File - The Irish Voice

ISSUE NO 9
APRIL 2014
WWW.THEIRISHVOICE.COM
BRINGING YOU ALL THE NEWS FROM THE IRISH IN SCOTLAND
EDDI READER
speaks about her
musical career,
Scotland’s politcal
future and her
great uncle’s role
in the struggle for
Irish independence
PAGES 8-9
JOANNA DOYLE
pays tribute to
Celtic supporters,
who ensured that
a precious part of
her late father’s
history will be
kept in the family
PAGE 3
FREE
Irish sportswriter
Tom English tells
Ian Dunn how
rugby star BRIAN
O’DRISCOLL’S
will to win drove
the national side
to success
PAGE 13
Always be proud of your Irishness
DAN McGINTY
AS POLITICIANS from both sides of the
Irish Sea reflect on the recent state visit of
President Michael Higgins to Britain, Irish
Ambassador Dan Mulhall has spoken exclusively to The Irish Voice, outlining the role
that the Irish community in Scotland can
play as the Republic of Ireland seeks to
cement its link with the UK and calling on
Scotland’s Irish community never to lose
their Irishness.
On his historic visit to Britain, President Higgins
spoke to politicians in an address to both houses of
parliament, saying that the two countries now have
a closeness that was once inconceivable.
“I am conscious that I am in the company here of
many distinguished parliamentarians who have
made their own individual contributions to the
journey we have travelled together,” he said. “I
acknowledge them and I salute them, as I acknowledge and salute all those who have selflessly
worked to build concord between our peoples. I
celebrate our warm friendship and I look forward
with confidence to a future in which that friendship
can grow even more resolute and productive.”
Great journey
The comments by President Higgins echoed the
words of Ambassador Mulhall, who served as
Consul General to Scotland as Ireland sought to
establish a presence in the country after devolution.
He spoke of the great journey that has been
made in Scottish-Irish links since the establishment of the consulate in 1998, with the two
nations now operating partnerships in business,
renewable energy and a number of cultural and
sporting endeavours amongst others.
“I didn’t know much about Scotland until I
arrived in 1998 and that 1998-2001 period was
excellent for me,” Mr Mulhall said. “I enjoyed
getting know Scotland, because even though I had
studied Irish history and knew a lot about AngloIrish relations, Scotland seemed to be absent from
that story.
“For me, coming to Scotland was a chance to
broaden my knowledge of that part of the world
and understand the links between the countries,
which are very considerable but perhaps in the
past were understated.”
Despite the work that had to be done, Mr
Mulhall was determined to help strengthen the
relationship between Scotland and Ireland, and
has spoken of the fruits being borne today thanks
to those early efforts.
“We were the first country to announce we were
coming here [with a consulate] after devolution, and
I was here for the opening of the Scottish Parliament,
which was a great occasion. Scotland is very different in that there is a very distinct Irish community
here, which you don’t always have in other countries
where Ireland has a diplomatic presence.
“In these last 15 years we have seen a great
resurgence in Scottish-Irish relations, Scotland is
a great part of our agenda now and the fact that we
have a consulate here now makes a huge difference to the way we see Scotland.”
Irish community
With a large Irish community both north and south
of the border Ireland today benefits from the soft
diplomacy, which comes from having newly
arrived Irish migrants, as well as the more established Irish community living and working in
Britain, and becoming active in their communities.
Ambassador Mulhall called on such individuals
to continue to represent Ireland well and make
sure they never lose their Irishness.
“I’ve met people in Scotland who are second
and third generation Irish, who have gone home to
Ireland and they are part of that,” he said. “I
always say to Irish people here, ‘we want you to
go home, and we want you to bring fresh ideas
with you, but if you don’t go home we want you
to retain your Irishness. Your Irishness can be a
benefit and an advantage to Ireland in the years
and decades ahead.’
“The community can be a great help to Ireland,
even if only to explain to the people they come into
contact with in Britain what Ireland is really like
and answer any criticisms of Ireland that they might
hear. I really think that message has taken root.”
Growing links
The growing links between the political classes on
both sides of the Irish Sea saw President Higgins
spend four days in Britain, during which time he
dined with the queen and visited sites of historic
importance in addition to making his historic
address at Westminster.
