GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 28 – June 20, 2015 | Page 48

ALICIA BUTLER
JUNE 19, 2015
From Texas, Alicia Butler is Austin Celtic Cowboys Club PRO and formerly a member of the
Fionn MacCumhaills GAA club in Dallas. In our
Interview segment in this issue, we talk with this
American Gaelic footballer about her involvement
in the sport.
HOW DID YOU DISCOVER GAELIC FOOTBALL?

A few years ago, a close friend and soccer teammate, Deirdre Grant—who’s Irish—kept pestering
me to give Gaelic football a try with her club, Fionn
MacCumhaills GAA Dallas. I thought I was content
playing amateur adult soccer, but Dee can be persistent and to get her off my back, I agreed to play in
an exhibition match during an event held in Austin.
After some basic instruction and a few minutes on
the field, I was immediately hooked. Dee deserves a
huge part of the credit for the development of ladies
Gaelic football in Texas—she single-handedly got
the ladies’ team off the ground in Dallas, and that
gave rise to everything that’s followed.
HAD YOU EVER HEARD ABOUT THE SPORT
BEFORE?

I hadn’t heard of Gaelic football until I agreed to
come out to one of the men’s Texas Championship
matches to take some action photos. The exhibition
match I played in the first time was only the third or
fourth Gaelic football match I’d ever seen.
WHAT WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT SKILL TO
LEARN AT THE BEGINNING?

Soloing the ball, without a doubt.

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