Colm Finlay Republic of Jiu-Jitsu

Ringkasan

Colm joined me to discuss the unfortunate incident that occurred at the republic of Jiu-jitsu gym in Dublin the we speak about the damage it has done inside the premises, the effect it's had on staff and members alike, the decision to go ahead with a fight on Wrath fighting…

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

Okay, so I'm here with Colin Finley who is a coach uh at Republic Jiu-Jitsu who had there was an unfortunate incident there recently. Um I actually got to witness one of his guys in person at show and commentate on it and he was fantastic. But uh I want to thank you very much for your time. Thank you for joining me. How are you today? >> Uh I'm very good. Thanks. Thanks for having me on the program, David. Pleasure to be here with you. >> Yeah. You know, it's it's my pleasure to have you and and obviously I just spoke to you before cuz I work in around C center and I've always seen I've always seen your place. Every Thursday I passed by and I'd always look in sees there someone on the mats and and then it came up on on my feed on Instagram what happened. Do you want to kind of give a bra a brief description of what happened and how was kind of >> like it's devastated the gym? Uh but you you're still going. Do you want to just tell people what has happened? >> Yeah, of course. Yeah. First of all, it's an interesting way you put it. It was a it was a great location for we've been open for years. H but previously we used to share a martial arts facility with with several other clubs, you know, Muay Thai and so on. We were down a a dark laneway and it was only last year we moved uh to our new place in Tanzan Street in Dublin city center and like you said it was a fantastic glass open front shop and suddenly um you know more and more people were aware of us. people just walking past or taking public transport were aware of us and it was a huge huge boon. It was really fantastic place. But what happened was uh just under a month ago now we were uh we got a call one Tuesday morning basically to say that uh the gym had been uh burnt down late on the Monday night. I suppose at first I saw a video and I I saw that one of the windows had been broken. I said oh god you know windows been broken and so it was two windows and then you know looked inside and uh the whole place had been utterly uh devastated. So, uh, what became pretty clear pretty quickly was, uh, someone had done this on purpose. We don't know who or why. H, the guard are certainly taking it seriously and they're investigating that, but someone had, uh, deliberately, uh, torched the gym. So, everything that we'd worked so hard for for years to save up uh, to move to a new premises, uh, you know, all the work that we put into making it look as good as it did just completely destroyed. and everything along with it. You know, all the kids medals and uh belts, the trophies destroyed, our championship belts and the artwork, the merchandise, uh you know, custom made baron that we had with the uh the glove insignia on it, everything just uh completely destroyed in the inferno. >> Yeah. And like that's devastating. Like you said, like the likes of the medals and and stuff. I know the whole thing is, but like the likes of the medals and stuff that that the kids won't be able to get back will be devastating to them. And it's just for me it's so bizarre why someone would want to do that to a facility that gives so many young kids in the city center when like obviously you've been around city center it's rife with crime and and man bad stuff going on that this is this is a place to give young people a focus and a purpose and and to keep them away from the streets why someone will want to do something like that I >> absolutely yeah yeah we don't know who did it or why like I said but I guess all we can say for sure is who whoever did it had a a heart full of hate And uh hate won't win. Uh and that we will never win. We won't let it. Um but yeah, there's there's so much good that we uh we did in the community for for kids in the area in the inner city, but also for adults as well, helping people through all sorts of issues from depression, anxiety, addiction, or even just people who want to get in better shape and enjoy better health. So kids and adults alike, uh I think, you know, we we try to do a lot for the community anyway. And I suppose our priority now is to get back um to to be able to keep doing that to be able to keep uh giving back to the community. And you know likewise the community's given us so much uh particularly in the last month since the fire uh so much support and that's both in terms of the local community in town but also uh the wider jiu-jitsu community here in Ireland and even abroad. So we've got so much and we just want to kind of give back even twice as much as we as we did in the past. >> Yeah. And hopefully you've got a GoFundMe set up when I put this out onto YouTube. I'll put the GoFundMe