GAA: The African fishermen taking up gaelic football

A County Down gaelic football club has been training players from further afield.

A number of men from Ghana have been working as fishermen out of Ardglass harbour for the last year.

Ruth Curran, secretary at Ardglass gaelic football club, said: "We met a few weeks ago and we were talking about gaelic and having a bit of banter about how you have to play gaelic when you come out to our club."

She added: "We got our senior manager to put on a bit of a training session with them and go through some basic skills."

Edward Kweku Dzidzornu is a seafarer by profession.

The 31-year-old grew up in Ghana and he is one of about 30 men from the African country who have spent the last two summers in Ardglass working in the local fishing industry.

He said: "Ardglass is a nice community, I consider it one of the best places I’ve settled in.

“Our first time at the gaelic club, I wondered how could I play football with my hand and my leg also.

“But then I remembered when I was in high school I played handball before, so it was nothing to me and it wasn’t so bad.”

Ruth Curran said it’s an opportunity for the club to promote the health and wellbeing of everybody in the local community.

“They very much are part of our community and we want to make them feel welcome."

Video journalist: Niall McCracken