With the prospect raised of future state visits to
President Michael Higgins (main) and Irish Ambassador
Dan Mulhall (inset) have urged the Irish community in
Scotland to always be proud of and express its Irishness
Ireland by Queen Elizabeth, the continuation of the
current cordial links between Britain and Ireland
looks sure, but the ambassador stayed tight-lipped
about the prospect of Scottish independence, saying ‘we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.’
“We take a vow of silence on the referendum,”
Mr Mulhall said. “It’s not something we want to
take a view on publicly, but we are very interested in what is happening in Scotland—which is a
neighbour—and we will continue to be interested,
but we won’t get involved. That would be entirely inappropriate.”
Don’t miss next month’s edition when you can
read more extensive coverage of Dan Mulhall’s
interview with The Irish Voice
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THE IRISH VOICE
NEWS
APRIL 2014
Irishwoman’s business ‘an example of the new, confident Scotland’
I MARY McGINTY
A DUBLIN-born woman who battled a serious bowel condition before she underwent
surgery, has been hailed as ‘an example of the
new confident Scotland’ by the Cabinet
Health Minister.
Speaking at the opening of Europe’s first specialised underwear store for people with stomas.
Alex Neil MSP praised Nicola Dames’ ‘sheer
courage in difficult circumstances and her personal determination to use those circumstances to the
benefit of others.’
After enduring years of suffering with severe
ulcerative colitis Nicola underwent surgery that
left her with an ileostomy. While she was recovering she began thinking of what she could do to
support fellow ostomates. Leaving hospital she
was dismayed to discover that she could not find
underwear that celebrated her femininity—and
the idea was born.
As a nurse and former personal shopper at
Dublin’s prestigious Brown Thomas store, Nicola
was well-placed to understand the loss of selfconfidence that can affect people post-surgery.
Now, six years after launching Vanilla Blush as an
internet business, she has opened her first shop. With
growing demand and a hectic home-life with two
young sons, her husband, Simon, recently left his job
as a press officer to help Nicola in the business.
Nicola Dames with Alex Neil MSP and models Elizabeth
Bauld, Laura Worthington and Beth Wales outside the
new Vanilla Blush store in Glasgow’s east end
PIC: HUGH DOUGHERTY
“Vanilla Blush has been going from strength to
strength so we knew it was the right time to take
the next radical leap and that was to open
Europe’s very first underwear and swimwear store
for people with what I call the 4Cs—cancer,
crohns, colitis and colostomy,” Nicola said.
Nicola was applauded for opening her shop in
the east end of the city, aiding significant regeneration in the area. Among those offering congratulations was Baillie Liz Cameron who described
Nicola as ‘a true daughter of mother Glasgow.’
“We’ve climbed a steep hill of regeneration
from the post-industrial gloom of the last century
to the vibrant and dynamic Glasgow we see
today,” Mrs Cameron said. “Regeneration is happening city-wide but the renaissance of
Dalmarnock, Bridgeton and Calton is a once-in-ageneration opportunity.”
Glasgow East MSP, John Mason welcomed
Vanilla Blush to Dalmarnock Road as an important addition to the local economy and an initiative that is ‘particularly positive because it is
helping people who are facing challenging personal circumstances.’
I [email protected]
Fun for all the family at Gaelic football tournament in Edinburgh
I NIALL CONSIDINE
ON SUNDAY March 30
Dunedin Og Gaelic football
club hosted clubs from
Coatbridge and Glasgow for
their Mother’s Day youth
Gaelic football tournament.
Two hours of action ensued
with games at U8, U10, U11
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and U12. While the kids played
the mums and dads availed of
the tea, hot chocolate and buns
served by the Dunedin
Connollys ladies team, which
helped them keep warm on a
cold and blustery day.
Their input just goes to show
the great community spirit of
GAA clubs when girls, who
only a few months previously
were playing in an All-Ireland
final, were now serving food and
drinks to the next generation of
young players.
Despite the less than ideal
conditions the quality of football was top notch with the U12
and U11 age groups in particular delivering games the equal
of those you’d see anywhere.
Many of these players have
been playing Gaelic football
for the past three or four years
and this was reflected in the
skill level and teamwork of the
players on show.
The U8 and U10 age groups
were a mixture of beginners and
experienced players, but the quality of fare was just as impressive
as that of the older groups.
The U8’s used the three-zone
Go Games model while the
U10’s played with the ‘one hop,
one solo’ rule, thus ensuring
stronger players were not dominating the play at the expense
of less experienced players.
