While this isn’t exactly hurling related, I just wanted to point you to a St. Patrick’s Day-themed coloring contest going on here in York, Pa.

Your kids can color in the image at right to win some prizes from The York Emporium, a local bookstore, including a spot on their St. Patrick’s Day Parade float.

Details on the contest, and the coloring page image can be downloaded in this PDF.

Still wondering why I’m even mentioning this hyper-local contest on my blog? Because I’m the artist of this beauty of a coloring page!

Yeah, I know I should have added a hurley and sliotar into the image somewhere, but I couldn’t figure a way to do it and still have it appeal to those not familiar with the gaelic games.

HOW THIS IMAGE CAN HELP YOUR CLUB

The greater message is this though: GAA clubs in America (and elsewhere) need to offer a full-course menu of activities during their recruiting efforts. You certainly need to appeal to adults with the promise of comradery, after-game beers and athletic competition. But you also need to start catering to the family crowd as well. Do this by offering parent-friendly leagues, sideline activities for kids in tow, game instruction for kids, picnic events and crazy things like coloring page contests.

With that in mind, hurling and gaelic football clubs are welcome to use the image for their own events — as something to hand out to kids during a publicity campaign, an activity to keep kids occupied while mom and dad are on the pitch, or even on a giveaway t-shirt. Just let me know and I’ll send you a raw image.

Further, I can help you come up with other, more GAA-themed coloring pages and images if you are so inclined. Just contact me at john@johnsimcoe.com.

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When you look at old documentaries, it’s usually with a little bit of a smirk on your face. They are quaint, often silly and terribly outdated.

But today I ran across an old hurling video starring Christy Ring, one of the game’s best players ever. In it, Ring and his narrator provide some absolutely wonderful advice on some of the basic skills of the game.

Ring, by the way, is so well respected in Ireland that hurling’s mid-level county championship cup is named after thim.

For modern Irish players, this video might be full of what I call “no duh” information. But for Americans? It can help us understand some of the basics that we haven’t ever been educated on.

Indeed, this is some timeless advice on playing this great sport.

As for the parade music, well, that is definitely not so timeless.

Christy Ring statue image from http://www.donal.ie in this post. Please take a moment to check out the site!

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My favorite sport, the one I have been interested in the longest, is hockey. I love to watch people play. I love to play it myself (or at least mess around with a stick and puck).

Heck, I even draw a comic about hockey. (Shameless plug!)

So it was with great sadness that I found out that the 2012-13 season was in jeopardy as the National Hockey League’s player’s union and its team owners battled it out over how much the players were played. The talks degenerated quickly and the players have been “locked out” of their paid playing opportunities since early in the fall.  Since then more than half the season has been canceled. The truly exciting “Winter Classic” was canceled.

And fans? They’re angry and frustrated.

Even the NHL Network has pretty much given up. Now it’s broadcasting games from the Canadian Hockey League.

And despite occasional bursts of activity, things look quite dismal for the remainder of the season, the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals.

But then yesterday a Canadian politician officially offered up a great alternative: Award the Stanley Cup to the top amateur hockey team.

Sounds a lot like the way the Gaelic Athletic Association operates.  Unlike so many other premiere sports leagues around the world, the GAA doesn’t pay its athletes. In fact, it strictly forbids it. Yet every year, it fills massive stadiums in Ireland for its games of hurling and gaelic football. And across the world, more and more teams are springing up for these games every year.

But instead of letting the best players go to the highest bidder — as they do in virtually every other team sport in the world — the players of hurling and gaelic football fight it out on the pitch for community pride. It’s true. Players aren’t allowed to join any club they want, instead they can only play for the team that’s affiliated with their birthplace.

So, if such a policy were enacted for America’s National Football League, then players born in Pennsylvania would only be allowed to play for the Steelers or the Eagles. Even then, there would probably be some sort of imaginary line splitting Pennsylvania in half to designate boundaries on who goes where.

But I digress.

The point here is the Canadian politician offers an excellent option for the Stanley Cup, and there’s even a few good reasons why it should happen:

• The Stanley Cup was originally meant to awarded to the top amateur team in hockey. Not the professionals, but the guys who had to hold down a day job.
• The Stanley Cup is not controlled by the NHL. It is governed by independent trustees who can award it at their discretion.
• Quite frankly, the NHL and the player’s union need to get the message that the sport of hockey can go on without them.

Further, the fans of the sport could be well served by a wake-up call of their own.  Just like the GAA does, the Stanley Cup organization could foster a wave of hometown pride as amateur hockey clubs from across the U.S. and Canada battle it out in a March Madness-style tournament to get their name on the cup.

And the day after these amateur players hoist up the cup? They go back to their jobs and a chorus of “atta boys!”

That’s exactly what happens in the GAA, and it is a spectacular celebration of sportsmanship.

 

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Joe.ie, a “man’s stuff” website from the Emerald Isle, posted a story this week about a County Wexford, Ireland, hurling club that went the extra mile.

Well, not the extra mile, but the “extra time” by hosting a game that lasted 24 hours. The guys should be doubly proud of themselves, since they also managed to nab a spot in the upcoming Guinness Book of World Records for their feat of sportsmanship

According to the article, the game included 46 players and ended with a score of 217-324  to 220-286. That all adds up to a match with 975 points scored by the winning team and 946 for the losers.

If you think your goalkeepers are moody, just imagine how awful those goalkeepers felt after a game like that.

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Last Sunday, the greatest hurlers in the world met again on the field at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland where they played a second game in an effort to determine the All-Ireland Senior Hurling champions.

Originally County Kilkenny and County Galway battled on Sept. 9 in an effort to determine the champion, but that amazing game ended in a draw. Even though it ended with as a “sister kisser,” it’s still worth watching.

Anyway, here’s part one of the rematch. Links to the additional segments are below.

• Part Two: http://youtu.be/ZtLCWiz-TCI
• Part Three: http://youtu.be/Z_nsRZA9C-Y
• Part Four: http://youtu.be/VHAbE4BZzIM
• Part Five: http://youtu.be/a02b0QmNgjc
• Part Six: http://youtu.be/6sVm9NMzpig

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Once again, the HurlingGoals YouTube channel has offered up a complete broadcast of one of 2012′s best games of hurling. This is the senior championship matchup between County Galway and County Kilkenny. In fact it proved to be such a great game, they’re planning a sequel on September 30! (You’ll understand what I mean by the end of this game.)
So until then, enjoy the show. http://youtu.be/oBx7ZsjziHQ

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