Ireland’s first ever all-Muslim rugby team is set to take to the field this September.
Blackrock College old boy Fr Seamus Fleming first put the group together through Clonskeagh Mosque last year and is signing the team up to play in an inter-school league that kicks off this September.
The idea for an all-Muslim team started when Fr Fleming went to the Clonskeagh Mosque and Cultural Centre. He recalls: “I went over to learn Arabic and when I was in the restaurant and various other places I got to talking with the kids. They were mad to play rugby.”
Fr Fleming, who serves as chaplain in Dun Laoghaire’s St Michael’s Hospital, then approached the nearby Catholic University School to request the use of their pitches. When they agreed, an under-15 team was established and commenced training. Since then, around 45 Muslim players have been assembled into under-14, under-12 and under-11 teams by the Meath-born priest.
The squads have been playing friendly games in the run-up to the start of the league, and Fr Fleming believes they are making progress. “They’re doing well. A few of them are great players,” he said.
Fr Fleming found that although soccer is far and away the most popular sport played in Muslim countries, many of the youngsters he deals with also expressed an interest in horse riding.
Unfortunately, he ran into problems when trying to get the young Muslims an hour or two in the saddle.
“I tried to arrange it here but the riding schools here are very expensive,” he said. “If you go out for an hour there is a lot of money involved.”
Fr Fleming feels that rugby is an ideal way of helping the players integrate into Irish life. He told Metro Eireann: “We’re going to be getting games going against schools all over Dublin and north Wicklow. The players will be meeting people their own age that they wouldn’t meet otherwise.
“There’s a lot of friendliness involved in rugby; how they line up and applaud the winning team, for example. And there’s also a great social aspect to it.”
Fr Fleming believes that the first big hurdle for the fledgling team will come when the top players begin preparations for their Leaving Cert exams. “One problem is that a lot of these guys want to do medicine and law, and when they come to fifth and sixth year a crowd of them will be going off to the educational institutions to get the points,” he says.
In the meantime, however, the players are enjoying their new sport and may even be in line for some perks once they join a league.
“We will also get tickets for international matches so the guys will get to go along to Croke Park to watch Ireland,” said Fr Fleming.