All players saw plenty of game
time during the two hours of
action, though the enthusiastic
players also took the chance to
enjoy hot chocolate and buns
during breaks!
A great day was had by all
and it was wonderful to see so
many kids from Tír Conaill
Harps and Coatbridge Davitts
coming to play in Edinburgh. A
big thanks you to all who
helped out, especially Dunedin
Connollys ladies for the refreshments and the Tír Conaill and
Coatbridge mentors for bringing
teams down on Mother’s Day.
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
Johnny Doyle’s jersey back in the family
DAN McGINTY
CELTIC supporters have rallied around
the daughter of former Celt Johnny
Doyle as she searches for the voice of
her father.
Joanna Doyle (right) was just three when
her father was tragically electrocuted at
their family home, and she and her brother
have few items from his career in the hoops
with which to remember him by. Most
painfully for Ms Doyle, she has no memories of her father’s voice and—despite a
wide-reaching search—there is no existing
interview footage from his time at the club.
Aged just 30 when he died, Doyle had
been a Celtic regular for five years before
his tragic accident, but at a time when interviews were far less common it seems he
was shy in front of the camera and today
searches by private collectors of Celtic
memorabilia and the club itself have failed
to yield any footage of him speaking.
In an effort to secure mementoes of his
career for the Doyle family, Celtic supporters donated over £1600 through the
Huddleboard online forum to secure
Doyle’s jersey from the 1980 Scottish Cup
Final, which he wore as Celtic defeated
Rangers 1-0 after extra time.
The supporters presented Joanna Doyle
with the jersey, along with a collection of
programmes related to the milestones in his
career, including his debut and first goal in
the hoops, his goal against Real Madrid as
Celtic beat the Spanish giants 2-0 and two
matches where he was sent off; one as
Celtic defeated Rangers in the legendary
‘ten men won the league’ title decider and
the other when he was amazingly sent off
after an attempted cross struck the referee.
However, it is the sound of her father’s
voice that Ms Doyle is most desperate to
find, and despite searches by friends in the
media, club officials and fans none has yet
surfaced, and she must make do with the
many legendary stories that surround her
father’s time at the club, when he was
known as a supporter in the jersey.
“I’ve some very vivid and treasured memories, like a trick with cola bottles in his ears
or coming home from training with his arms
open and me running towards him,” Ms
Doyle said. “People say I must get sick of
hearing all these things about my dad but I
really don’t. But I don’t recall his voice.”
Tony Hamilton, chief executive of the
Celtic Foundation and a former media official at the club said: “In the 1970s the odd
player was only interviewed before, say, a
cup final. Joanna’s story is terribly sad. The
chances of an interview are extremely slim.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t any but
perhaps the best hope is within a private
collection. I’ve seen photos of Johnny with
Tommy Burns which look like they’re from
a home movie. You could have a better
chance of winning the lottery, but I really
hope this falls into place for Joanna.”
Supporters moved by the story are still
working to source a recording of the late Celtic
star, and have appealed for anyone with private
footage or sound recordings to come forward.
[email protected]
Republican youths give a helping hand at home and abroad
A REPUBLICAN youth
group recently donated £100
worth of food to a Glasgow
food bank and a selection of
medical equipment to casualties of the civil war in Syria.
The Scottish based group,
Cairde Republican Youth—
part of the wider Cairde na
hÉireann group—was founded
at the end of last year and
wasted no time in organising
such projects, the first being
the donation of food to the
Glasgow North East food bank.
From this donation, the group
then decided to start its very
own food bank, which is being
run from the Skinnider Centre
on Dundyvan Road, Coatbridge
and is open—to everyone—
every Tuesday from 1pm-3pm.
In addition to this, the group
also donated four medical mattresses, two wheelchairs, two
zimmers, six walking sticks and
also a medical hoist to a Syrian
convoy, which will help provide
K
The group’s first public event
was an education day in February
at Ireland’s youngest senator,
Kathryn Reily and Eoin
McShane, chair of the Mairead
Farrell Youth committee, came
over to speak about the issues
affecting the youth within
today’s society. On this day the
group also raised over £120 for
the food bank. Recently its
members also attended the
anti-fascism and anti-racism
rally at George Square, to
show solidarity and support
for equality (left).
medical assistance to causalities
in the current conflict.
