Shay Rafter has been following in the footsteps of his father, Pat, from the moment he first picked up a football for Tara Gaelic Football Club.
Shay’s father migrated to London from County Mayo as an 18-year-old for better work opportunities. While Pat left Ireland, he did not leave behind his love for Gaelic and began playing for Tara, the club where he would later coach his son from the age of six.
“I loved [being coached by my dad]”, the 21-year-old told Fen Regis Trophies. “I was told he was a very good player.
“He was very successful in his career, and my team was decent as well. He’s a very good coach, very knowledgeable and passionate.”
Representing London
In Gaelic sport, there is no greater honour than representing your county. Shay, like his father before him, has represented London in county competition – making history on his senior inter-county debut, playing his part in turning Mayo over on Irish soil.
Shay’s first appearance for London, nicknamed the Exiles, came in their Connacht League fixture against Mayo, the county of his father’s birth, and one of Ireland’s premier footballing counties. London had never beaten Mayo before Shay’s debut in January 2024.
“It was a mental experience,” Shay said. “All my family still live in Mayo.
“I scored six points. They didn’t know who I was…they (Mayo) were a more experimental side.”
“We were unreal,” Shay added. “The preparation for two, three months in pre-season had been massive.
“We came in with a game plan, to sit a bit deeper and hit them on the counter-attack, and more or less it worked to perfection.”
All-Britain Junior Football Championship
Unlike in Ireland, Gaelic is a niche sport in England, a million miles away from the popularity of the likes of (association) football, cricket, and rugby. Despite that, Shay does believe that the standard of the English Gaelic game is improving.
The Tara player points towards the All-Britain Junior Football Championship as a big reason for the upturn in standard this side of the Irish Sea.
“I was very young when the competition came in,” Shay said. “When that started, maybe there were only about four or 500 hundred participants, and now that number has doubled, if not trebled.”
The tournament runs at both club and county levels, running to a similar format to the All-Ireland Championships, and Shay believes it has all the makings of an exciting competition.
“The strength and depth of the quality is massive,” he said. “Every year, in the All-Britain Junior Club Football Championship, you get different clubs cropping up and winning it.
“Two years ago, a team from Scotland won it and, last year, a club from London…the depth and quality across the board has improved.”
At the time of the interview, Shay was hopeful that London, with a side including many of his friends, would win the first All-Ireland Junior Football Championship since 1986. The young Exiles, however, lost out by a single point to defending champions New York at Croke Park in Dublin.
While a Junior title was in touching distance, Shay does believe a Senior All-Ireland win may be a little further away, but he does say “never say never”.
“It all depends on the development and having improved facilities in London,” he explained. “We’re competing against teams like Dublin and Cork that have ridiculous facilities…so yeah, we’ll see.”
For now, the Nottingham Trent University graduate’s focus is to build on an impressive start to senior county life with London, as well as continuing to experience success at club level at Tara, just as his dad did.
By Aaron Gratton
