So is Ice Hockey Irish? - Part 3 of the Dr. Eoin Ryan Trilogy

 

This week sees the culmination of Dr. Eoin Ryan's fascinating review of Ice Hockey - its history, development and, today, the Irish aspects.

For Eoin's first installment in this series, click on the link below:

https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-story-of-ice-hockey-and-its-irish.html

And his second installment is available here:

https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/10/part-2-of-dr-eoin-ryan-ice-hockey.html

For me, this series has covered at least a dozen areas of interest, from the mysterious Icelandic game of knattleikr, a potential forerunner of our own hurling, right through to the strong links between Ireland (especially Eoin's own locale in the southeast) and the eastern shores of Canada, as described in this week's blog.

So with many thanks and much admiration, it's over to Eoin again... 

So is Ice Hockey Irish?

There has been much debate- some of it heated- as to the exact origins of the sport. Most sources on the history of the game are somewhat vague. Some refer to it as having been adapted from British ball and stick games by colonizers, others refer to it as 'a form of Shinty on Ice’. Most sources trace it to ‘Northern European ball and stick games’

One school of thought is that Irish Emigrants brought hurling to the new world and this was the game from which Ice Hockey evolved.

 

There is no doubt that Eastern Canada, in particular Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, received huge waves of Irish people. The first documented wave was in the early 1700s, comprising mostly of Ulster Scots. The second came in the early 1800s, with most people having embarked on the trip from the port of Waterford. As a result of this, immigrants came largely from Waterford, Tipperary, Kilkenny and Wexford- all counties with a  long and passionate attachment to hurling. To this day, 20% of Newfoundlanders claim Irish heritage. Gaelic was spoken widely in the area in the 1800s, and Newfoundland is the only place outside Europe with a distinct Gaelic name- Talamh an Eisc (Land of the Fish/Fishing). Indeed, Eastern Canada boasts the only Gaeltacht outside Ireland. Tamworth, Ontario is home to ‘Gaeltacht Bhaile na hEireann’ or ‘Permanent North American Gaeltacht’, although the amount of Gaeilge spoken is dubious. Irish surnames remain commonplace, and it is said that some areas retain a distinctly Waterford, Kilkenny or Tipperary accent to this day.

In addition to language and accents, it is known the Irish brought their songs and culture, and folk music from the region borrows heavily from the Celtic tradition.

From this it is no great leap to assume they also brought their pastimes.

 

It seems hurling was played in Windsor, Nova Scotia at King’s College School, under the guardianship of William Cochran. Cochran, born outside Omagh, Co. Tyrone in 1757, was a Church of Ireland minister and served as president of Kings College for more than 40 years. Windsor claims to be the place where modern hockey was invented. Its ‘Birthplace of Hockey’ Website and museum state:

 

‘One of Canada’s premier hockey destinations: Windsor Nova Scotia. The place where the game evolved from hurley-on-ice (played locally, on Long Pond c1800) to the modern game played worldwide.’

 

This claim is bolstered by an alumnus of the school, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, in his 1844 novel ‘The Atachee’, which contains the following quote:

 

‘…you boys let our racin’ and yelpin’, hollering’ and whoopin’ like mad with pleasure and the play-ground, and the game at base in fields or hurling on the long pond on the ice’

 

The website claims hurling was popular among the boys at the school in the summer months when weather would allow, and they switched to ‘skating on the long pond’ in the frozen winters. It further suggests that it wasn’t long before both activities were combined and ‘hurley-on-ice’ soon developed.

 

In his book ‘The Clash of the Ash on Foreign Fields’, Seamus King asserts:

 

‘So it would seem the first men to have struck a ball in the new world were sons if Waterford, helped it is said by other adventurous  Mooncoin (Co. Kilkenny) men from across the river (Suir).

 

The Canadian-Irish population retained an affinity for the game that persists to this day. The Toronto Maple Leafs, a franchise that has won The Stanley Cup (NHL title) on 13 occasions began their life as the Toronto St. Patricks, and in Montreal, the Shamrocks competed initially in amateur leagues before turning professional. Probably the most successful Irish Olympian you have never heard of competed for Canada. Geraldine Heaney, who was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh and emigrated to Canada when she was one year old, played club hockey with the Toronto Aeros from 1980-2004 as well as internationally. She holds seven IIHF World Titles as well as 2 Olympic medals (one silver, one gold) and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

 

The theory of evolution from hurling is flatly rejected by the Society for International Hockey Research. In a recent report relating to the foundation of ice hockey and Windsor as its birth place, the report concluded:

 

‘If this reference is accepted as a forerunner of hockey, then so too must stick and ball games played on ice in Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries by participants in skates……. We do not accept these activities as hockey, nor do we accept as hockey ‘hurley in the long pond on the ice’ if indeed it was ever played at all’, dismissing the theory as ‘only conjecture’.

 

 

 

Ice hockey on the Island of Ireland

 

Seventy miles away from the birthplace of William Cochran, Ice Hockey has gained a foothold on the island- namely the Belfast Giants. The only professional ice hockey team on the island of Ireland, the Giants were founded in the year 2000 by two Canadian business men, and initially its roster consisted exclusively of Canadian-born players (while this remains the trend, local players have joined the team as well as others from Britain). The idea was conceived in the post-Good Friday Northern Ireland, in tandem with the modernising and rebuilding of a city scarred by years of violence. The showpiece for the new Belfast was the Titanic quarter, with the regeneration of the old shipyard area of the city, which included the museum dedicated to the ill-fated ship as well as the SSE Arena, where the Giants play home games. 