“Our focus and key objective
is to re-engage the Republican
community with wider society,
by active engagement in politics and political activism,” a
Cairde Republican Youth
spokesperson said. “We feel
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Twitter @CairdeYouth or
visiting their blog, http://
cairdeyouth.blogspot.co.uk
NEWS
3
Irish community mourns the passing
of campaigning priest Canon Cassidy
A PRIEST who campaigned
tirelessly for the rights of
Irish migrant workers in
Scotland passed away
recently at the age of 84.
Canon Michael J Cassidy
(right), a priest of the St
Andrews and Edinburgh
Archdiocese, died in
Costorphine Hospital in the
capital city on the morning of
Tuesday April 8.
Canon Cassidy was born in
Brackloon, near Swinford in
Mayo on August 26, 1929. He
was initially taught at the local
school, but chose to study for
the priesthood at St Peter’s
College, Wexford. He was
ordained by the Bishop of
Ferns, Bishop James Staunton
on June 6, 1954 for the St
Andrews and Edinburgh
Archdiocese.
His first parish was St Francis
Xavier’s in Falkirk (1954-55)
and then at St John Vianney’s in
Gilmerton, Edinburgh. He later
spent six years in East Lothian,
first in the mining heartland of
Tranent from 1960-64 and then
in the seaside resort of North
Berwick from 1964-66. His first
appointment as parish priest was
at St Mary’s, Pathhead and in
1976 he was appointed parish
priest at St Margaret Mary’s,
Granton in Edinburgh, where he
stayed even after his retirement
in 2004.
His time in Scotland was
marked by his focus on the
needs of the Irish families who
had settled in Scotland and a
special interest in the needs of
the seasonal migrant workers
who came to Scotland each
year from Ireland to work at
the potato harvest. The living
conditions of these seasonal
workers were primitive and
Canon Cassidy constantly
called for an improvement in
these conditions.
In the mid-1960s, he was
part of a committee that helped
to establish the Edinburgh Irish
Centre in the city. Canon Cassidy
was also extremely supportive
of those who hosted Irish
events in Edinburgh.
By the 1970s, the number of
Irish families coming over to
Scotland to work harvesting the
potato crop had dwindled.
Instead, Irish agents turned to
young unemployed men in towns
across Ireland. Their working
and living conditions were even
worse than those experienced by
the families who worked as ‘tattie howkers’ in earlier decades.
They were housed in bothies
with no privacy and non-existent
sanitation. They were forced to
work long hours and, at the end
of the day, became virtual prisoners for the night.
Along with Fr Michael
Walsh of Dunbar, Canon
Cassidy became active in highlighting the plight of the workers. He submitted his concerns
to Cardinal Gordon Gray of St
Andrews and Edinburgh.
As a result of this report,
Gordon Campbell, Secretary of
State, directed the Department
of Agriculture’s Wages and
Safety Inspectorate to investigate the matter. East Lothian
MP John P Mackintosh, Alex
Eadie MP and Tom Oswald MP
also took a keen interest in the
potato workers and what the
press referred to as ‘slave
camps.’ Irish authorities were
also poised to take action.
Although no prosecutions
were ever brought, the public
pressure forced changes to be
made, and Canon Cassidy—
who received death threats for
his work to help the migrant
workers—was later honoured
by the Irish Government for
his services to his fellow
countrymen.
His passing will be sorely
felt by all those who knew and
loved him.
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THE IRISH VOICE
NEWS
Spectre of discrimination still looms large
DAN McGINTY
A SURVEY of over 500 Catholic in
Scotland has found that the spectre of
discrimination and sectarian attitudes
still looms large for many within that
community.
Tír Conaill Harps have their eyes
on the prizes at awards dinner
TÍR CONAILL Harps GAA
club recently held its awards
dinner at the Thistle Hotel
in Glasgow.
“We would like to thank
everyone who came along and
supported our awards dinner,”
Kirtsy Byrne of Tír Conaill
Harps said. “It was a great
night and congratulations to all
the award winners.”
Tír Conaill Harps’ youth teams
train weekly at the following
times: U8s Gaelic football,
Kingspark Secondary, Saturdays
11.30-12.30pm. U14/16 Gaelic
football Sundays 1-2pm, meet
at Kingspark gates opposite
Christ the King Church. U12s
Gaelic football Thursdays, St
Filans 6-7.30pm. For more
information on training times
visit: http://www.tirconaill.org
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Martin McAviney, Ulster
GAA chairman and Sean
Dunnion, Donegal GAA
chairman, were on hand to
present the awards, which saw
Advance Construction awarded
partner of the year, Christina
Duffy take the volunteer of the
year prize, Bronagh Walsh
(above) recieve the coach of the
year accolade and Darius
Stewart (below) received the
young person of the year award.
