Gaelic Games Festival
On Labor Day weekend, Philadelphia will host the North American Hurling playoffs. This Gaelic Games Festival at Pennypack Park will feature competition at all levels, not only in Hurling but also in Gaelic Football and Camogie - which is the female version of hurling.
Today’s Kansas City Star carries a report from Philadelphia on Ireland’s national sport, Hurling, and the its growth in popularity in the US. I think we’ve mentioned before how that level of Irishness might not have reached Kansas City yet.
And how does the Inquirer describe us Irish?
There are the dark Irish, moody and melancholy. There are the merry Irish, glib and convivial. There are the literary Irish, agile of mind, romantic of heart.
And there are the brute Irish, men of prodigious strength and stamina, cocky, flinty and tough, diggers of canals, builders of railroads, miners of coal
If you haven’t vomited yet, what kind of Irish are you? If you’re the last flavour, the ‘brute’, then seemingly you should be playing Hurling. Start campaigning for Hurling pitches in Swope Park now.
See Also:
• Rodge & Podge’s Test: How Irish Are You?
• Is Kansas City More Irish Than The Cayman Islands?
• Irish Singing Holiday from Missouri
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
I’ve been thinking of mentioning to some people in the Irish community about starting a hurling club, I mean think of the possibility of getting to the point that from what I hear the NAGAA has gotten to in Chicago?
Seán, if not enough people can be put together in KC for a Gaelic Football team I don’t fancy your chances at getting a hurling squad together.
I would’ve liked to have seen a major Irish Festival in a park with a pitch in the middle to showcase even just an annual Gaelic Football game and a Hurling game - or even a 7-a-side competition.
The problem with such an event being held off-site is persuading people to attend, but if you can have an event on-site surrounded by vendors, music, heritage, and kids activities, then you really are introducing them, or forcefeeding them if you prefer, to the culture of their ancestors and giving it a chance to grow.
Good luck with whatever you try.
Sean
With any luck you’ll stumble back by and read this: My efforts in Little Rock are meeting with a good deal of success. I find there may be enough support for hurling here with several families from Tipp. I’m commited to football first though but would love to get hurling going as well. You should definitely work towards something there in KC. You can build it! It takes a lot of persistance and tolerance for failure. But it can be done.
Drop me a line if you see this: littlerock_gaa (at) att.net