The team originally competed in the now disbanded British Superleague and now take part in the Elite Ice Hockey League, with teams from all four nations of the United Kingdom. The franchise has proven successful on the rink, clocking up 5 league victories since its inception, if not always economically, having had to overcome seemingly never-ending financial difficulties. The Giants were envisaged as a non-sectarian sport for the whole community to enjoy, moving away from the idea that Republicans played GAA and Unionists participated in rugby and soccer. The team strip is decidedly non-partisan, avoiding colours or patterns that could be viewed as representing any one political affiliation; flags or banners which display any notion of sectarianism are banned during games and God Save the Queen is not played before home games. 

Fionn Mc Cumhaill, albeit anglicised as Fionn McCool, takes his place as team mascot, and the club motto reads ‘In the land of the Giants, everyone is equal'. The efforts of the Giants have been praised internationally, notably by the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development which comments on the ‘normalisation of interactions occurring between supporters who are willing to purchase a ticket beside someone to whom they are politically opposed.’ And Belfast's population has done just that- with average crowds of more than 4,500 spectators.

South of the border, Ice Hockey is regulated by the Irish Ice Hockey Association. One of the biggest obstacles to the sport is the lack of facilities in the Republic. The Dundalk Ice Dome opened its doors to skaters in 2006 with the aim of becoming the centre of excellence for ice hockey in Ireland. The rink closed its doors in 2010, with devastating consequences for Irish ice hockey. The Irish Ice hockey Association has been a member of IIHF since 1996 and remains so. Our mens international team played its first game in 2004, loosing 8-3 to Mexico, and the women’s team first played in 2011. Neither team have competed since as under IIHF rules, Ireland, without an ice rink does not meet the minimum standards. While this has undoubtedly dampened the sport, it has by no means ended it in the Republic of Ireland with 8 clubs still training and competing in in-line hockey events. The last Irish Ice hockey league was played on ice in 2010. There are plans for the Ice Dome in Dundalk to reopen under new management, but at the time of writing, this has not yet come to fruition.

 

Ice hockey has had quite an evolution, from the ancient Norse Sagas to the global phenomena it is today. There is little doubt that Ireland and its people wove their narrative and culture into the fabric of what is is today, be that through the shared history of stick and ball games, or as its direct forerunner if you are to believe the Windsor theory. For its part, ice hockey made its way back to this island to help heal our divisions and look to the future. No doubt, both internationally and domestically, ice hockey has many tales to tell yet.

Hedgehogs and sport - a Bank Holiday Bonus Blog from Dr. Kevin Lally

 

The weight of Level 5 COVID restrictions for the October Bank Holiday weekend and beyond was lifted for me when this morning I received a fantastic new guest blog from the polymathic Dr. Kevin Lally (Twitter handle @kevinly)

Regular Sportyman2020 readers will remember Kevin's superb trilogy of blogs on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) from last June:

1. MMA origins: https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/06/mixed-martial-arts-origins.html

2. MMA in Ireland: https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/06/mma-in-ireland-tale-of-tragedy-and.html and

3. Safety in MMA: https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/06/safety-third-part-of-kevin-lally-mma.html

Kevin's new blog is on hedgehogs - the sporting aspects. Now I have to admit that the only real association I could initially think of between hedgehogs and sport was that downward slamming action in Volleyball known as the spike (sorry). However, as you can see below, Kevin has outlined much more in the line of hedgehog-related sporting connections. And there's a little overlap with recent Sportyman blogs from Dr. Eoin Ryan on the subject of Ice Hockey. 

And in the context of Level 5 restrictions and encouragement to keep individuals and families at home as much as possible, Kevin's suggestions on hedgehog hosting and watching could make for an ideal family lockdown activity. 

So many thanks again Kevin, and it's over to you... 

Hedgehogs

In this short blog I would like to talk about one of Ireland’s most charming native species, the European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). I will introduce it in the context of Ireland’s wider fauna, as well as link it back, albeit rather whimsically, to sporting matters.

The island of Ireland is home to 26 different species of native terrestrial mammal (e.g. red squirrel, bats, pygmy shrew, ten different bat species). There are ten further species that have been introduced to Ireland after the year 1500 that are not considered true natives (grey squirrel, American mink, bank vole). Domesticated farm and pet animals, for example dogs, cats, cattle and sheep etc. also contribute to our mammalian mega fauna. There are about 15 different species of sea mammal (whale, dolphins, seals and sealions) that visit our waters from time to time. Finally, it is worth mentioning there are a number of exotic species in Zoos, wildlife parks and regrettably private collections that also contribute to the diversity of species in Ireland. Believe it or not, there is a colony of wild wallaby on Lambay island off the coast of Dublin!

Figure 1: A screenshot of a table reproduced from A new Red List of Irish terrestrial mammals provides focus for conservation (Ferdia Marnell, Naomi Kingston and Declan Looney) available at: 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24394189?seq=1

The hedgehog, or gráinneog as it is known in Irish is a small animal weighing around 400-1000g depending on the age, sex and state of nutrition. It is a relatively common visitor to Irish gardens and hedgerows. It is known as a gardeners’ friend due to its predation on snails, slugs and insects. The hedgehog is quite omnivorous and will scavenge on meat if it can find it. While a common visitor, it is not necessarily frequently seen, as they are primarily nocturnal, active at night-time.

Figure 2: A European Hedgehog

The biggest threats to hedgehogs are predictably humans, the vehicles they drive and habitat disruption. Unfortunately for some, their only contact with hedgehogs might be via sightings of roadkill. Their characteristic spines, keratin quills are quite a good defence. When startled a hedgehog will roll up into a ball and guard its soft body parts. A particularly determined badger and occasionally large birds of prey can unravel a balled up hedgehog but generally big animals like foxes, dogs and cats leave them be.