Irish dancers from the Caroline
Green School of Irish Dance provided entertainment on the night.
APRIL 2014
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The survey was the work of the Coatbridge
based Conforti Institute, who were investigating how members of Scotland’s Catholic
community—a great many of whom are of
Irish origin—feel towards discrimination.
One of the major issues raised by the survey was the prevalence on Scotland’s streets
of Orange parades and marches, which
many respondents felt created an air of
intimidation and hatred towards Catholics.
They described feeling ‘fear and a sense
of unease, being intimidated, threatened and
offended when they think about them,’ also
stating that they feel there is an excessive
number of Orange walks and that the events
should be taken off our streets and restricted to public parks.
The survey also raised a worrying issue
about the attitude of Catholics in Scotland
to raising the issue of the discrimination,
thanks to the reflex response from many in
the country that Catholic education is the
root cause of such societal problems.
The report said that there is a reluctance
among many respondents to speak out about
sectarianism because ‘they fear that even
raising the issue invites the response that
sectarianism in Scotland will be solved with
the closure of Catholic schools. Even raising the issue is therefore perceived by some
as a threat.’
Among the other issues raised by the
report, was the fact that Catholics are disenfranchised in Britain today as a result of the
Act of Settlement, a reality that compounds
the intolerant attitudes of many in Scotland.
“One person’s comment captures the feeling of a good deal of the input,” the report
states. “‘The real issue is that Catholics are
treated constitutionally as second class citizens. The Scottish Government is fudging
the issue, it is really about institutionalised
sectarianism.’”
A number of those consulted by the
Conforti Institute as part of the groundbreaking survey—which was funded by the
Scottish Government—also stated that there
remained a stain of anti-Catholic attitudes
across society. One respondent said that he
did not send his children to a Catholic
school because ‘he didn’t want his children
easily identifiable as Catholic.’
Football and the attitudes of the Scottish
media were also seen as contributing to sectarianism, with the media’s pejorative role
BILL HEANEY
WRITER Anna Smith has
launched her fourth novel.
Betrayed was warmly welcomed by a packed gathering at
Waterstones in Sauchiehall
Street, Glasgow, recently
(right). And it was liberally
toasted thereafter at a convivial
drinks party with former colleagues in Malone’s Irish Bar
in the city centre.
Betrayed takes the journalist
character Rosie Gilmour on an
investigation into the activities
of the Ulster Volunteer Force in
Glasgow.
Its background is based on
the bitter religious divide that
separates Catholics and
Protestants in the North of
Ireland and Scotland.
It contains some frightening
fictional characters in a gripping story based around allegations that cocaine was being
smuggled aboard Glasgow
Rangers supporters’ buses that
travelled to Champions League
matches back in 1999.
“I had an attempt to investigate this myself when I worked
as a reporter but I didn't get far
on it,” Anna said. “I also recall
a court case in Glasgow years
ago when gangsters were
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smuggling drugs on buses used
to take kids over for football
tournaments on the Costa del
Sol. So these are the kind of
things that inspired the novel.”
While working as a reporter,
Smith interviewed violent
political extremists with
connections to paramilitary
groups in Glasgow and Belfast.
“I was always struck by how
ordinary their lives were,” she
said. “I’d be interviewing them
in their homes, which had all
the trappings of a normal life—
kids playing, photos on the
wall, and dishes in the sink...
yet these guys were preaching
their dogma to me, and it
always made me think they are
just like the rest of us when
they're not doing what they do.
“So what I’ve tried to do in
the book is paint the picture of
who they are—who are their
wives, their families and so on.
I’m hoping people will see
beyond the headline of the subject matter and see the human
aspect, that this is a book about
relationships, about love and
loss and regret. It is also about
divided loyalties and betrayal.”
Betrayed is published by
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being seen as ‘fuelling negative aspects of
sectarian attitudes and behaviour, in particular referring to the publicity around football’
by respondents from all parts of Scotland.
With many incidences of racist and sectarian abuse online making headlines in
recent years, younger respondents were
quick to identify social media as a breeding
ground for intolerant attitudes, thanks to ‘a
feeling that more extreme things can be
expressed’ online.
