Bush Rangers Coming to GAA Club Near You!
Talking Balls
News has emerged from Donegal know-it-all Martin McHugh that a full-time paid GAA official is assisting Aussie Rules player agent Ricky Nixon in his plans to set up a scouting network in Ireland.
There are fears that this will prompt a mass exodus of top young players to the AFL in the coming months. As Nixon prepares to holds trials in either Belfast or Dublin next month, Gerald Sholly - an agent for Carlton Blues - is holding a trial in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone on Friday, and some of the brightest prospects on the Ulster GAA scene are expected to attend.
The identity of the individuals assisting Nixon has remained a mystery, and McHugh has called on him to come out and name ‘his men’: “I have been told that one of his agents is a GAA employee and others are ex-footballers who are involved in coaching. These people to me should come out and say what they are at. It seems to be all about money. He (Nixon) will take about 15 players over there and if two make it he’s happy. What about the other 13?”
We shouldn’t be surprised at the Aussie scouts coming over here. After all as a nation they have a fine tradition of bandits and highwaymen and outlaws that highjacked, robbed and wreaked havoc throughout Australia - taking what wasn’t theirs and showing scant regard for the authorities. At least a bushranger wore a mask or - in the legendary Ned Kelly’s case -a metal helmet. Interestingly reports in Oz suggested that the boul Ned was a teak tough fullback for the famous Bush Rangers GAC.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I hereby declare that all information gained from Ireland has been provided to me by a Martin McHugh