There are three other superficially similar animals with spines – the porcupines, the tenrecs and the echidnas (spiny anteaters). The porcupine, is actually a type of rodent, with long detachable quills that are quite painful and a source of infection. The tenrecs are native to Madagascar and one particular species is very similar to our European Hedgehog. The echidna, found in Australia and New Guinea is a monotreme, a type of egg-laying mammal. The echidnas are also covered in spines and will roll into a ball when threatened. This type of defence mechanism was developed independently by these three animals rather than due to a common ancestor. This is an example of convergent evolution where a similar trait independently evolved in different groups due to a similar set of environmental circumstances.

Figure 3: Example of convergent evolutions with a 

echidna, porcupine and a tenrec from left to right.

From a developmental biology and genetics point of view, the hedgehog pops up again as being something quite interesting. The Hedgehog signalling pathway is a major regulator of embryonic development, with the Sonic Hedgehog gene and protein intrinsically involved in limb development. The gene is so named as when it was turned off in genetic studies on fruit flies the resulting larva had large protein denticles on their body like a spiky hedgehog (if you squint).

The most famous hedgehog of all time is Sega’s Sonic The Hedgehog. Sega needed a mascot to define what their company was and how it differed from the market leading Nintendo. They designed a blue, animal-based character to contrast with the red human of Nintendo. Sega had been developing a game prototype based on a spherical ball that could move lightning fast across the screen, the ability of a hedgehog to roll into a ball fitted nicely as did the play on real hedgehogs being slow but powered by Sega they were super-fast! It was a piece of game development, design and marketing that worked superbly and by the end of the decade Sega had surpassed Nintendo in sales in many markets.

Figure 4: Sonic the Hedgehog game

With regards to sports, there hasn’t been much use of Hedgehogs as an emblem. There is no American Football Franchise or Professional Soccer team affectionately known as the Hedgehogs (but I am open to correction!). There has been at least two uses of a Hedgehog mascot for tournament promotion - Spiky the Hedgehog the official mascot of the 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship in Belarus and Latvia and Hero the official mascot of the 2017 Athletics World Championships in London.

Figure 5: Spiky the Hedgehog, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) 

World Championship 2021 mascot

The Hedgehog Friendly Football League is an initiative developed by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-friendly-football-league/ to raise awareness about gardening activities that can inadvertently harm local hedgehogs.

Different football clubs can score points based on their adherence and support of the hedgehog friendly guidelines. At the time of writing Morecambe are riding high in the league on 10 points.

Here are the top tips when gardening to avoid inadvertently harming the local hedgehogs:

• ·         If you have any scrap wood or garden material you plan to add to a bonfire (this is actually illegal in Ireland!) first move the material to a different site prior to incineration as any nesting hedgehogs can escape

• ·         If you have any netting in your garden e.g. around plants to deter pests, please have it lifted a few inches off the ground, so the hedgehogs don’t become trapped

• ·         If you have any drains on your property, ensure they are covered by a grate to stop a thirsty hedgehog falling down (I first encountered a hedgehog trapped in a pipe in 1999!)

• ·         If you have a garden fence, try cutting a small (13cm) hole in it to allow hedgehogs to travel freely in and out (see my garden fence below)

• ·         Try to avoid using slug pellets, especially those using formaldehyde as they are poisonous to the hedgehogs who eat the slugs

Finally if you would like to feed your local hedgehogs in the weeks coming up to winter you can put some dry cat food in a bowl with a bowl of water in a sheltered place. You can make a nice box out of wood which can be later used as a hibernation station or simply cut a small hole (13cm in diameter) in a upturned plastic bucket with a brick in front and this provides adequate protection from cats and dogs.

Figure 6: A simple feeding station you can set up in your garden, there are lots of alternatives depending on what you have available.

Figure 7: A hibernation station using wood.

Figure 8: A 13cm hole is adequate for most hedgehogs 

but not larger animals to enter your garden.

Part 2 of the Dr. Eoin Ryan Ice Hockey Trilogy

 

Last week Dr. Eoin Ryan started his trilogy of blogs on Ice Hockey, outlining his childhood interest in the game and describing its current extent and importance, particularly in North America and northern and eastern Europe. 

Here is a link to last week's opener:

https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-story-of-ice-hockey-and-its-irish.html 

This week Eoin goes on to explore the historical background and development of Ice Hockey, reviewing in the process a whole range of stick and ball games from all over the world and from the farthest reaches of known history.

And for the final installment next week, Eoin asks the intriguing question: 

'So is Ice Hockey Irish?'

Before going on with Ice Hockey, I would also like to take a brief pause to acknowledge that today is Pele's 80th birthday. It's wonderful to see the great man so healthy and happy as always and here's a link to a previous Sportyman blog that centred around the World Cup Final of 1970, one of the highlights of Pele's stellar footballing career:

https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/06/june-21st-1970-and-why-everyone-loves.html

But from the heat of the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City in 1970, it's off to the cooler climes of the Ice Hockey world and back to Eoin...

Ice Hockey - where did it come from?

There is considerable consensus that the first game of modern ice hockey, using the ‘Canadian Rules’ was played in Montreal in 1875. Its origin story however is somewhat vague. Unlike basketball, which is known to have been invented by one man, James Naismith, in 1891, ice hockey appears to have evolved, and the aforementioned Montreal game is not so much the first time it was played, rather the first recorded game of what could be recognised as modern hockey.

