Marking another milestone on his AFL journey, South Dublin Swans player and Baltinglass native William Brien will jet off to Toronto with the Irish Men’s (Irish Warriors) and women’s (Irish Banshees) AFL teams to compete over 10 days against nations including Canada, the USA and Columbia in the prestigious tournament.

Despite still being a relative newcomer to the sport, the Transatlantic Cup will be William’s third outing with the Irish team, following his participation in Germany in 2023 and Ireland’s AFL Europe Championship victory in Croatia in 2022, which saw the Irish Warriors clinch their third title by defeating France (The Coqs) in a hotly contested final.

A stalwart of Baltinglass GAA Club and Tullow Rugby Club in recent years, William, who also plays with London team Wandsworth Demons and recently clinched the London League and Champions League double, explained that he fell in love with AFL after being introduced to the Irish scene by a co-worker.

“I started playing back in March 2022 and had no idea there was even AFL in Ireland until that point,” William began.

“I used to work in Quinn’s in Baltinglass, and one of the lads there played for the Swans and asked if I’d like to come up, and I said, sure, why not – I’ll give it ago.

“A couple of weeks later, I discovered there was a national team, trials and all that craic, so I went for it, got selected, and played for the Irish team at the European Championships in Croatia that October.

“I believe the tournament in Canada will be a similar format, but there will be teams from North and South America playing, including Canada, the USA and Columbia.

“The cost of the trip is roughly €1,200, and I’m hoping to raise as much as possible for the men’s and women’s teams as part of a broader fundraiser,” he continued.

“Then there is a personal fundraiser where you get a profile that you can go to companies with to see if you can get sponsorship, then their name or the company name gets highlighted.

“I only got the personal profile recently, so I’ve just started the sponsorship search, and sometimes, it can take a little bit of explaining to get across what the tournament is because it’s still relatively unfamiliar to the public.”

Offering a new but familiar alternative to traditional and mainstream sports, Ireland’s thriving community of AFL players compete in an annual national tournament, comprising four men’s and women’s from Dublin (South Dublin Swans), Cork (Vikings), Galway (Magpies) and Belfast (Ulster Kookaburras).

Those selected for the Irish Warriors and Banshees compete in multiple international tournaments, including the Australian Football International Cup. The Banshees are reigning champions following their 2017 triumph over Canada in Melbourne, where the men’s team finished a respectable third.

Addressing comparisons between AFL, GAA and rugby, William said that while most Irish people have heard of or seen AFL, there is little awareness that the sport is played on Irish soil and that we are among the leading AFL nations outside Australia, alongside the likes of New Zealand (Hawks) and Papua New Guinea (The Mosquitoes) men’s teams, and the Canadian (Northern Lights) and US (Freedom women’s teams.

“People would know what AFL is, but when I tell people I play it here, the usual response is that they had no idea it was going on,” William explained.

“I suppose, for me, I just happened to find out about it one day by chance, but it was an easy enough transition with my background in sports. I played GAA for Baltinglass for years, up until the season just gone, as I’m taking a year out to go back to play rugby for Tullow.

“AFL is very different to GAA, for example, where you have Junior A, Junior B and Senior. It’s all the one in AFL, and there are no divisions.

“There are more Australians over here playing AFL than you’d think, with some on the Dublin team, and there are a good few up in Belfast.

“If you ever come up against those Aussie lads, you have to bump up that fitness and conditioning, because they are just class!”

To sponsor William, contact williambrien02@gmail.com