Portnoo man organises Antarctica's first-ever Gaelic football game on St Patrick’s Day 

A Portnoo native will this afternoon participate in Antarctica’s first-ever Gaelic football march. 

Sean McLaughlin is an ocean scientist at the Rothera Research Station in the Antarctic - the world’s southernmost and least populated continent.

The former Ardara senior footballer explains that he and his colleagues will also hold a St Patrick’s Day Parade this afternoon on the freezing ice. 

And the floats are all being designed by different members of the 135 staff at the station.

“During our pre-deployment training at Cambridge in the UK, the Irish contingent of our wintering team joked about holding a St. Patrick’s Day celebration,” McLaughlin told DonegalLive. 

“Believe it or not the station has a very active social calendar, celebrating a whole host of international events. 

“And while we had originally just joked about a St Patrick’s Day Parade or even a game of Gaelic football, our station leaders encouraged us to organise the event and promote our Irish traditions. After briefly discussing it, we decided it would be a fantastic idea”.

As well as McLaughlin, there are five other Irish nationals based at the station. They are:  Gráinne Keogh (Cork); Sinéad Bolt (Dublin), Jonathan Redmond (Wicklow), Paul Carroll (Kildare), Matt Scott (Armagh), Daniel Probe (Antrim).

“Between us, a quick brainstorming session led us to two of the most Irish traditions we could think of cropping up, a St Patrick’s Day parade and a game of Gaelic football. 

“The station has really got on board with the idea with many departments working hard on their floats. 

“And they’re all watching as many matches of Gaelic football as possible to gain a better understanding of the rules! 

“Hosting these events will be a first of their kind on the continent of Antarctica. For me, Gaelic football was the first thing that came to my mind. 

“Having played for Ardara from the age of seven right up to senior, it was always something I was very passionate about. 

“During college, I took up diving and unfortunately it clashed a lot with the GAA back home with most weekends being used for dive trips. 

“Eventually the diving won out and I hung up my boots for an early retirement! Ultimately, that decision led me to Antarctica after I took up diving as a professional career. 

“I never lost interest in the GAA though. With my family at home still very much involved with Ardara, I'm in the loop on all the goings on.  

“Watching county matches has a fun new element here now as well because the majority of the lads on the current Donegal team are players I grew up playing against. 

“But down here, I tend to leave out the stories of failing to ever lay a glove on the likes of Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Ban Gallagher or Ciarán Thompson!” 

McLaughlin has also been in touch with Croke Park with the aim of getting his Antarctic team officially recognised.

And that would mean that the last real geographical frontier for Gaelic football could finally be tacked.

“When I was researching where Gaelic football had been played, I saw on Wikipedia that it says the sport has a team on every continent except Antarctica. 

“So I thought it would be nice to help the GAA take one step closer to being played all over the world, while making sure that the Donegal and Ardara flags are flying during that little piece of history! 

“The St Patrick’s Day parade and game of Gaelic football will bring good fun and laughs to station but it will most of all make us feel a little bit closer to home, all the way from the bottom of the world!”