There is much less consensus as to what it evolved from. Simple ‘ball and stick’ games have been recorded in a plethora of civilizations down through the millennia, being played on all inhabited continents. The origins and histories of many such games have been lost to time, and with scant evidence of rules or documentation of games, much information is derived from drawings, paintings and oral tradition.

The ball and stick game we are most familiar with is, of course, hurling. Hurling has been part of Irish folklore and culture for hundreds of years. It is believed to have come to Ireland with the Celts approximately 2,500 years ago. The first written record of the game is in the 5th century, documented in Brehon law. Its Celtic credentials are bolstered by the fact that similar games are played in other Celtic areas of Europe - notably Shinty in Scotland, Bando in Wales and Cammag on the Isle of Mann.

Yet another cousin is the game of Bandy, played in the UK. The likelihood is that this was in its original form related to the Celtic games described above. Etymologically, it shares its root with the Walsh Bando, and in Scots Gaelic is referred to as ‘Shinty on Ice’. It would appear that in its original form, it was played on solid ground much like its cousins. It made its transition to ice some time around 1600, with games recorded as being played on Hocktide - an English Medieval festival held on the Monday and Tuesday after Easter. Ice skating became popular in England in the 1600s, following a royal vogue for the pastime, and Bandy on Ice became all the rage. To this day, Bandy remains an on-ice game. Interestingly, the festival of Hocktide may be where the term hockey comes from.

 

One ancient game where there is documented evidence, is the Norse game of Knattleikr (translated as ‘ball game’) which features in the Icelandic Sagas. These sagas were recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries, and told tales from the 9-11th centuries, so hardly a first hand account. This game, however, has been resurrected and is now played, mostly as reenactments at historical events, rather than as a competitive sport. It has been said that the similarity of Knatterlikr and hurling is uncanny - both involve two teams using a small hard ball, hit with a stick but also with the hand.

Another ball and stick game, more local to Canada, and indeed another of its national sports is the game we now refer to as Lacrosse. This varies from the other games discussed above in a number of ways. Most strikingly, the stick used has a net at its end, in which players ‘catch’ the ball. This game remains sacred to may Native American people, whose ancestors have played variations of the game for hundreds of years. It seems to have been played first in the Eastern United States, the area around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River Valley by a variety of indigenous people, including the Algonquin, Sioux, Chactaw and Cherokee nations. Various names have been used including ‘Baggataway’, which loosely translates as 'Little Brother of War’. 

The game of Lacrosse held a sacred meaning for the indigenous people, and was invariably seen as a dedication to the Gods of War. The game varied considerably from what we would recognise as modern Lacrosse, often with teams of well over 100 players per side, and using a ‘pitch’ which could extend for a mile. It was played by both male and female players and was often viewed as a training exercise in preparation for war. Games could become deadly with maximum force being used, and as a result deaths were commonplace. The name ‘Lacrosse’ was first used in 1634 when a French Jesuit priest, Fr Jean de Brebeuf describes the game in a letter, calling it ‘jeu de la crosse’, named for the resemblance of the stick to a Bishops Crozier.  In 1834, the Caughnawega nation demonstrated the game to the enraptured people of Montreal, and Canada's love of the game was born. Shortly afterwards, Dentist William Beers formed the first Lacrosse club in Canada and drew up the modern rules, still largely in existence today.

The game has become international, but the USA and Canada remain as the dominant powers. The governing body is one of the few global sporting administrations that recognise indigenous, so called ‘First nations’ as members. This point came to a head recently, with an Irish connection. The International World Games, often seen as a pathway to gain admission to the Olympic games, are due to be held in Alabama in 2022. Lacrosse has featured previously in Olympics in 1904 and 1908 but not since. 

The Irish international team qualified for one of the 8 places for the 2022 event, due to their rankings at the 2018 Lacrosse World Championships. Despite this Ireland will not be taking part. The Iroquois nation, which takes part in the Lacrosse World Championships were deemed ineligible for a tournament associated with the Olympics as, not being formally recognised as a sovereign nation, does not have an Olympic Committee. Ireland Lacrosse, our governing body, decided to forfeit its place in the championship in order to accommodate the Iroquois, with its CEO Michael Kennedy, in a show of real sportsmanship, announcing that there are more important things than just playing the sport they love, especially not at the expense of another, more deserving brother, adding that the Iroquois Nation are the ‘soul of the sport’. This gesture was widely praised internationally, with Darryl Seibel, spokesperson for World Lacrosse describing it as ‘emblematic of the best ideals of international sport’. The Iroquois National Board added:

‘Words do not do justice in expressing the depths of our appreciation for the tremendous sacrifice of Ireland Lacrosse. Their genuine concern, empathy and selflessness demonstrates a true understanding of the ideals of our Medicine Game'

This was followed with a Tweet reading ‘I dteannta a  cheile’ from the board.

Getting back to the topic at hand, while Lacrosse was traditionally played on the plains of North America, and the modern game played in fields, there are some connections to Ice Hockey. Most notably, Box Lacrosse, the version of the game most popular in Canada today is played in an ice rink. This was devised as a way to use the infrastructure already in place when ice hockey is in its off season, with the ice being removed and astro turf covering the rink. Also, more relevant to our story, there is speculation that in its original form, lacrosse was occasionally played on ice. This is demonstrated in the painting 'Indians playing Lacrosse on the Ice’ by Edward Coates (1859). Given the geographical region, the similarities of both games and the idea that it was occasionally played on ice, it is not unreasonable to suggest, in my opinion, that ice hockey may have originated from Lacrosse or at the very least, influenced its development.