link there and I'll put it onto Instagram as well. I I'll keep sharing it. So hopefully you reach your goal. Just one question kind of off topic. You said you're down a laneway. Was that by the one by uh Making It Work? Was it down there? >> No, there's a little bit. >> There's It's just off Pier Street. There's a building called Making It Work as we collect glass from there. And I noticed there's a little squad gym down there as well. >> Um >> uh that's right. Yeah, it's called Mcenna Square. It's just off Pier Street and it was a very narrow uh laneway. Uh Wild Geese was the name of the facility. That's where we started off and came from and we shared that club with. Uh there were a few clubs kind of under one roof. Uh Muay Thai, Judo, Escrea, all sharing the one space. So uh you know that was a great club um that does a lot, but uh and then last year was our first time kind of getting our own premises just to ourselves. That's what allowed us to put on three times as many classes and run more programs for kids and kind of the branch out and that's what's taken away from us what we what we're trying to rebuild now to the GoFundMe like I said. >> Yeah. And when you moved to the new premises did you see that uplift immediately because you were able to run more classes and and offer more to the community and and kids and adults like did you see that uplifted and like said that the building was spectacular like lovely to look at. Did you find that uplift straight away once you kind of moved? >> Absolutely. Yeah. straight away. I mean, I thought a good example was um a few of our guys are good friends of Will Flurry, the the MMA fighter, and he he'd actually lived quite nearby the gym for a long time and never realized where it was when it was when it was down the lane way. And uh that's something that would never happen today. Everybody knows where it is. Even people who have nothing to do with martial arts, just people in the area, everybody says, "Oh yeah, Republic of Shih Tzu and Tanzen Street, you know, to walk past." And uh so, you know, amazing kind of publicity in that way. Also, just amazing light. It was a really really nice place to train. Always great light uh coming in through the windows and uh just really pleasant place and you know really nice neighborhood as well and always kind of different characters knocking around and people calling in and out and uh you know it was yeah it was immediate just uh you know what a great place it was to train and um yeah we'll really miss it. >> Yeah. No, it is saying but one of the things I found kind of it is a very eye-catching building. was a very eye catching bill, but I was commentating on Rat and that's where I kind of spoke to you uh about about having this interview. Um like Jack F on that show, you would have been within your rights to say, you know what, this has just happened. There's so much going on. >> We're not going to we're not going to put him forward. What was the decision to to lead to it? Cuz I think it it was I think it was ultimately a good decision cuz he was able to get on the mic. It kind of you were able to represent your club uh show, but like that a lot of people wouldn't have said much if you didn't. what what led to the decision to actually go forward with the fight? >> Yeah, it was a great question. I mean, uh, Jack is only 17. He was scheduled to fight, uh, you know, MMA up in Belfast, and this would have been just 5 days after the fire. And we said to him, there is, you know, absolutely no pressure to do this. We've all been through a lot. Um, you know, nobody would think any less of you for uh calling this fight off and you can fight again later in summer, another time. But he he wasn't having any of it. He he was adamant in doing it. Uh he turned up. We drove up in the day. H you know I like to say it was a 2 and 1 half hour drive. 40minute warm-up 55 second fight. 2 and 1 half hour drive home again. But it was absolutely amazing. He uh he won the fight as you know in 55 seconds of the first round. H finished via rear naked choke. So uh really proud of him for uh for stepping up at h and then also for the uh the quality the caliber of the victory. It was it was amazing and really proud of him. And I think he's testament to the club and testament to just, you know, you you kind of see a 55 second victory, but the months are even years of hard work and training and diligence that uh that backed them up. So a real credit to him and he's a real credit to us. >> Yeah. Like he he's a great representation for a gym and like I said, it was a 55 second victory and and this is what annoys me when when people look at fighters on a night and just say you have an off night and I was like you don't understand. This guy hasn't even just put a camp in. this guy these guys have put months years into this into this life and and to be based solely off of 15 minutes I don't think is fair but that's the fight game but um what's the story right now because obviously I