Dr Geraldine Hill, the report’s author,
said sectarianism meant different things to
different people.
“The perception of sectarianism primarily being about anti-Catholicism in Scotland
is a topic of debate,” she said. “Some would
take that view, others believe that things
have moved on considerably or believe that
both an anti-Christian and secular agenda is
more important.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman
said the government was committed to tackling sectarianism and was spending £9 million in three years to help eradicate it.
She added: “We welcome the Conforti
Institute report, which will help to build our
understanding of how communities across
Scotland experience sectarianism.”
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Would independence offer a fresh start?
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
COMMENT
5
DENIS CANAVAN and NICOLA BARRY discuss the referendum on Scottish independence and the role of women in politics
T
Denis Canavan
HERE is no shortage of scare stories
about Scottish independence. The
Secretary of State for Scotland, who is a
member of the UK Cabinet, recently
raised the spectre of barricades, customs
posts and border guards if Scotland becomes independent. He should try travelling from Derry to
Donegal where the border is practically invisible.
During the referendum campaign, comparisons
are often made between Scotland and Ireland. The
historical case for Irish independence is, of course,
different, but the basic right of self-determination
is something common to the peoples of both countries. Unionist politicians often sneer at small independent countries and some of them still gloat
over the collapse of the Celtic tiger. But, despite
the economic difficulties of countries like Ireland
and Iceland, I have not detected any desire on the
part of those nations to give up their independence.
Indeed, I am unaware of any country in the world
which won its struggle for independence then
wanted to reverse the decision.
Why then are there so many Scots of Irish ancestry not more enthusiastic about Scottish independence? Many of them were not initially keen on even
a limited amount of home rule, as envisaged in the
Scotland Act 1978. At the time of the 1979 referendum, some opponents of devolution claimed that a
Scottish Parliament would be another Stormont, ‘a
Protestant parliament for a Protestant people,’ with
rampant sectarianism and the abolition of Catholic
schools. More recently, George Galloway MP has
accused the Scottish National Party of having an
anti-Catholic mentality.
Such scare-mongering has no factual basis.
Since the Scottish Parliament came into existence,
Scotland is at last addressing the problem of sectarianism which, for too long, was Scotland’s dirty
secret, rarely mentioned at Westminster. The
Scottish Government has not always got it right,
but it is making genuine efforts to grapple with the
problem. Education has now been the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament for 15 years, during
which successive Scottish Governments have continued to support Catholic schools and to promote
the existence of a multi-cultural society where
people of different ethnic origins and different
faiths live together in peace and harmony.
I
am a convert to the cause of independence and
my political journey is somewhat unusual. I
was virtually born and brought up in the
Labour Party.
My grandfather was one of the founding members of the first branch of the Labour Party in the
county of Fife. Born in Ireland in the 19th century, grandad migrated to Scotland at the age of
four. He left school at the age of 10 and went to
work down a coal-mine at the age of 12. He and
his comrades had to fight for basic things like the
right to earn a living, the right to decent housing,
the right to educational opportunity for their children and the right to a free health service for people who were sick. They were driven by hunger,
sometimes real hunger in an empty belly and
always a hunger for social justice. It is that same
quest for social justice which is the driving force
for many people in the YesScotland campaign .
My conversion to the cause is based on my
experience, particularly my parliamentary experience. Having spent 26 years at Westminster and
eight years in the Scottish Parliament, I have
reached the conclusion that Westminster is com-
pletely out of touch with Scotland, whereas the
Scottish Parliament responds more readily to the
values, the needs and the aspirations of the people
of Scotland.
On issues like land reform, free care for the elderly, financial support for students and free prescriptions for people who are ill, the Scottish
Parliament, despite its limited powers, has proved
to be far more radical and far more progressive
than Westminster.
If the Scottish Parliament can be responsible
for important things like education and the
National Health Service, why should it not be
responsible for deciding whether we should have
nuclear weapons or whether we should be
involved in illegal wars or whether we should
allow bankers to ruin our economy?
At present, Scotland is ruled by a UK
Government that we did not elect. That government
is rewarding the rich with massive tax hand-outs and
punishing the poor with savage cuts in benefits,
including the iniquitous bedroom tax. The
Westminster coalition offers no prospect of the kind
of radical change which the majority of Scots want.
The Labour Party lost its soul when Tony Blair
became leader and there is no sign of it recovering.
