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Gaelic Games
"Teddy McCarthy to John McCarthy, no relation, John McCarthy back to Teddy McCarthy, still no relation… "
"Pat Fox out to the forty and grabs the sliothar, I bought a dog from his father last week. Fox turns and sprints for goal, the dog ran a great race last Tuesday in Limerick. Fox to the 21 fires a shot - it goes to the left and wide - the dog lost as well…"
"Sean Óg Ó Hailpín.... his father's from Fermanagh, his mother's from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold…"
The legendary Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh shows everyone just how GAA commentators do it better. So why not consider giving him something to commentate on? Take up Gaelic Games - your country needs you.
Gaelic games have been a force in Irish life since antiquity and are mentioned in legends dating from pre-Christian times. Cú Chulainn was the big man on campus in many of these tales and he owes it all to a humble hurl. The story goes that he was returning victorious from a hurling match, still young and fresh and called Setanta, when a vicious guard dog went for his jugular. The beast in question was the cú (hound) of Culainn, a rich nobleman, but that didn't stop Setanta from getting in a good one by whacking a sliothar down its throat. (Nowadays, the young lad would have been a shoe-in for an undisclosed sum but B.C. justice was tough. Setanta was rewarded for his troubles with the responsibility of taking the dog's place - hence his nickname, the hound of Ulster, or Cú Chulainn.)
However, the situation where young men stalked through the fields, randomly killing animals with their sporting equipment, was sadly not allowed to continue. By the 1880's, Gaelic games were almost non-existent, as a result of the Penal Laws and the famine, with its legacy of poverty and emigration. However, there were a group of people who wanted to see them revived. The force behind the creation of the GAA was Michael Cusack, an athlete and schoolteacher from the Burren in County Clare. He was highly opposed to British rule and the consequent social activities that had permeated Irish life. Cusack described games such as rugby and soccer as a "denationalising plague" and set out to stop the erosion of Irish identity.
Seven men attended that historic meeting in 1884 at Haye's Hotel in Thurles, which saw the foundation of the GAA. Maurice Davin, the greatest Irish athlete of the day was appointed first president and three of Ireland's big nationalist hitters were announced as patrons. These were Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Davitt and Archbishop Thomas Croke of Cashel, who was to lend his name to Croke Park. As well as the old reliables like hurling and Gaelic football, Archbishop Croke also wanted to see the re-introduction of the defiant Irish sports of leapfrog and tiddly-winks.
The GAA suceeded in awakening a new sense of Irish patriotism, and more and more people started either playing traditional sports or attending matches. Interest in gaelic games, even amongst Irish emigrants, grew to tremendous proportions; in 1947, for example, the Cavan vs Kerry All-Ireland Football Final is played in the Polo Grounds in New York.
Today, GAA supporters are still some of the most passionate fans to wave a flag. Whether they are watching a minor league game or an All-Ireland final, the air will be punctuated with yells of encouragement. "G'wan ya boya!" "Name-o-jaysis!" are a couple of the most popular. Heart-rending county calls are also fashionable and must always be of two syllables, even if logic screams otherwise. "Mee-id!" and "Cor-ak!" are prime examples.
So if you want to hear the clash of the ash, or even just the slam of your pint on a new table, then why not check out your local GAA club? Make Archbishop Croke proud...
