It will come as no surprise to anyone that Australian rules football is the most popular sport in its native Australia. The uninitiated may be surprised, however, that Aussie rules boasts a considerable following across Europe, complete with its own governing body and clubs in European countries.
Martin Shannon, a final-year law and business student, was amongst the oblivious majority until very recently. Speaking about his first encounter with the expansive European Australian Football League (AFL) network, Shannon says: “I was gobsmacked … I didn’t know the extent of it, until my friend got me involved.”
Shannon, an accomplished Gaelic footballer with Blessington GAA and Wicklow, was first introduced to AFL through friend Gavin Murray two years ago. He decided to give it a shot, joining the South Dublin Swans, an AFL club based in Templeogue.
“[Murray] asked myself one of the days to go down with him, check it out, and [I] went down and it was great fun, great craic”, he tells me. “So I kept tipping away at that, kept playing it with them.”
From there, Shannon’s interest in the sport grew. Now, he plays among some of the best on the international stage. He is speaking with me from across the Irish Sea – Shannon was selected to represent Ireland at the 2019 AFL European Championship in London this year. The four-day event is held every three years, and is regarded as Europe’s premier Australian rules competition.
Despite scoring the opening goal in their match against Great Britain in the semi-final of the competition, Shannon’s Irish Warriors fell to a 48-30 defeat against the host nation.
“A 28-man panel went over, and for 17 of us – including myself – it was our first time playing with the team, so just a bit of experience probably got the better of us.”
“It’s a good learning curve at the same time”, he adds.
Shannon had already met many of his fellow debutants on the field in Ireland during his stint with South Dublin Swans. Coming to London, he got a sense of the wider AFL community on his doorstep: “[It’s] a big, big community … you have the league in Ireland – teams from Galway, teams from Belfast, teams from Cork, teams from all over the place.”
“Its great, especially being away now at the moment, because you recognise lads that you were playing against during the year … in that league.”
This isn’t, however, the first time Shannon has played AFL overseas. He also represented Clapham-based team Wandsworth Demons after another invite from friend Murray. The short spell in London helped him take his ability to the next level in a sport he was still getting to grips with: “In Ireland, you wouldn’t play 18-a-side. You’d only play either nine or 12-a-side. Over in London you’re playing 18-a-side, and you’re playing with boys from Australia as well who played all their lives.”
“You’re playing with better players, you’re learning from better players, you’re getting taught by managers who are Australian – normally expats – who’ve been living in London the past while.”
During our discussion, Shannon raises the point of “learning the sport” on several occasions. Despite similarities between Australian rules football and Gaelic football, Shannon stresses that the transition from one sport to the other isn’t straightforward: “In one sense, you’re lucky in that a lot of the skills would transfer over, but at the same time it is a completely different game.”
“Normally, the Gaelic skills would get you over the line … but when you’re playing against the likes of Denmark, and even Great Britain there today, who are training and playing AFL for a good while, you can notice it’s a different game”, he says.
Shannon maintains that Gaelic football will always be his first sporting preference, given that it’s all he’s known his whole life. Despite this, Shannon tells me that he loves AFL for a different reason: “It’s great to do something different, it’s great to do something new … it’s great to be learning again.”
“Finding yourself improving, it’s great to play one game and then you learn from that, and then again from the next game, and the next game. I’m really enjoying that at the moment. Obviously, I haven’t been playing for too long, and that’s what makes AFL so enjoyable.”
The challenge of picking up a new sport drew Shannon in. Now playing on the international stage just two years down the line, he will certainly be encouraged by the progress he’s made. With this in mind, I ask him about Australia, and the prospect of a professional career – a path that many Irish Gaelic footballers have taken before him.
“It’s not on my mind”, he says. “A lot of the lads that have been playing here [European Championships] today have been over to Australia and have played at fairly decent levels, and even the lads from London would have played at a fairly decent level.”
“I don’t know – I’ll take it as it comes. I’m still only new to the sport. I’m just playing it and enjoying it at the moment.”
For now, Shannon wants to enjoy his football. Returning to Trinity for his final year, he admits that some of his sporting endeavours may have to take a “back seat” as he focuses on his studies. Where his playing career goes from there, only time will tell.
