Galway's major player in North American GAA affairs

SAN Francisco may be a long way from the green sod of home, but it can still boast of a dedicated and passionate GAA community to rival any in Ireland. One of the father figures of the Association in North America is Kilconieron native, Pat Uniacke, who earlier this year was honoured by the GAA in recognition of the Trojan work he does in the United States.It’s Monday evening, and ‘the local’, Fiddler’s Green in Millbrae, is alive with the sound of an eclectic mix of Irish, American and other accents. Pat Uniacke’s voice is among them, as he chats with friends and fellow Irish emigrants about the issues of the day, and, of course, their one great love, the GAA.While much of the discourse surrounds the impending visit of the Kildare footballers and their manager Kieran McGeeney later in the evening, for now Uniacke is quite happy to talk about the healthy state of the Association in his adopted home.One of the recent initiatives that has taken up much of Uniacke’s time has been the acquisition of 13 acres of land in nearby Treasure Island, a man-made island created in the mid 1930s which, in its time, has served as a naval base, a museum and office complex. Uniacke says to finally have a permanent home for the Association in the region is massive. “It is huge,” beams Uniacke, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors which was charged initially with securing the land and which now runs the facility.“It is a launching pad for the survival of the games here. Before that, we really were wandering aimlessly. We were playing on sub-standard pitches – sub standard in size and sub standard in quality, causing injuries to kids and adults alike. Now that we have our own field, we can keep it in pristine condition. There are no holes or divots, so the risk of injury is way down. It somewhat guarantees our future survival.”In many respects, if the Association is to flourish State-side, Uniacke – who is also Chairman of Éire Óg, a club he helped found just south of San Francisco – believes developing home grown talent is the direction they must take. Already their youth policy has paid dividends with a San Francisco U-14 representation winning their division at Féile three years ago. “So, the groundwork is being done and has been done for the last 15 years with that youth programme. There are some great people involved in it.”Of course, one of those is Uniacke, who, himself, has a long association with GAA in the Bay area. Although he had spent some time in San Francisco as far back as 1973, Uniacke made the permanent move to the Californian City in 1984, having worked the previous two years in Palestine, where he was involved in the construction of a Cultural Centre in the Gaza Strip.Although he originally only intended his stay to be a holiday, Uniacke – who had previously hurled with his native Kilconieron and later Commercials in Dublin – decided to turn down an opportunity to return to the Gaza Strip for the chance to live and work in the Golden State. San Francisco was soon to become a home away from home.“I had stopped hurling during my few years in the Gaza Strip, but I had also received an eye injury years earlier and had really finished up hurling. I came here, though, and my brother, on the second or third Sunday, said ‘there is a game out in the hurling field, will you come out?’ I said ‘right’. Out I went for a look and I was persuaded to tog out. I ended up hurling again for a good few years after that.”Indeed, Uniacke says he will never forget that first year playing with San Francisco Gaels, particularly when he, along with a skeleton crew, travelled to the North American Championships and “were beaten out the gate by a Cork hurling team from Boston”.For more of Stephen Glennon column read page 51 of this week's Connacht Tribune