Gaelic games have new future in San Francisco

Hard times are falling on communities across the country, and even in the affluent San Francisco area, belts are tightening and the economy is in decline. But on a recent December afternoon, on an island in the middle of the Bay, on a plot of land surrounded by cracked concrete and crumbling buildings, a lively celebration was gearing up, one that defied the growing gloom all around."

By the day's end, Ireland's 2007 and 2008 Gaelic football All-Stars had faced off against each other in front of over 2,000 fans, and San Francisco's Gaelic Athletic Association (SFGAA) had formally opened three new world-class fields, named a Pairc na nGael.

Players and fans of Gaelic football and hurling are ecstatic. Before the park materialized, they had never had their own base. They were "wandering aimlessly," with "no real homes . . . a rudderless ship," according to Pat Uniacke, President of the SFGAA Treasure Island Board of Directors.

In just eight months, workers and volunteers turned unused land owned by the U.S. Navy into high-quality pitches, where players can now pass a football or strike a sliotar without tripping in a gopher hole or having to surrender the pitch to other sports. But the new fields on Treasure Island go far beyond sport in their significance to the Bay Area and the Irish-American community. The second phase of the project involves a 25,000-square-foot community center and clubhouse, and will be open to any organization that wishes to use it. The space will host feiseanna, banquets, conferences, and the like and serve as a center where people can gather to socialize and celebrate - a physical hub in an increasingly virtual society.

This new foothold for Gaelic games is also a link between families and across decades. Irish President Mary McAleese praised this aspect when she appeared later the same week at the opening ceremony for Pairc na nOg, the new youth field that is part of the same project. In front of children from 25 area schools dressed in brightly colored football jerseys, McAleese recalled the largely Irish immigrants who came to San Francisco in the 1850s "with so little - but they still had the love of their games. And here we are a century and a half later, in very different times, honoring their memory. To the Irish-American families and the dignitaries, fans, players, and volunteers who attended the opening ceremonies that week, the new GAA center is more than just well-kept grass for games and competition. It's a knot joining America back to Ireland, and the Irish-American past to its unwritten future - a knot that's being tied and tightened even as you read.

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Nster.com