Haughey calls for hurling help

[tayto]

How many hurling clubs are there in Roscommon now?

Haughey calls for hurling help

One of the longest serving hurling officials in the history of the GAA has called on Croke Park's top brass to do more for the sport in the weaker counties.

Johnny Haughey, who has stepped down 55 years after being appointed Roscommon Hurling Board secretary, said that more must be done to promote hurling in the weaker counties. The Athleague clubman said that a genuine effort had been made to make hurling more appealing.

"But more needs to be done. The top level of the GAA has played its part, but there is always more they can do. It is not an easy task, we know that here in Roscommon but hurling needs to be spread more," said Haughey, who took over in Roscommon in 1952 when there were just three hurling clubs in the county.

[Sky Blue]

I believe that there are 7. All based in the South of the county.

Why is it that hurling tends to concentrate geographically in so many counties? It's the same in Westmeath, Galway, Cork and Offaly. Even in the weaker counties it's mainly played in the Glens of Antrim and the Ards area in Down. Why is that?

[AZOffaly]

The demographics of Hurling always interested me, and always seem to be based on geographical location, rather than purely county by county. Even in the perceived hurling munster counties there are areas within them in which hurling is dominant, and in others football.

Consider the following spread. (I wish I had a map)

East Galway/West (South)Offaly/North Tipp/West Laois

East (North) Limerick/North Cork/East Clare/North Tipp

East Cork/Waterford/Wexford/Kilkenny

Antrim/Ards peninsula


I don't know the reasons for this but I reckon it would make an interesting map, one of those colour coded ones used for population density, except in this one colour coded where hurling is the more dominant game. I reckon clans/tribes/parishes that used to be close to each other played it in these areas, and that's what drove the current pockets, some larger than others, which supercede any relatively modern County Boundaries commissions, or the Queen's cartographers. I'd love to see a study on this.

[SouthArmaghBandit]

I found this article by Dr Kevin Whelan.  Very interesting.

The Geography of hurling

If one looks at the present hurling core region, it is remarkably compact. It also exhibits striking continuity with the earlier 'ioman' region. The hurling heartland is focused on the three counties of Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny, with a supporting cast of adjacent counties including Limerick, Clare, Galway, Offaly, Laois, Waterford and Wexford. In the hurling core, the game is king, and very closely stitched into the fabric of the community. Describing the situation in Rathnure, Billy Rackard claimed that in the absence of hurling, 'the parish would commit suicide, if a parish could commit suicide!'

The boundaries of the hurling region are surprisingly well-defined. To the north, the midland bogs act, as in a way they done throughout history, as a buffer zone, resolutely impervious to the spread of cultural influences from further south. The western edge of the hurling zone can be traced over a long distance.

In County Galway, for example, its boundaries run along a line from Ballinasloe to the city; north of this line is the Tuam Dunmore area, and west of it is Connemara, both footballing territories. In County Clare, the boundary runs from Tubber on the Galway border through Corofin and Kilmaley to Labasheeda on the Shannon estuary. The tremendous achievement of Clare in winning a Munster football championship was most thoroughly relished in the footballing bastion of west Clare, from Kilkee and Doonbeg to Milltown Malbay. One could easily establish this pattern by looking at the thickening density of the forest of flags as on drove from east to west in August of 1992. Across the Shannon in Limerick, the football-hurling divide runs clearly along the scarp dividing hilly west Limerick from the lush limestone lowlands of east Limerick.

West of this is an enclave of hurling parishes in the footballing kingdom of Kerry in the area north of Tralee, in Ardfert, Ballyheigue, Causeway and Ballyduff. From Limerick, the hurling boundary loops through County Cork from Mallow to the city and then to the coast at Cloyne home to the maestro Christy Ring, who famously expressed his strategy for promoting the game in Cork by stabbing a knife through every football found east of that line.

Outside this core region, there are only the hurling enclaves in the Glens of Antrim and on the tip of the Ards peninsula, where the clubs of Ballycran, Ballygalget and Portaferry backbone Down's hurling revival.

The interesting question then is how these boundaries formed. In almost every case, that boundary divides big farm and small farm areas and marks the transition from fertile, drift-covered limestone lowland to hillier, hungrier, wetter shales, flagstones, grits and granites. In County Galway, for example, hurling has not put down roots in the bony granite outcrops of Connemara, and in Clare the poorly drained flagstone deposits are equally inhospitable. If ash is emblematic of hurling areas, the rush is the distinctive symbol of football territory.

Conclusion

This brief case study illustrates the interplay of what the French call la longue duree, the long evolution of history and les evenements the specific, precise incidents and personalities which intervene and alter that evolution. Hurling offers a classic Irish example, and the current game demonstrates that, beneath the superficial breaks, fractures and discontinuities, there are sometimes surprisingly stable, deep structures. If the idiom of the game changed, its grammar stays the same.


Text by kind permission of Dr. Kevin Whelan.

[Rossfan]

Hurling only clubs in Roscommon are Athleague,Tremane and Four Roads. Ros Gaels,Oran,St Dominics and P Pearses also field hurling teams while Castlerea has started under age hurling in the last year or two.
I was told once that a teacher from Munster was responsible for starting hurling in those areas back in the early 1900s.
Unfortunately the rest of the County couldnt give 2 hoots about hurling or Ros hurlers.
A few years ago the footballers bet Cork in a Qualifier game which was followed by the Hurlers playing London in the old B Championship. 69 people remained on.
Last Summer in Thurles after the Minor footballers played Laois at least half the crowd ,including it is alleged our Central Council man, left before the U 21 Hurling Final started.
For the benefit of the Mayo lads we BET KERRY in the Final (again !!)

