YOU TYPE ‘GAA’ and ‘Sydney’ into Google, and the first club that pops up is Michael Cusacks.
Founded 30 years ago, it’s the largest — and one of the most successful — GAA clubs in Australasia and boasts five teams across four codes; two men’s football, and one each of ladies football, hurling and camogie.
And this Sunday, the five teams are bidding for glory in their respective competitions at the New South Wales (NSW) league finals.
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Since the club’s establishment by a six-man contingent from Clare and Limerick in 1988, it’s gone from strength to strength with just over 200 active players registered this year.
“Everyone’s are saying that people are staying at home and not going to Australia but our numbers keep getting bigger,” Stephen Tormey, originally from the Knockbride club in Co. Cavan tells The42.
“In the 30 years of the club, we’d never had 200 people registered until last year. It just keeps growing and growing and growing. Even though people are leaving, there’s still loads of people coming.”
The allure of ‘living the dream’ attracts many Irish people to Australia. The sun, the sea, the sand — why not? Settling in as you land roughly 17,220 kilometers from home is often a different story though.
Linking in with a GAA club is one of the first things many do. You know somebody, they drag you to training and that’s that, you never look back. Simple as.
“If someone’s coming from Ireland, somebody from Cusacks will know them,” Tormey, who’s been with the club since January 2015, notes.
“We nearly have every county represented across the board in between the codes one way or another.”
All-Ireland minor and U21 winner with Dublin Emile Mullan is one of the most recent additions to the club.
He had been travelling around New Zealand prior, and the Na Fianna club man decided he wanted to settle in Australia and got in touch with a few different clubs.
“What stood out about Cusacks was their sense of history and togetherness — this year marks the club’s 30th anniversary,” he says.
“The commitment shown by the players, training twice a week and playing games at the weekend, is matched only by the committee and senior members, who constantly work hard to find pitches, organise finances, and arrange social events throughout the year.
“My transition to Australia wouldn’t have been possible but for the care and support of this club. Contacts in the club helped me secure accommodation and work before I had even landed!
“The camaraderie within the team is what makes playing here special, and hopefully it’s culminates with silverware this season.”
Tormey echoes his words: “Club is so important. The people you play with in your club, that’s who you hang around with and socialise with.
“A lot of the boys work together and the girls work together. We’d all socialise together, it’s very much a club thing. There’s an awful lot of relationships and marriages in the club too.
“There’s great unity, we all go together.”
That’s best seen on a Sunday out at Bob Prenter Reserve in Ingleburn. While the ladies and men’s footballers, and hurlers and camógs split the pitch and train together twice a week each, all of their games are played off on the same day.
There’s nine GAA clubs in total in New South Wales, and each of them play all of their games on a Sunday across three pitches.
“Once you’re out there on a Sunday, you’re out there for the day,” Tormey explains.
“If you’re not playing, you’re watching the hurlers or watching the camógs or ladies footballers. You’re just there watching all the games. Sunday is just a GAA day, once you’re there, you’re there for the day.
“You hang around as a club together – you meet all the hurlers, ladies footballers, camogie players. Everyone’s together. It’s very much a clique — clique might be the wrong word — but it’s very much, ‘This is our club.’ We’d all be together.”
While playing abroad is often seen as more of a social thing, with the sense of community glaringly evident throughout, the standard remains extremely high.
Just like the bar being raised at home over the past few years, the upward trajectory is similar Down Under.
“Years ago people used to come on a Sunday and If you won, you won, if you lost, you lost,” Tormey adds. “It was just a big drinking day.
“Now, it’s got really competitive here. Training is proper training. The standard of players that are here — there are people who have won All-Irelands. It’s taken properly seriously.
“There’s proper rivalry with the clubs. It’s not as if it’s just a bit of craic. Jesus, it’s taken very seriously.”
One All-Ireland winner who plies her trade with Cusacks is Down dual star Karen McMullan. In 2014, she won ladies football and camogie titles within weeks of each other, but was lured to Australia by a friend soon after.
McMullan acknowledges the success she’s had across both codes since joining the club three years ago, but there’s much more to it than that.
“It’s the home from home factor with the club that plays a massive part of my enjoyment in living here in Sydney,” she smiles.
“It’s the family aspect of the club, the social support network and the lifetime friendships that make Michael Cusacks such a fantastic club to be associated with.”
The club’s 30th anniversary this year, of course, paves the way for celebration with several events taking place both in Sydney and on Irish soil. It’s a monumental landmark, and will be appreciated accordingly.
In two weeks, the Singapore Lions travel over for a challenge match while on 4 August, there’ll be a game in the St Brigid’s club in Dublin, followed by a function in the city that night, for past members to mark the occasion.
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While those events are all in the pipeline, the entire focus is on Sunday and the NSW league finals. It’s one of the biggest days in the calendar through a competitive season which runs from March to August.
With teams in all five finals, it should be a memorable one for the top Sydney outfit.
They’ve won over 100 trophies across all teams in the last 30 years, and will be hoping to add five more to the cabinet on Sunday.
“It’s great,” Tormey concludes.
“Sunday will be a big day for us, it’ll be a class day for the club. Hopefully, like! There’s a good chance we could win the five. Well, we’ll definitely not win none — there’s a good chance we could win one or two.
“It’s all very close. The finals will always be close and competitive. There’s no one going to walk away with any of the finals. There’s no way you could say, ‘We’re definitely going to win this,’ or, ‘We’re definitely not going to win this.’
“It’ll be on the day.”
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