see you are still training you're still training away so do you want to tell people where you are currently at the minute if they are interested in in popping down and joining >> yeah right now we're uh we're extremely lucky uh Trinity College Sports Center uh stepped up they offered us use of their facility uh in the evenings during the which is uh you know just absolutely amazing. Uh we're really grateful to them. It's a great opportunity. So it's less than 5 minute walk from uh from the gym uh just off Pier Street at the Trinity College gym and if anything we more mat space because they have a huge sports hall and we're using rollout mats. So uh really great facility really thankful to have it and training there every every evening uh three mornings a week and then also uh Saturday uh at noon as well for the open mat. So uh we're really lucky to have that. anybody's more than welcome to come down for the open mat or to try out a class. Uh and then um there is some uncertainty that'll be ending at the end of August. Obviously, the students will be coming back to college uh and then we'll have to find somewhere else to go, but we're looking into different options. It'll probably be some time until we could go back to gym. There's a lot of repair work has to be done that there's a serious level of structural damage. We're looking into whether we can get a short-term rental somewhere, something like that, or use of another uh space. And uh I suppose the money that we've got already in the GoFundMe will go a long way uh towards that kind of give us a little bit of freedom to uh uh to find somewhere so we don't have to stop training. >> Yeah. No 100%. Cuz like that it' be it'd be devastating for yourself and like I said what you do for adults and children alike. Uh to give them that place that go home when you have a bad day that's your that's where you go and that's what people go. They'll have a bad day. They go in they say to me with with jiu-jitsu they come out after like why was I even mad? Why was I even angry? Why was I even doing a sort where you kind of you kind of just arm bar and choke your your problems away on on the night? But talk to us about >> that's what I would say driving into jiu-jitsu. It's you know kind of down at the wheel gripping gripping the wheel every time there's a red light or something and then the way back you know somebody walk right out in front of the car and you say no take your time. I have all day no hurry. >> Yeah. No 100% it is it is a it just kind of relax. It just puts you at ease. But talk to us maybe if there's someone who's interested in jiu-jitsu, talk to us about uh what you feel the benefits are for you and and benefits you've seen for other people uh that have come to the gym. >> Yeah, I think the the benefits are immense. You know, it's it's great physical exercise like you alluded to there. It's it's amazing for the mental health and mental clarity too. Like you always feel great training and you always feel great after training. The you know the health benefits are enormous. great cardio, but you'll find your strength improving as well. And uh you learn a huge amount. You learn a lot about the human body, about your own body, and how it works and what its limits are and how those limits are much uh you know, further and greater than than you ever would have thought yourself. And it's um there's an intellectual side to it. It's problem solving and uh there's no amount of just learning techniques. You have to be able to apply what you've learned to your radically different situations. And every role or every spar, every fight is different. Uh you know, everybody's a different height and weight and size and uh fights differently and moves differently. And so uh it's amazing for learning about your own body and learning about the diversity of human bodies and kind of practical problem solving as well as the the health benefits and the cardio benefit and the and the mental health benefit. It's really it's great all around. I couldn't uh couldn't recommend it highly enough. But if you're if you're under any doubt about whether you want to try it, I always say people worry too much. People say, "Do I have to be in great shape before I start or h do I have to have a certain background knowledge or are beginner's classes okay or do I have to start with a private sick?" Don't worry about it. Just turn up. Give it a go. You don't need any crazy level of fitness. You don't need any crazy level of flexibility or any kind of background. Just turn up for a class. Give it a go. And if you don't like it, you don't like it. If you do, you do. But there's there's nothing to be lost from just turning up and giving it a college try. >> Yeah. Cuz like that just turning up is the main thing. And you've probably seen that with with your students throughout time that they could have a loss at a show and you just turn up tomorrow, turn up, turn up and these things will change. And and like that like said