'Indians playing Lacross on the Ice', by Edward Coates (1859)

Stay tuned for part 3 of this fascinating trilogy when next week Eoin will address that question - 

'Is Ice Hockey Irish?'

From Portaloosh to Geelong - the Aussie Rules Grand Final

 

Next Saturday morning at 9.30 a.m. Irish time the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL) will be played in The Gabba, Brisbane. Because of COVID-19, this will be the first Grand Final to be played outside of Melbourne. 

The final sees Richmond Tigers up against Geelong Cats. And let’s hope that the more diminutive sounding felines punch above their weight because there will be two Irishmen lining out for Geelong: Zach Tuohy from Portlaoise and Mark O’Connor from Dingle. Incidentally, thinking again in feline terms, the Geelong Cats beat the Brisbane Lions in the last game so they should have no reason to fear the Tigers.

Portlaoise man Zach Tuohy playing for Geelong Cats

Zach Tuohy put his native town on the world map in a recent interview where he very wittily clarified with his Australian interviewer that Ireland does in fact have internet and that the midland footballing stronghold from which he hails is called Portlaoise and not, as the interviewer had said, 'Portaloosh'. Here is a link to a Leinster Express article containing a video of that interview:

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/portlaoise-/581979/laois-afl-geelong-star-zach-tuohy-unleashes-some-portaloosh-humour-on-aussie-tv.html 

Tuohy is one of fourteen Irishmen with Gaelic Football backgrounds who are currently plying their trade at the highest level of Australian Rules Football, the Australian Football League (AFL). There are Irish players from all four provinces playing at ten different AFL clubs, with even traditionally hurling counties represented, including Colin O’Riordan of Tipperary playing at Sydney Swans and Darragh Joyce of Kilkenny playing at St. Kilda. There are also at least ten Irish women playing in the women’s game in Australia, with Cora Staunton of Mayo being the leading star.

But Zach Tuohy of ‘Portaloosh’ is Ireland’s leading man in Australia. After the legendary Jim Stynes, he is now only the second Irishman to have played 200 games in the AFL (80 games with Carlton and 120 with his current club). Tuohy has also made his mark in Gaelic Football, winning an All-Ireland minor medal with Laois in 2007 and, in the International Rules game (involving a ‘compromise’ of Aussie and Gaelic rules) he has represented Ireland against Australia on four occasions.

Tadhg Kennelly of Kerry is the only Irishman to have been on the winning team in an AFL Grand Final, when playing for Sydney Swans in 2005. Let’s hope that Tuohy and O’Connor can join him next by claiming their medals on Saturday.  

Aussie Rules and Gaelic Football – a very brief history

The history of Aussie Rules football goes back to at least 1859, when it was first played in Melbourne, and there are strong associations between Aussie Rules and our own Gaelic Football, perhaps even from the very beginning. It is unclear if Gaelic Football was influential in the initial development of the game or if Aussie Rules developed from Rugby Union and Rugby League and just ended up looking very like Gaelic Football. Incidentally, the latter phenomenon (independent evolution leading to similar outcomes) when seen in nature is known as Convergent Evolution.

Whatever the origins and the original Irish input, the kicking, running and fielding in Aussie Rules has remarkable comparisons to Gaelic Football and the games are also now connected by that steady stream of young Irish men and women excelling with Australia’s top clubs.

The strong historic links between Ireland and Australia as nations and in terms of their individual brands of football also led to a series of exhibition games by representative teams from the two countries in the 1960s and a number of more organised ‘International Rules’ series of contests from the 1980s onwards.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2015/1118/743317-gallery-international-rules-down-the-years/

Despite the many similarities between Gaelic Football and Australian Rules, there are a few key differences relating to ovality - of both the football and the playing field

High fielding in Aussie Rules - in an effort to make a 'mark'

High fielding in an International Rules game between Ireland and Australia

Things getting heated between Ireland and Australia in a game from the early days of the International Rules series

Ireland and Australia play each other for the Cormac McAnallen Cup, named in honour of the Tyrone footballer who died suddenly in 2004

But back to next Saturday and that Grand Final, when ‘Portaloosh’ natives will be tuning in from all over the world to urge Zach Tuohy on, along with Dingle folk tuning in to shout for Mark O’Connor.

So come on Portaloosh and come on Geelong!

Thanks this week go to Eddie Mitchell (a previous guest blogger for Sportyman: https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/05/st-kerrills-festival-bogolympics-and.html) for initially alerting me to Zach Tuohy’s ‘Portaloosh’ interview. 

Thanks also to some of my Portlaoise friends who gave me insights regarding Zach Tuohy, in particular Brian Colgan, Claire Fennell and Noel Bannon, who are friends of Zach and the Tuohy clan.

For the completely uninitiated, here's a nice 5 minute clip explaining all the basics of Aussie Rules football:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMZYZcoAcU0

And finally, in an example of good, grounding, Portlaoise humour, have a look at the link below showing Zach Tuohy’s brother wishing him well for the upcoming Grand Final.

https://www.facebook.com/Geelong.Cats/videos/tuohys-brother-delivers-hilarious-tribute-message/1540635446121967/

The Story of Ice Hockey and its Irish Connection - part one of a Dr. Eoin Ryan Trilogy

 

Sportyman readers may remember from a few months back the superb guest piece from Dr. Eoin Ryan on handball: 

https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/06/guest-blog-dr-eoin-ryan-on-handball.html

That piece remains the most read article on Sportyman and I've received lots of great feedback on the topic of handball and the natural flair with which Eoin writes.

