Arsenal duo tweet support for Clare hurlers
There was another instance of Premier League footballers' admiration for Gaelic Games earlier today when Arsenal's Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla showed their support for Clare ahead of the All-Ireland SHC final replay against Cork.
Podolski and Cazorla posed in the Arsenal dressing room with a couple of hurleys and held up a sign saying, 'Up the Banner'. The photo was tweeted by German international Podolski and has received over 3,700 retweets and 1,300 favourites at the time of writing.
Good luck @GaaClare @ClareHurlers for All-Ireland final. Today Santi & me smashed it over the bar #wristyhurlers pic.twitter.com/z9qJW6LMrT
— Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) September 28, 2013
The Gunners are building up to their Premier League clash away to Swansea which kicks off at 5.30pm - half-an-hour after the throw-in of Clare's rematch with the Rebels at Croke Park.
Although it has not been confirmed yet, it is believed that Arsenal first team physio Declan Lynch, who played rugby for Shannon and worked with the Ireland Under-20s and London Irish, is the inspiration behind the photo and tweet.
It is well known that there is quite an Irish contingent behind the scenes at Arsenal - former rugby internationals Jerry Flannery and Johnny O'Connor are both on work placements as strength and conditioning coaches with the club's Academy.
Of course, Republic of Ireland legend Liam Brady has headed up the north Londoners' Academy structure since 1996, while fellow former international Gerry Peyton is employed as the Gunners' goalkeeping coach and Des Ryan - previously employed by the IRFU and Connacht - is the Arsenal Academy's head of sports medicine and athletic development.
The rugby link continues with former Ireland team doctor Gary O'Driscoll working as Arsenal's club doctor and ex-Ulster and Ireland physio Simon Harland also involved part of their medical department. Kwame Ampadu, who was capped by the Republic of Ireland at Under-21, is a youth team coach.
Stories of British-based soccer stars showing an interest in the GAA regularly crop up. Just last week, injured Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher was present at Croke Park to watch the All-Ireland football decider between Mayo and Dublin.
Fletcher was there to support Mayo as his mother hails from Achill Island. In an interview beforehand with TV3, he said: "I'm here with my uncle and I've got loads of relations coming up (for the game). Hopefully we can do it and bring Sam back home to Mayo.
"I can't wait (for it to start). It's the first time I've been to Croke Park, I've heard all about it. It's definitely been on my bucket list for a while. The taxi driver was a bit jealous that I managed to get a ticket!
"I tried to play a little bit (of Gaelic football) when I used to come over on holidays - not very successfully. I was better when the ball was on the ground. It's a real entertaining game and a real great sport to watch."
