The GAA season may be grinding to a halt at home with all of the inter county championships now done and dusted but our exiles in the Middle East are busily preparing for the high point of their season. The Bahrain Gaelic Festival will take place from November 1-3 and the centre piece will be the football competition involving teams from Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It is hoped that Irish corporates with a presence in the Middle East will also send teams. Aer Rianta and Kentz generally participate. The games involve both men and women and this year there will be the added dimension with a concert of Irish music and also, for the very first time, an exhibition hurling game. This football tournament is something that has become an integral part of the life of those of our countrymen who, despite the roaring Tiger at home, still choose to earn their living in this far flung part of the globe. It is one way of keeping in contact with their homeland and it shows how much a part of us all are our games.

The driving force behind this year’s major undertaking is Cork man, Peter Finnegan, Peter’s father was a well-know referee in his native Monaghan and later in Cork, where the family settled and was a very active member of the Delaney Rovers Club. He is still keenly interested in GAA affairs and usually has very forthright views on all the topics of the day. He is never afraid to express his strongly held opinions even if they are not always the popular ones.

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