So I was delighted to receive another wonderful contribution from Eoin in recent days, this time on Ice Hockey. As you will see, Eoin draws on his own personal experiences and memories and then goes on to present a really fascinating piece of research on the game, bringing in lots of Irish connections along the way. On reading the full piece I told Eoin that, had I set about commissioning an article for Sportyman that I could not have wished for a more 'Sportyman' piece of writing. 

Eoin agreed to my dividing his article into a trilogy that I will post over the next few weeks. For this first part, Eoin starts off with some introductory points about the game and how he first got interested. For next week's posting, Eoin will address the question as to where Ice Hockey actually came from. And then for the final part of the trilogy he will address the intriguing question: 'So Is Ice Hockey Irish?'  

So sit back and enjoy this wonderful piece of sports writing.

And many thanks again to Eoin!

This year was certainly different! Lockdown had a lot of us abandoning our normal out-of-home activities for those which could be safely pursued from the comfort of the couch. And so during this time, I did something I had not done since I was a child- I watched ‘The Mighty Ducks’. For those of you not familiar, this is undoubtedly one of the greatest movies of our age, telling the tale of a young group of ice-hockey players in Minnesota who come under the command of their new court-appointed coach, Gordon Bombay, and in that wonderful feel-good atmosphere of nineties movies, shows that with a bit of support and good old fashioned teamwork, these youngsters could surmount the insurmountable and triumph, not to mention discover themselves along the way. And at the heart of it all- Ice Hockey.

 

I remember watching this as a child and feeling exhilarated by the graceful gliding on freshly polished ice rinks, the passion for the game, the physicality of the play, and most of all, just how ‘cool’ it looked. It all seemed so foreign- the city streets of Minneapolis, the tundra-like plains of the American Mid-West. So naturally, I pestered my parents into buying my rollerblades and a hockey set. Myself and my brother and a few friends from home all learned to skate and played hockey matches in the driveway. Alot of my youth was spent in this way.

 

And while it was no doubt unusual to be playing roller-hockey in rural Co. Kilkenny, there was something familiar about it nonetheless, that I never grasped as a youngster. Occasionally a hockey stick would break and we would substitute a hurl in its place - something more familiar to us in Kilkenny, or indeed when the puck got lost or stuck down a drain, we seamlessly substituted a sliotar.

 

Some years later, and in all likelihood in a pub, I heard someone say that Ice Hockey was in fact an Irish sport. ‘It is, I’d say’, I said noncommittally. My mind running over all the other improbable people, events and customs of international importance that the Irish like to claim - how an Irish monk was the first European to set foot in the New World, how the celebrated revolutionary Che Guevara was in fact Irish, as was Buffalo Bill and every other US president, how the submarine was invented in Co. Clare…. and the list goes on. But something in the claim did catch my attention so I decided to take a look.

 

Ice Hockey is a big deal! The National Hockey League, the premier professional ice hockey league on the planet, consisting of 31 teams (24 in the USA and a further 7 in Canada - rendering the ‘national’ in its name somewhat erroneous), has annual revenues of upward of 5 billion dollars. Its best paid player, currently Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid will earn in excess of 18 million dollars this season (including endorsements, etc). This salary is part of an 8 year 100 million dollar contract! (To compare, Lionel Messi is in the middle of a 126 million dollar contract with Barcelona)

 

As well as Canada and the USA, it is popular across Nordic and Eastern Europe as well as Russia.  (USA, Canada, Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia make up international hockey's ‘Big Six' and have won all but 21 World Championship titles). The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), based in Switzerland, acts as the governing body and boasts 81 member states under its remit. The IIHF in a survey published in 2013 stated 1.64 million people world wide are registered as players with organised clubs.

Next week: 'Where did it come from?'...

Cold War Basketball

 

Special thanks this week goes to Jerome Casey, my old friend and fellow enthusiast for all things sporty, who gave me the idea and source material for this blog by directing me to the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

1972 Olympics Men's Basketball final: USA versus USSR

 

The politicization of sport has probably been around for as long as organized sport itself. In earlier blogs I have referred to the strong political and military associations of the first ‘marathon’ https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-first-marathon-as-we-now-know-it.html, when Pheidippides ran to Athens to announce a great victory over the Persians, right through to the many ‘lost’ Olympic medals won by Irish athletes when competing for other nations, especially the United Kingdom and the United States https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/03/olympian-warfare-art-and-tipperary.html, along with the tragic events of almost exactly a century ago in Croke Park https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/03/bloody-sunday-1920.html

Matt McGrath (1876-1941), the Tipperary native who won three Olympic medals between 1908 and 1924 in the hammer throw, representing the United States. When the US team marched past the royal box at the 1908 London Olympics, legend has it that McGrath told the US flag bearer not to dip his flag (as was the custom) in acknowledgement of the king, leading to the phrase that 'this (American) flag dips to no earthly king'.

Michael Hogan (1896-1920), Tipperary footballer murdered by British forces while playing against Dublin in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, November 21st 1920 and after whom the Hogan Stand is named.

Pheidippides (no Tipperary connection this time) announcing the 

Greek victory over the Persians in c. 490 BC (and subsequently dropping dead).

Cold War Sport

At no time in history was the politicization of sport so acute and intense as during the Cold War in the second half of the 20^th Century and a few more Sportyman blogs relating to the early years and then the final years of that conflict highlight how sport can be so overshadowed by darker, political forces.

