously the strongest counties there. London's participants, all of the players are London born. The Warwickshire players are 75 per cent English born too, that shows you the strength. That is grown in the sense that it is giving players, coming through the age ranks, from the 12s, 13s, 14s upwards, a chance to represent their county in the All-Ireland Junior Championship as adults.”
The ABCs provides significant opportunities for emerging players. “That is a great boost to us, to have that competition,” O’Sullivan adds. “Hopefully now all the counties in Britain will take the view of having all homegrown players in the All-Ireland Junior Championship.
“That would be a boost. The London senior team has five or six London born players. So, that shows you the strength of the underage, it is getting stronger and stronger.
“It isn't before time actually. If any county wants to survive, they'll have to go down that path. It is the only way it will survive.”
O’Sullivan acknowledges that the ABCs aids the process. “Underage was very strong and has been strong for years up to U14 level,” O’Sullivan reflects.
“After U14 there seemed to be a drop off, but that is changing drastically. It will change more and more with this All-Ireland Junior Championship, you have two teams from Britain taking part in the later stages of it.
“That gives all the young people in every county something to aim for, to represent their county in the All-Ireland Junior Championship, to try to get to an All-Ireland Junior Final, to try to win it.”
The 2024 ABCs will take place at Hazelwood and O’Sullivan outlines the reason for the switch. “It is getting bigger and bigger,” he says.
“Last year, for the first time, we had to have two venues. It created a lot of hard work, so we feel we are better off under the one roof, as they say. Obviously, we might have a few teething problems, but we've put a lot of work into it, and I'm sure everything will go as smoothly as possible.
“It is unbelievable, you have teams coming from Wales, Scotland, all over the country in England. It is magnificent, the schools entries this year have gone way up too. You have so many schools, primary and secondary on the Thursday, it has reached new heights, completely.
“We are really looking forward to it because it is getting massive. We could go very close to 4,000 children this year.”
O’Sullivan highlights the work being carried out by clubs, Community Development Administrators, and County Board officers in Britain. “You have to give great credit to the different counties throughout Britain, who have come on board with this,” he says.
“The CDAs are working extremely hard, we had the Northern Games a few weeks ago with more than 1,000 kids. That is growing and growing too. The CDAs are putting in an almighty effort.”