Los Andes de Santiago GAA club was founded last year.
By Cian O’Connell
A part of Martin Flannery’s heart will always be in Ballinrobe. Three decades in South America, Flannery still talks fondly about the south Mayo town, how the Ballinrobe GAA club is progressing.
Building for a sustainable future. In Santiago, the capital of Chile, Mayo is very much on Flannery’s mind. During the past year, though, a significant development has taken place in Santiago. A GAA club, Los Andes de Santiago, has been founded. A small, but passionate Irish community in Chile is responding.
The Ambassador of Ireland to Chile, Colum Hatchell, has occupied a central role too, and Flannery is enthusiastic about how the story is unfolding. Gaelic Football is now on the agenda in Chile. “For a few years we've been trying to do something, and we failed miserably,” Flannery explains.
“Going back to the 90s, we tried to get something going, but last year, and it was an initiative of the Ambassador here, Colum, he approached myself and a few other friends here to see if we could get a club going.
“It is thanks to him that we finally got the club going and training. We've got it formed legally. So, there was a bit of work involved since last June.
“We started training in late July, and we had an event over in Argentina in November. We played a match with a club in Buenos Aires.”
Since then, the club has been busy getting everything in order off the field of play. The football makes a welcome return when training resumes on Tuesday March 11. “That process wasn't easy, and it can be a bit bureaucratic here, but we got it through, and we're officially recognised as a sporting club,” Flannery says.
The journey is very much underway, and Flannery is relishing the adventure. “There is probably at most maybe 200 Irish born in Chile, that is about it, and it hasn't changed much over the 30 years that I've been here,” he explains.
“Some people have come and gone, but it is around 200 people. We got some of them out to play. We've people from many different nationalities.
"In the old days, before the pandemic, I used to sponsor two soccer teams, I've a few pubs here in Santiago. I used to sponsor two clubs for about 15 years.
Los Andes de Santiago GAA club members.
“After Covid, they didn't start up again, so I managed to get some players from both of those teams to start playing Gaelic Football. Also, there was a cricket club I was involved in, we got some players from the cricket club.
“We've a good few Irish people, both men and women participating, but we've people from different nationalities - Australian, UK, American, and some local Chileans playing.
“It has been great. Last year when we got going, I remember one day when we had 35 people out training. That was a good achievement.”
In November, a trip to Argentina proved to be beneficial. “They're pretty well established,” Flannery says about clubs in Argentina. “You've a huge Irish community in Argentina, going back to the 19th Century.
“There was a Fr. Fahy, a famous guy in Argentina, he went to Argentina in the 1830s or 1840s, he brought some of his neighbours from the Longford and Westmeath area -some of his relations and neighbours. They're there for nearly 200 years, it has grown. You've a lot of Irish Argentinians, so they've had clubs going back for a long, long time.
“We participated in a competition in November with five or six teams playing. They're very well established. We're just getting going, we've just completed one season.”
That the Irish people in Chile have re-connected in a sense is a source of immense pride and joy. “It has been great,” Flannery replies. “Socially it has been great, not just the football.
“We're meeting up regularly, we've social get togethers, we've met up a number of times, and it has been like a new lease of life for me and many of my friends. We've a few people very active in the committee, I'm the chairman of the committee, we've Dermot Kenny from Tipperary, Mark Taylor, and Pat King, they're all very active on the committee.
“They're all doing their own part. It has been great; it has brought the Irish community together here. We had an Association called the Wild Geese Association going back since the 90s. Basically, this club is representing the Irish community in Chile now.”
So, how did Flannery end up in Santiago? “I worked for a company called Fyffes, a Dundalk based company, I joined them back in '91 and I was in Central America, growing and exporting bananas for about four and a half years,” he says.
Los Andes de Santiago GAA club is proving to be a success story.
“Then, they bought a company in Chile, and I ended up coming down to manage that company. I did that for five years. I decided I'd try to do something for myself, I had a bit of a medical issue going on, and decided it was time to do something.
“My brother and I, from Ballinrobe, we established an Irish pub here in '99 when I left Fyffes. My brother didn't really like it out here, so I ended up taking it over.
“That is when I started on my own. I represented Carlsberg breweries here for 13 years, established pubs and restaurants over the last 25 years, doing eight or nine.
“At the moment, I've three pubs, two Irish ones, and another tap room, it is a craft beer place and a brewery. I'm very happy here, it is a nice country to live in, the climate is great. So, I'm fairly well established here.”
Two of his children live in Dublin and one in Amsterdam so the trips back to Ireland are frequent. “I go back very regularly to see them, and I love going back to my own home town in south Mayo in Ballinrobe,” Flannery remarks.
The west of Ireland link will never be fractured because Ballinrobe matters deeply to Flannery. “John Sweeney is the President of the club, and I try to help them out a bit,” he says. “They've extended their facilities, and they've bought a six acre field.
“So, they're expanding and putting more pitches down. The football in Ballinrobe is very alive and well with a number of teams at all age groups.
“It is still a long way away, from here to Ireland. I suppose, it depends what way you go, normally you'd go through the UK, and that is a 15-hour flight from here. It is a fair old jaunt.
“What I do is I usually break it up, and maybe go to the States for a week to visit friends. I enjoy going home, it is great to meet up with old friends. I still feel part of Ballinrobe in Mayo, even though I'm a long way away.”
Flannery hopes that someday soon a collection of footballers from Ballinrobe will visit Los Andes de Santiago GAA club in Chile to play a challenge game. That is a mission Flannery wants to accomplish.