In the case of individuals such as Emil and Dana Zatopek, the beauty of sport was embodied not just in their individual triumphs but in their subsequent ability to make lifelong friendships that transcended the deep political and cultural divides of their day https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/03/emil-and-dana-olympian-love-affair.html and https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/03/emil-zatopek-and-pandemic-running.html. In the case of Eamonn Coughlan at the World Championships in 1983, the beauty of sport was embodied in showing how a plucky little island nation could take on the might of the Soviet Union and win https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/03/memories-of-helsinki.html

Emil and Dana Zatopek - an Olympian love affair

Eamonn Coughlan overtakes Soviet athlete Dmitriy Dmitriyez on his way to win 5,000m gold at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki

And if the Cold War was the peak of sports politicization, then surely the 1972 Munich Olympics was the darkest episode of that peak. Along with the simmering and potentially catastrophic tensions between the United States and the USSR in 1972, Middle Eastern tensions also spilled over into the sporting domain, with eleven Israeli athletes kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Munich.

In sporting terms, however, events reached boiling point in Munich in the Men’s Basketball final, featuring the two key foes of the Cold War.

Being an American game, the Olympic gold medal in basketball was generally taken as an automatic entitlement for the American team and they had won all seven previous Olympic men’s finals in the sport, going back to 1936.

In the red corner: the USSR basketball team for the 1972 Olympics

And the Americans...

From the outset, however, this final was clearly not going to be a straightforward win for the United States. In fact, they trailed their Cold War foes for the entire duration of an ill-tempered game, right until the very end.

As my only real experience of basketball viewing was in recently watching the absorbing Michael Jordan Netflix documentary ‘The Last Dance’, I will not even try to describe the events of those last few seconds of play in the 1972 basketball final.

Michael Jordan's Netflix epic - an absorbing series, but pales in comparison to the story of 1972

So instead of me trying to describe it, just click on the link below and let the drama unfold all over again. 

And just make sure you watch it to the very end…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwTPG792LG8

Liverpool FC - the 1940s

In the Sportyman history of Liverpool Football Club, I jumped ahead last week to the 1950s in acknowledgement of that League Cup clash with Lincoln City.

So this week it’s back to the 1940s…

There were only four full seasons of regular football in this decade, with various regional war-time leagues played during World War II. Right full back Tom Cooper, who played 160 times for Liverpool and captained England on two occasions, lost his life during the war.

Most professional football players had signed up with the armed forces and were entitled to play with teams near their bases. During this time, over 80 players from different clubs played for Liverpool as ‘guests’. This arrangement threw up a few unique occurrences, not least Corporal Bill Shankly (a Preston North End player) playing once for Liverpool, when he helped them to a Liverpool Senior Cup final victory over Everton in 1942. Shankly was joined as a guest player on that team by Irishman and Manchester United player Johnny Carey, who scored Liverpool’s third goal in a 4-1 victory over Everton at Anfield – there’s a table quiz question in that one.

Bill Shankly (1913-1981) during his playing days 

with Preston North End

Johnny Carey (1919-1995) of Ireland and Manchester United, who scored for Liverpool (as a 'guest' player) in their 1942 Liverpool Senior Cup final victory over Everton at Anfield in 1942, with Bill Shankly also on that Liverpool team

As with the restart of football after World War I, https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/09/two-titles-two-irishmen-and-two-macs.html, Liverpool hit the ground running and won the first post war First Division title, in 1946-1947. Liverpool’s pre-season American tour was cited by manager George Kay as a factor in the 1946-1947 championship success. Conditions in America were a far cry from war rationed Britain and the Liverpool squad had access to delicacies such as American steak and orange juice. Over the course of the tour, the squad bulked up by an average of half a stone per man and Kay felt this was key in their subsequent success.

As in 1899, https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/05/aston-villa-5-liverpool-0-1899-and-2019.html, the 1946-1947 title fight went right down to the wire, with Liverpool again travelling to Birmingham for their final game. This time the opposition was Wolverhampton Wanderers. Unlike the 5-0 hammering at the hands of Aston Villa in 1899, Liverpool came away with a 2-1 victory, with Wolves having only needed a draw to secure the title for themselves.

Liverpool then had an anxious wait for two weeks until Stoke lost their last match of the season, thus surrendering their own title chances and confirming Liverpool as champions. The final league table shows the narrow margin of Liverpool’s victory, with only two points separating the top four teams and Liverpool jumping from fourth to top in the last two games. The league table stats also give an indication of the erratic nature of Liverpool’s season, losing ten and drawing seven of their 42 matches.

 

Liverpool FC for 1946-1947 (note the presence of two future managers standing in the back row - Phil Taylor and Bob Paisley)

Back row: Tom Bush, Phil Taylor, Jim Harley, Cyril Sidlow, Ray Lambert, Bob Paisley, Albert Shelley (Trainer).

Front row: William Watkinson, Willie Fagan, Albert Stubbins, Stan Palk, Billy Liddell, Laurie Hughes.

Final league standings for 1946-1947, demonstrating the tightness of that race

The decade ended with Liverpool reaching the FA Cup final in 1949-1950. This would be Liverpool’s first Wembley final, the 1914 FA Cup decider having been played at Crystal Palace, https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/08/liverpool-fc-third-decade-1910-1920.html. Despite now having won the league on five occasions, Liverpool had yet to win the FA Cup. A legend had already developed in the city that the two Liver Bird monuments on top of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool would fly away before Liverpool won the FA Cup. Unfortunately, the Liver Birds were to continue flightless in 1950 and Liverpool’s FA Cup jinx was to continue, losing the final 2-0 to Arsenal. 

Liverpool's Royal Liver Building, with Liver Birds perched on top

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6J9-14ZzAw

Video from the 1950 FA Cup final

With a league title and FA Cup final appearance in the space of four seasons, it would seem that Liverpool had reason to be hopeful heading into the 1950s. However, the reality was that they had an ageing team and, without any key replacements, the footballing decade ahead would prove to be Liverpool’s worst of all time.

