A NORTHERN Ireland couple have captured the colours, drama and dreams of Gaelic football in a new children's book. Bernie wins the Match is penned by Claire and Aidan Johnston and features a little bear called Bernie who is football mad and dreams of playing in an All-Ireland Final.
Through fast-paced rhyme, the story follows Bernie and his parents on their adventure to Croke Park on All-Ireland Final Day. Bernie dreams of pulling on his team's colours, but everyone knows that "bears can't play football". However, with a little stroke of luck and a lot of self-belief, Bernie discovers that no dream is too big.
"The idea for this story was inspired by watching my own father Noel Mullan spending evenings tirelessly and with unwavering enthusiasm, teach my nephews Joe (four) and Tomas (two) from Draperstown, the art of scooping a sliothar from the ground with their hurley and to solo a football," says Claire.
"Gaelic games is as much part of their childhood as it was part of mine and Aidan's and so last Christmas, when we couldn't find a single Gaelic-themed book for children on sale, we decided to write one ourselves."
Claire, originally from Cookstown, married Aidan last August. Both share a lifelong love of Gaelic sports, having played at club level for Cookstown and Saul respectively.
Aidan has two young nieces Chloe (six) and Eva (three) starting out in the sport . He was shocked there was no picture books about "the national sport of Ireland" and was delighted when Bernie wins the Match arrived from the printers in time to give to his nieces this Christmas.
Aimed at children aged three to eight, not only does Bernie wins the Match address the lack of young fiction on Gaelic games, it also aims to inspire self-belief in young children and not to be deterred by their own individual differences.
"Aidan and I are big advocates for emotional health and support initiatives that promote confidence in young people. I did a lot of voluntary work with primary school children during my psychology degree and after completing my Masters in law I won place on an internship with the Belfast HSC Trust, working across directorates including Child and Adolescent Mental Health services (CAMHS).
"Whether it was the four children in our own families, or others, I thought the one big message I'd want to share was to believe in yourself," says Claire.
In her current job working in the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, adjudicating on student complaints and issues within the Higher Education sector in England and Wales, she has seen at first hand the power a positive mentality and self-concept can have on young people's ability to handle problems and push themselves to do their best.
"We think that raising confidence in children from a young age can start from the types of bedtime stories that are read to them. That's why we created Bernie as a strong-minded, resilient little bear to help children be more confident and set bigger goals. You don't have to be the same as everyone else to belong."
Claire and Aidan, both aged 31, self-published the book, using their own savings to develop it and employ a digital illustrator. They also used the online Kickstarter campaign to contribute towards printing the book and were delighted to receive support from as far away as from Australia, Mexico, Thailand and the United States.
"Gaelic football truly crosses borders," adds Aidan, who also studied law and currently works in e-commerce in London. "Ireland is more diverse now than ever and we wanted to get across the message that it doesn't matter if you are not like everyone else, everyone can participate in sport."
While Bernie sports a red shirt, the couple refuse to disclose which county he represents.
"Aidan is a Down man, I'm from Tyrone and my parents are Derry people. At least all three shirts have some red," laughs Claire. "When we went to Croke Park we would have the picnic in the boot before the match and we wanted to include a reference to that in the book," she adds.
"Both our families are very much into Gaelic games and our family days out were usually arranged around football. As children of the early 90s, which were special years for Down and Derry, we had some great footballing memories and we relived that through the book," says Aidan.
And has their adventure in children's publishing made them want to give up their day jobs?
"In an ideal world we would love to do this as a job. We did our first book reading in a local school and to see the little eyes captivated by the story was so fulfilling," adds Claire, who doesn't rule out a second book.
:: Bernie wins the Match is priced £8.99 and is available online at Berniebelieves.com as well as a number of shops listed on the website including Sheehy's Cookstown, Smyth's Musique Newcastle and Carlisle Bookshop Omagh.