[neilthemac]

Good man Johnny

its hard enough without many football clubs being ignorant of the efforts put in by a small band of hurling people in the county. many football clubs would burn every hurley in the parish to stop any interest in it. And even stop kids getting hurling coaching in the primary school.

Amazing how the dual clubs are among the most successful clubs in Roscommon at underage in last 10 years

Roscommon hurling does well to keep going

7 adult clubs, all senior.
5 junior teams (from the same clubs)
7 underage clubs (altogether)
Ballygar played in Roscommon for a while

hurling pocker located mainly along the River Suck
Four Roads club set up by a teacher who moved from galway.
http://fourroads.roscommon.gaa.ie/clubhistory.html

still, 3 Connacht Senior Club titles in all. better than some other counties have fared against the Galway champs!

[stephenite]

Isn't there a bastion of hurling in North Kerry also?  Great chapter on it in The Revolution Years

[Silky]

Isn't there a bastion of hurling in North Kerry also?  Great chapter on it in The Revolution Years

North Kerry - Ardfert, Ballyheigue, Causeway and Ballyduff.

I was up in Down last February for a NHL game. You'll go a long way before you'll find people more passionate about hurling than the hurling folk in Down. There main problem seems to be the small numbers playing the game - only 3 senior clubs all within a tiny area.

[AZOffaly]

I had a go myself at drawing out the hurling strongholds I would know of on a paper map last night. (Sad I know). My map is very similar to the one by Dr. Whelan, although I had added in Antrim and the Ards peninsula, North Kerry and East Westmeath (Westmeath will always be a predominantly hurling county in my mind). I know there is pockets of hurling in most counties, Mayo, Derry and Donegal spring to mind as well.

If we take out those small areas though, Dr. Whelan's map seems to be very accurate. I wonder what the geographic/social/anthropoligical reasons are for this. I wonder is it as simple as the fact that hurling needed good level fields and a dry sod in the years before technology helped out? The Golden Vale, East Galway, West Offaly and East Clare would be the best land in those areas.

[tayto]

I know Dublin is well outside the traditional home of hurling and it's far removed from the number one sport in the city [soccer] but the game is in fairly rude health in Dublin at the moment, there's more clubs taking it seriously then ever before, with an interesting power shift happening over the last few years where the southside clubs have been dominating at underage. if we could only get the senior team competitive at the top level I could see an massive growth of interest in the sport in the city. Are there other counties that are well off that map that the game is developing nicely? I know it's growing well in Mayo but from a very small base, Roscommon has gone from 3 to 7 clubs which dosent seem massive growth considering it's over 50 years but it's better then nothing, here's hoping the GAA can accelerate the growth with the use of full time GPOs around the country. In Dublin the 45 full time GPOs have been increasing the numbers attending club nurseries by 20% year on year, That's also an extra 20% parents getting involved etc.

I'd like to see a report by Paudie Butler as to how his progress is going, he seems to be coaching up and down the country constantly but i'd like to hear about the structures he's putting in place, I hope he's not trying to do everything   

[Croí na hÉireann]

I had a go myself at drawing out the hurling strongholds I would know of on a paper map last night. (Sad I know). My map is very similar to the one by Dr. Whelan, although I had added in Antrim and the Ards peninsula, North Kerry and East Westmeath (Westmeath will always be a predominantly hurling county in my mind). I know there is pockets of hurling in most counties, Mayo, Derry and Donegal spring to mind as well.

I'd have it down as more North East Westmeath AZ. South and de West are mainly all football.

[AZOffaly]

Well, North/East then. I'm thinking Raharney, Brownstown, Castletown, Ringtown, Cullion, Dalystown, etc etc. Whatever way you want to call it. I think Southern Gaels in Athlone are nearly the only hurling club down that end. Places like Garrycastle, Moate, Tang, Rosemount wouldn't know a hurl if you hit them on the ar*e with it.

[Croí na hÉireann]

True but u could say de same for Kinnegad...

[neilthemac]

here's hoping the GAA can accelerate the growth with the use of full time GPOs around the country. In Dublin the 45 full time GPOs have been increasing the numbers attending club nurseries by 20% year on year, That's also an extra 20% parents getting involved etc.

different system of gpos down the country. no club has their own gpo - cannot afford it and very small schools.

also, no club in Roscommon run a nursery (U6) section. it all starts at U8! (some only officially start at U10!)

I'd like to see a report by Paudie Butler as to how his progress is going, he seems to be coaching up and down the country constantly but i'd like to hear about the structures he's putting in place

he seems to be just doing a lot of coaching seminars to help improve coaching standards (which was needed). not really telling people how to run their affairs, or getting grants for hurling orientated developments. A lot of people in Roscommon would just to love to see funding for another full time hurling coach to give more time in the primary schools, help run/organise underage competitions, work with county squads and be available to help clubs coach players. Might free up volunteers to look after teams etc

[stephenite]

I wonder what the geographic/social/anthropoligical reasons are for this. I wonder is it as simple as the fact that hurling needed good level fields and a dry sod in the years before technology helped out? The Golden Vale, East Galway, West Offaly and East Clare would be the best land in those areas.

Something that has always interested me - why was there more hurling in parts of Galway than parts of Mayo, and that's as good a reason as any I suppose AZ