extreme problem solving because if you don't solve that problem, that problem is going to solve you fairly quickly as well. >> That's true. That's a good way of putting it. >> The art of folding clothes while people are still in it is what I like to call it. Um >> that's a great way of putting it. Another one I heard was involuntary yoga. >> Involuntary involuntary yoga. I like that one. But uh uh you were talking about the GoFundMe there and there's there's been a great amount of support and I put it up on my thing as well. And I find and I just want to say this to people who might be looking at some people might go, "Oh 10 might not be enough. This might be enough." But if everyone who thinks that €10 isn't enough, put that€ 10 in that it would build significantly. So >> 100%. >> If anyone has anything to put towards it cuz this is like this this could be this is someone's home away from home. This is a lot of people's home away from home and and it's been been unfairly taken from me for no reason at all. And and the malice involved I just think is is unbelievably sad and I don't know why anyone would want to do it. And uh it's good to see >> that's it. Yeah. It's the the hate will never win. And if €10 is all you can spare, that's more than enough. And if you can't even spare€ 10, you know, give us a follow on the Instagram, share the stories or tell people about it. Whatever you can do to help would go a long way and, you know, be really appreciated by all of us. But whatever you can do, big or small. >> Yeah. No, like that. Even like I said, even if they share it, it might catch someone else's eye. They might share might catch like cuz if you I think the marketing thing was multiplied by four by word them out. So if you share it, usually four people will four people pick that up, share it then again and then it just grows legs legs from there. So >> absolutely. Um, well, talk to us just briefly about your journey into jiu-jitsu and and how you found it, if you don't mind me asking because I'm interested about obviously the the incident, but I want to find out a bit about yourself as well. >> Yeah, I suppose I did it years ago as a child. Uh, at the time, uh, jiu-jitsu was very rare in Ireland. There were only one or two clubs and I did it for a brief period, but uh, the club I was in closed down and moved a long way away. So I stopped and that was um you know almost 20 years ago at this point. Uh so I stopped for a long time and I did a lot of sports over the years. Did a lot of athletics. Uh it was my favorite. I played rugby. Um you know did bits of running and um always stayed active and I like kind of did a bit of adventure sports as well. Um and then I suppose it was as an adult I uh came back to it. I uh trained with u my good friend Gary Rooney. uh he's a pro MMA fighter now and he had his own uh club flat jiu-jitsu and he made the the wise decision in the end to to close down the club so he could focus on his pro MMA career which was uh the right decision and uh so then I was looking around and um you know I decided to try this place Republican jiu-jitsu I saw uh the story of Adnell our founder on the website and thought that was very inspiring he moved to Ireland from Brazil 16 years ago brought his love of Brazilian jiu-jitsu with and eventually achieved his dream of uh of setting up his own club. And so I came along the Republic of Jiu-Jitsu and never looked back. He's just a really amazing, unique group of people. And I knew that from the moment I stepped onto the mat, just a you know, really fantastic community. And it was small then, it's only grown since, but uh still as amazing a community as ever was. >> Yeah. Know like that we we didn't mention obviously this is his dream that's been taken away and can't be taken away from as well. moving to a country and been able to set up this and living your dream and for it to be taken away the way it is. But you will get back up on your feet. I think the whole community is behind you back. Yeah. And it is Yeah. It's devastating for all of us obviously and for the community, but I think for for Abnell more than anyone to what he worked so hard for for so long uh you know longer than 16 years ago, the decades of training jiu-jitsu and achieving his black belt, he's now a third degree black belt and setting up the first club and building it up. seeing that almost taken away during COVID, the numbers reduced down to zero and building back after the pandemic and bringing back stronger than ever and bringing people together. Um, I think just utterly devastating for him in particular. >> Yeah. No, as it will be, but like I said, it it will come back and and how do you find how have you found the support from the community? Cuz I find the MMA community, the jiu-jitsu community, and kind of combat sports in general. I've been in different circles whether it be GA or football but I just think combat sports communities just seem to have a cohesiveness because they understand how