Day 10 - Wed 22nd Oct 08

Today we went to the Mounties for the first time. This one is in Paramatta and part of a chain of health facilities and hotels. It has a huge membership base and has quite a significant Irish membership in Sydney. Each of us has to sign temporary membership forms, a requirement of clubs legally in Australia and then we split up into backs and forwards for the weights session and an outdoor tackling technique session on one of the Mounties pitches. After an hour we changeover and then come together for a short session on the pitch before we have lunch there. We finish in the early after noon and most of the lads have the evening off. A small number of us Ross Barbour, Steve Gibbons, Scott Grix, Andy Kelly, Mike Callaghan and myself have to go to a function laid on by Paramtta City Council where the teams from our group meet each other and representatives from the city council.

ULLAWAH MITTIGAR GURANG GURUK YARNA
JUNAWEE BUBUWU NUNGARMEE

Come in and sit down a good friend is happy to see you.

That was the introduction we had from Alan Merriman from the Warmarli tribe of the Darug Nation. His talk was certainly very stimulating and gave us an insight into what life was like for Aboriginals in Australia until very recently. He explained his interesting lineage, descending from one of the first mixed race marriages in Australia and how he is also part Irish through his Irish Grandfather. When he was born in 1967 he was not considered an Australian Citizen because of his aboriginality. That is one thing that binds us as a team, our heritage and how it is clear that our country Ireland values its descendants no matter where they are around the globe and we have met plenty of them on this trip.

The function lasts around 2 hours and after an autograph session with the players we head back to base around 8pm for a well earned rest.

Ni Neart go cur le cheile