Despite being only half a decade in footballing terms, Liverpool had good success in the 1940s and a few key figures from this period warrant special mention.

Billy Liddell – Liverpool’s third era defining player

I have already paid tribute to Billy Liddell in last week's blog but, such was his impact on Liverpool over a sustained period, he warrants inclusion again for the 1940s blog.

Liddell played exclusively with Liverpool for his entire professional career, stretching from before the World War II in July 1938 right through to those grim Second Division years of the 1950s and on to the beginning of the Shankly era in 1960. Matt Busby, one time Liverpool player and captain and subsequent quite successful manager of another club, is said to have tipped off Liverpool manager George Kay to Liddell, saying ‘this Liddell lad might be worth an enquiry’. As stipulated by his parents, Liddell was contractually allowed to complete his training as an accountant while playing with Liverpool, thus having another career to fall back on after football. In fact, he continued to work as an accountant throughout his Liverpool playing career.

Billy Liddell (1922-2001) and Liverpool forward from 1938-1961

Liddell was extremely strong, fast and versatile, playing as a left sided winger and centre forward and scoring 215 league goals in 492 matches. At the time of his retirement his 534 appearances was a club record for Liverpool, and he is currently 12^th on that particular metric, and 4^th on the all time top goalscorer table. In The Anatomy of Liverpool (Jonathan Wilson and Scott Murray) Liddell is highlighted as being one of five key era defining players for Liverpool, coming after Alex Raisbeck https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/08/liverpool-fc-second-decade-1900-1910.html and Elisha Scott https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/09/two-titles-two-irishmen-and-two-macs.html and before Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard. Such was his importance to the club that Liverpool got the nickname of ‘Liddellpool’ during his career. Accounts of his contemporaries describe a quiet and religious man who did his talking on the pitch.

Although he had only a brief spell playing with Bill Shankly as Liverpool manager, Shankly was well aware of Liddell’s talents and importance to Liverpool, describing him as ‘fast, powerful, shot with either foot and his headers were like blasts from a gun. On top of all that he was as hard as granite. What a player! He was so strong – and he took a nineteen-inch collar shirt’. 

Some other 1940s heroes - Stubbins, Balmer and Kay

Albert Stubbins signed for Liverpool from Newcastle United in September 1946 for a then club record of 13,000 pounds and he was a key figure in the ensuing championship winning season, ending as joint top scorer with Jack Balmer, on 28 goals each. In all, Stubbins scored 83 times in his 178 games for Liverpool and went on to work as a sports journalist after his retirement from the game.

Albert Stubbins (1919-2002) a record signing for Liverpool, 

who played with the club from 1946-1953.

Stubbins scoring his legendary 'goal in the snow' at Anfield in the FA Cup 6th round 

against Birmingham City on March 1st 1947

Aside from his footballing heroics in 1946-1947 and subsequent seasons for Liverpool, Stubbins also has the honour of being the only footballer featured among the cast of stars on perhaps the most iconic music album cover of all time, from a certain Liverpool band. If you look closely at the image below you should just be able to make out his smiling face over the right shoulder of Marlene Dietrich.

That album cover...

And here's a closer look, revealing Albert Stubbins

Jack Balmer 

Jack Balmer was the other scoring star for Liverpool during this period, racking up 110 goals in 309 appearances between 1935 and 1952. 

Jack Balmer (1916-1984)

And finally, George Kay deserves at least a brief mention. In the history of Liverpool FC, only eight managers (from a total of twenty two) have managed to lead the club to top flight league success and George Kay is among the lesser known of these. An intensely dedicated and hardworking manager, he served with Liverpool from 1936 to 1951.

George Kay (1891-1954), one of only eight managers to lead Liverpool to top flight league success

The highlight of Kay’s playing career was in captaining West Ham United in the first Wembley FA Cup final in 1923. With an official attendance of over 100,000 and unofficial estimates of nearer 300,000, the dangerously overcrowded match has come to be known as The White Horse Final, partly due to the heroics of a policeman on his white horse.  https://www.theyflysohigh.co.uk/white-horse-final/4594609368

Image from the 1923 FA Cup Final that would come to be known as 'The White Horse Final'

 

Liverpool FC in the 1940s in summary

1939-1945

Regular football suspended due to World War II.

Trophies won during this period: Liverpool Senior Cup (1942); Football League Northern Section, Second Period (1942-1943); Lancashire Cup (1944)

1945-46

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Willie Fagan

Football League North: 11^th

FA Cup: 4^th round (winners: Derby County, their 1^st win)

Top scorer: Willie Fagan (3)

 

1946-1947

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Willie Fagan

Division 1: Winners (5^th win)

FA Cup: semi-final (winners: Charlton Athletic, their 1^st win)

Top scorers: Jack Balmer and Albert Stubbins with 28 goals each

 

1947-1948

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Jack Balmer

First Division: 11^th (winners: Arsenal, their 6^th win)

FA Cup: 4^th round (winners: Manchester United, their 2^nd win)

Top scorer: Albert Stubbins (26)

 

1948-1949

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Jack Balmer

First Division: 12^th (winners: Portsmouth, their 1^st win)

FA Cup: 5^th round (winners: Wolverhampton Wanderers, their 3^rd win)

Top scorer: Jack Balmer (16)

 

1949-1950

Manager: George Kay

Captain: Jack Balmer

First Division: 8^th (winners: Portsmouth, their 2^nd win)

FA Cup: beaten finalists (winners: Arsenal, their 3^rd win)

Top scorer: Bill Liddell (19)