Hungry Like The Wolves

                                                      HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLVES

            Someone once said "American Football is a wonderful way of getting rid of your aggression without going to jail for it!" Harsh...yes, but for sheer strength, endeavour and yes, aggression, the game which first emerged in 1869 an evolved thereafter is among one of the tougher physical sports on the planet.

A sport confined to the ‘Land of the free and home of the brave’, American Football's insular outlook wasn't meant to be spread globally at first, though that has changed (the EFAF -European Federation of American Football is currently a success story) and though the sport has branched out you just couldn't see time-outs, tight ends & tight clothing in the Emerald Isle!

After all weren't we raised on the more global game of rugby? Well not really. Rugby used to be a rich man's game and had an elitist tag for many years, now of course times have changed.

Be that as it may, selling American Football to a foreign public either sceptical of the game or not fully aware of its rules, would always be tough.

The first introduction we had of the Stateside game came in the MTV driven mid-eighties when Channel 4 started showing the stellar showpiece of American football – The Superbowl.

One of the earliest finals shown live, Superbowl XX, made an instant trans-Atlantic star of William ‘The Refrigerator’ Perry, Chicago Bears Defensive Tackle, full back that was part of a side that stream rolled the New England Patriots 46-10 in the final.

For there the game took off. A couple of years previous I thought John Elway was an American ride-on lawn-mower, now he was the star quarterback of a Denver Broncos side he would lead to five Superbowls (winning two.) We found out New York hosted the Giants and the Jets and that the Green Bay Packers wasn’t some meat factory that played on the weekends on their day off.

Unbeknownst to the Waterford public that actually sparked a friend of mine, Trevor, to actively put together a local American football team! At the time the game was just starting to develop (it helped that several collegiate teams came to play in Lansdowne Road once a year to sell-out crowds) and for four months he actively held several fund-raising events to try pull off the most unlikely of scenarios – The Waterford Panthers .He did manage to pull together almost £1500 but I accidentally broke his family’s massive fish tank with a wayward golf ball which meant the fund took a bit of a kicking!

Thankfully almost 25 years later Waterford finally has its very own American football team and it’s been fantastic to see the way the Waterford Wolves have integrated themselves into the city both on and off the field. When they’re not topping the table (courtesy of 5 wins from 6 at present) they’re are helping out in Heart Screening, bag-packing for Simon, family fun in Fenor or just spreading the gospel of

I recently had a chat with Chairman/Coach Eoin Reinhardt about past, present and future for his hungry pack of Blue & White wolves.

                                                                                   

Who had the vision to bring an American Football team to Waterford, knowing the Waterford public might not be that knowledgeable about the sport?

 The original idea came from a guy called Michael Kavanagh about 7 years ago and we started a flag football team called the South East Strongbows. The original plan was for us to play flag for a couple of years and move to full contact thereafter.

We had a coach on board by the name of Dave Collins who was an ex player. Nothing came of it though, none of us were doing anything to advertise or grow the team so it fell by the wayside. A couple of years back I decided that I would like to play full contact football and started asking the league for advice on where to start. I got in touch with the lads from the flag team, they were all interested in doing something and it just went from there.

My brother Cian and I put up some posters around town and held our first training session at Villa FC in November 2011 and had 9 or 10 guys training. The following week we had 25 or 30 guys and we've not looked back since then. I got in touch with Dave Collins again and he was happy to come on board because he saw we were taking things more serious this time round, sadly Dave passed away early in 2012 and it set us back in a big way, but his influence on us was huge, because of him the Strongbows would not have lasted as long as they did and because of that we would not have The Wolves today, that is the reason you see 'DC' on the front of the wolves helmet, as an homage to everything Dave has done to help us out when we were starting.

 Were there any initial obstacles in setting up the side (recruiting players, funding kit) or was it plain sailing and helping hands everywhere.

             We never had a problem recruiting players. Purchasing the kit however required some shopping around, and only for the work of John McGrath I think it's safe to say The Wolves would probably be still un-kitted to this day, the work he has done and still does is incredible. The cost of the kit was something that scared off a few guys but in fairness to all our current players they put in a lot of effort to help raise enough to get a nice few bob off the price and it helped big time. I think the biggest challenge we faced and one I am still overcoming is the coaching side of it. It's different from other sports in that tactics are more important than natural ability. We've had a lot of help from other coaches, and are lucky to have Steve Collins on board as well as coach Rob Wills coming on board later in the year. Experience is key in coaching a sport like this, we are all still learning our trade but with the guys behind us and coach Wills coming on board we have a bright future. 

            Bringing such a sport Suirside would have meant more than a few doubters. Do you think you've managed to win them over...is it a slow but sure process, or are you happy with the fans who know the game and can work with that following?

 Plenty of doubters to be sure, but nobody (so far) has been opposed to us trying to do what we are doing. I know we've managed to win over some people but there are still some people who do not know we exist and we hope we can change that. We don't want to give Waterford an American Football team, we want to give Waterford a winning American Football team. The people of Waterford are great supporters and will get behind a team when they see them playing with heart. We're hoping we can give Waterford something else to be proud of and a winning team that the county and people deserve. 

More than any other sport, battling against Football, GAA & Rugby, probably means that the camaraderie among the Wolves is that bit more special. Describe how you felt as you lined up for you very first game.

Everyone involved with the team has at some point made comment of how close the players are with each other. We made a point at the start at the year to make sure that you are giving 100% on every play, make sure you don't let the person beside you down and the guys really took it to heart. When going out for such a physically demanding sport you have to trust the guys around you and we all trust each other. Off the field is just the same, everybody gets along with everybody else

There are no cliques or groups.

 On nights out, at meetings, on the bus to games or stopping for food, I can sit next to any of the players have a chat and joke and not feel uncomfortable, it's quite refreshing. Lining up for the first game was not too bad, we all had the butterflies but with all the work we had put in at training, we knew if we performed at our best we would get the win and we did. After the game was emotional to say the least, looking around at our guys who were overcome with joy, and the supporters who braced the bitter cold until the very end would have brought a tear to a glass eye. I gave my brother a hug told him I loved him, got a hug from John McGrath and he said 'We did it brother' and it made me think of where we came from to get to that point in just over a year and it is really something. 

Having made the initial breakthrough, got a team on the field and started winning what does the rest on the season hold for Waterford Wolves?

Our goal this year is to get some experience under our belts and be competitive in the league. We've won a couple of games and it felt good, so we'll be hoping to win a couple more. In this league any team can beat anybody else, so we don't have to fear anybody here. We go into every game with the knowledge that if we perform, we'll win.