Charting the international exploits and turmoils of players like Liam Brady, Anne O’Brien, Robbie Keane, Stephanie Roche, and a host of others, as well as featuring first hand interviews with over a dozen key players, Emerald Exiles is the authoritative story of how Ireland made its stamp on world football at every level of the game.
What took a Dublin footballer to the dugout at Ajax, an Inchicore teenager to the French league, and a Cork midfielder to North Carolina?
In Emerald Exiles, sports journalist Barry Landy follows the Irish players and coaches who ventured beyond Britain to make a living in football. There’s Jack Kirwan, Ajax’s first manager, and Liam Brady, who took his left foot to Juventus. Alongside them are Anne O’Brien, a pioneer of the women’s game in France and Italy, and Denise O’Sullivan, who made her name in American football with the North Carolina Courage.
Drawing on first-hand interviews, Landy brings together familiar names and careers that deserve to be better known. It’s a history of Irish football told through the experience of emigration, one dressing room at a time.