hard it is to go to. What's the what's the support been like from the community within the country? >> Yeah, the sport's been absolutely amazing. I mean from uh from day one or even from hour one just the uh the messages of uh support from different clubs from coaches, practitioners uh competitors you know even people who would have been competitors that we competed against in the past just uh you know um even if we were competitors in one stage uh you know on a more on a deeper level kind of great friends um uh you just offer us this enormous support and people gave us offers of you know being able to train in their gym him or uh even honoring our memberships for a month and uh offers support and then there was financial support obviously and people sharing our messages on social media and kind of um through word of mouth and you know even abroad even the jiu-jitsu community abroad you know there were practitioners in Brazil in the United States and elsewhere sharing our message and getting in touch offering us uh you know goodwill and so on so um the support has been absolutely amazing and that's kind of one thing that's really uh kept us going all this time. Um, so yeah, just absolutely amazing support and great support as well from the community as well, like not just martial arts, from uh, you know, some of our commercial neighbors in town and uh, just other members of the community. Just a huge amount of uh, support which we which we really appreciate. >> Yeah. Know it's like that when something like this happens, you really see the community come together and try and try and help and like that. When I seen the story, I was like, man, this is this is horrible. That's why I wanted to get you on and have the interview and and try and see. I don't have a huge following because my other page got hacked and then it got deleted. So I don't have to be back as well. >> What? >> You'll be back as well. >> Yeah. So like that. Look, I just want to try and >> you'll be twice as big as ever soon enough. >> Hopefully. Well, look, I just love doing the regional scene and kind of just giving giving the guys a platform because amateur there's not really many people out there doing interviews and doing stuff like that. And I think you see how hard your guys work. Um, and then obviously going on to bigger competitions like you talk about Gary Rooney. Um, amateur I would interview them a lot amateur. I find it's good for them to cut their teeth with me and I cut my teeth with them and we learn together. So that's that's why I love this sport and I love the community. But um, >> yeah, it's a really unique group of people. >> Yeah, I love Gary Rooney. Gary Rooney is one of the funniest. >> He's a great man. >> Yeah, he's a great fighter and great friend and a very very funny man as well. Yeah, I I love Gary, but look, I'm gonna let you go. He >> he actually organized a seminar for us as well. He taught a a seminar down in Silverback uh in Wexford where people kind of paid to to learn from them and all the money went to the club rebuild fund. So that was really amazing thing for for him to do. And John Luca Muhammad as well the top competitors in Ireland, they've uh they've done the same. They've actually organized six compet or six seminars all around the country from Dublin down to Waterford and elsewhere. So really amazing support from uh the lads there too which which we you know really appreciate and goes a long way. >> Yeah you know and that is that that's fantastic that they're doing that and like that that's just the community coming together and and one helping another but look it's a very sad story but it's going to be a comeback story in my opinion and like said I'll do as much as I can to help. Uh I'm going to let you go. Was there anything you want to say before you go or anyone want to shout out and I want to thank you so much for your time and like I said we'll all work together to try and get this uh get your premises back up and running with the GoFundMe. >> Uh no, thanks very much for having me on. It's been a pleasure and uh hope to be back with you again. And I think you summed it up well yourself there. Like the bottom line is uh we don't know who did this but doesn't matter. We'll be back. We'll be back twice as uh strong as ever. Um you know Republic of Jitsu will not forget the kindness that everyone shown us. Uh anybody's welcome to train with us every time. We hope uh to make this make ourselves a real home uh for uh for Irish jiu-jitsu indeed jiu-jitsu internationally. So thank you to everybody supported us. Uh we will not forget it and uh we will be back. >> Perfect. And I can't wait to see you back and and like that. I'll keep in contact with you. We might have catch ups to see how things are going and then obviously if you're going to have fighters on show, I'd love to have them on. So thank thank you so much for your time. >> In touch. >> Thank you very much, David. Enjoy your evening. >> Same to you. Thanks, Davis.