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Article from Andersonstown New, March 5th.
Aussie rules ok 05/03/01 What do you mean you didn’t know Belfast had an Aussie Rules football team? The Belfast Redbacks were founded last year by Melbourne native Ian Bracken and already they have world championship glory in their sights. Mention sporting firsts that have taken place in Ireland in the past 12 months and most people will immediately turn their thoughts to Saturday 2 December 2000 when the Belfast Giants played their first game at the Odyssey Arena. But turn the clock back a few more months and another ‘first ever’ was notched up on the Irish sporting calender – and it too took place in Belfast, albeit taking a slightly lower profile than the debut of Ireland’s first professional ice hockey team. On March 25 Cherryvale Playing Fields on the Ravenhill Road played host to Ireland’s first ever Aussie Rules football match as a Belfast and Dublin select took on the North London Lions. Unfortunately – like the Belfast Giants – they also lost. But true to the classic sporting cliché, it wasn’t the result that was important. The first ever game of Aussie Rules football had been played in Ireland, a statistic that came as a surprise to Belfast Redbacks founder, Ian Bracken. “I was quite surprised that there hadn’t been a full scale Aussie Rules game in Ireland before then, given the history of the Compromise Rules game,” says Ian. The Redbacks came about as the result of a chance whilst jogging in the grounds of Queen’s PEC. “I saw a couple of guys kicking a ball around and went over and joined them. We met later for a drink and basically that was it, we started up a team. “I had heard just a week earlier that there was a team started in Dublin. The thought had crossed my mind before but had gone no further.” Belfast played Dublin in a three-game series last year before the second International Rules game in Dublin when one of the game’s legends, Robert 'Dipper' Dipierdomenico, lined out for the Redbacks. Dipper plied his trade for Hawthorns way back in the eighties when Channel 4 screened the AFL on Saturday nights and is now a television pundit Down Under. Unfortunately Dipper has had his fair share of barbies and tinnies since then and couldn’t prevent Dublin from clocking up a 2-1 series victory. There are now six teams in Ireland – three from Dublin, one in Cork, one from Drogheda and the Redbacks. “We’re looking forward to a structured league this year. The first part of the league was due to start next week but it looks as if that will have to be put on hold due to the foot and mouth scare.” “The Irish Aussie Rules season in Ireland consists firstly of a series nine-a-side matches played on a Gaelic pitch while in June, July and August the teams increase to the normal 18-a-side.” The Redbacks play at Hydebank on a proper 160 by 140 oval with Aussie Rules posts when there is no soccer being played. If, like me, you thought that the expatriate Australian population of Belfast wasn’t big enough to support an Aussie Rules team then you’d be right as most of the players are natives. “There are in fact very few Australians that play here, most are Gaelic players who just fancy playing a couple of games although we have a few that have been with us from the start.” Ian says that although there are some players from the Antrim leagues most come from Down – the county of his father Kieran who was born in Warrenpoint. “My father left Ireland for Melbourne which is where I was born. I first came here in 1997 and stayed for eight months. I went back to Melbourne for a year before coming back again.” Ian now lives in the Holylands and works in a solicitors office as part of the paralegal team and seems fairly settled in Belfast although admits that he still finds the winter a bit long. The cold Belfast winter will be far from his mind in April though when the Redbacks will travel to London to compete in the FSS Cup, the biggest Aussie Rules tournament outside Australia. “All the English sides will be competing which will obviously be very tough for us. There is a rule that the team must be at least one-third English but that still leaves two-thirds that are Australian but we’ll give it a go.” After the FSS Cup the Redbacks are setting their sights further afield to the Aussie Rules World Championships to be held in Melbourne next year. Ian sees the games an an opportunity for Irish players to represent their country in a major sporting event and appeals to anyone who fancies trying out the sport to give it a go. “A lot of the groundwork has already been done in terms of sending a team to the world championships. “We have already applied to the Irish Sports Council and there seems to be no problem in them sanctioning the Irish team as one that is representing the country. “The team will be picked by about September/October time and we hope tat the Sports Council will be able to give us some help with travel expenses.” Indeed Ian continues to be pleasantly supplied by the generosity shown to the team from both hemispheres. The Northern Bank supplied the jerseys – or guernseys as the Aussies call them – and the AFL in Australia who send over genuine Sherrin footballs to all the Irish teams. The Redbacks are also affiliated to Essendon FC in Australia (which is why they play in red and black, it’s not Ian’s father’s Down influence!) and hope to build further links to the Victoria club in the future. With an affiliation to Essendon though how come the Redbacks didn’t adopt their name: the Essendon Bombers? “I think that’s fairly obvious,” laughs Ian.
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