Independence is an opportunity for a fresh start,
a means of empowering the people of Scotland to
shape their own future by building a more prosperous and fairer Scotland. It will also enable
Scotland to play a full part in the international
community to help build a better world.
Dennis Canavan was formerly a Labour
MP then an Independent MSP. When he
announced his retirement in 2007, he was the
longest serving parliamentarian in Scotland.
He now chairs the Advisory Board of Yes
Scotland, the cross-party campaign for Scottish
independence
I
Nicola Barry
WOULD love to be able to say I was brought
up in Ireland, in an independent country and
subsequently, know exactly what I am talking about. However, my only real link to that
beautiful country is familial, a vaguely
remembered grandfather who wore tweed trousers
and smelled of pipe tobacco. His name was David
Barry, Professor of Physiology at University
College, Cork. He married an exotic Parisienne
called Yvonne. I am a true mongrel: a quarter Irish,
a quarter French, a smattering of Guernsey—mother’s side—but made in Scotland.
Ireland is a country that successfully defined its
own future. Although born in bloody revolution,
the democracy of the Irish Free State grew out of a
desire to loosen the shackles of Ireland’s ‘colonial
masters.’ Despite an arguably disastrous entanglement with the Euro, Ireland has thrived ever since.
But, when we go to the polls this September, it
will not be against a backdrop of guns and bombs,
just strongly worded arguments from the Yes and
No camps.
Sorry to say, I have yet to hear anything persuasive from any political figure. No, I am not a
‘don’t-know,’ just terminally disaffected with male
politicians. Nicola Sturgeon does not cut it. She
said recently women had to be ‘won over’ in order
to secure a Yes in the referendum. In Scotland,
women are seen as a ‘problem’ group; tantamount
to people with special needs. And this strategy distracts attention from the gender hierarchies which
exist in all our political parties. On the campaign
trail, it’s: “Oh, there’s a woman, quick, kiss a baby
then she’ll vote for me.”
Many grey-suited politicians still believe women
are better off barefoot, pregnant and tied to the
kitchen sink, leaving the voting on independence—
the serious stuff—to the guys.
I would be definitely more pro-independence
than anti, if I could have some guarantee that an
independent Scotland would acknowledge the
skills of women as well as match the Ireland of the
1980s and 1990s, with a booming economy, more
tourists than you could count and a nation of which
every citizen was proud. The Yes camp would then
have my vote.
Even though the number of women choosing not
to have children is rising all the time, politicians
still insist on pigeonholing all women to kids and
family. Matters like childcare are surely of more
interest to a family man than to a childless woman
in a high-powered job? A woman who does not
have children might be far more concerned, for
example, about street safety or Scotland’s staggeringly low rape conviction rate as much as whether
state schools are good enough for little Jimmy.
Why exactly do politicians assume that all women
have the same needs—any more than all men have?
No one would dream of trying to find out what men
really want. Why? Because they are in power, making the decisions about how we live our lives.
A
crucial aspect of this referendum will be
turnout. And, within that, the big question
is: why are so many women turning their
backs on politics? Could it possibly be because politics has turned its back on them? Politics is still a
man’s game. Forget the Suffragettes. Everyone else
has. The trouble is that apathetic voters—women in
this case—allow the macho and, occasionally,
downright pig-ignorant to stay in power. In other
words, the system does not fail the voter. The voter
Nicola Barry feels that a culture must be created where
women are more visible on the political scene and has
urged them to vote in the upcoming referendum on
Scotland’s political future
is failing the system.
We need to create a culture in which women are
more visible on the political scene. When it comes to
devolved issues, such as education and the health
service, women know a great deal. Do you really
believe that women, who, by the way, do 90 per cent
of the caring in this country—whether for sick children, the elderly or disabled—have no interest in the
NHS or social work? Do you really believe that the
vast number of women who run charities in Scotland;
who are desperate for better facilities in areas of deprivation, have no interest in politics? Get a life.
Many men prefer the bigger picture; the macho
projects such as Edinburgh’ trams; who has the
speediest train and the flashiest airport, to examining the subjects women hold dear such as street
safety or who will take care of elderly parents.
To add insult to injury, so few people actually
value the work women do. Many modern fathers
do value it and share the load. But domestic work
requires societal value too.
Women must vote in this referendum. Because it
means access to power; to who gets what and how.
If the Scottish Government were to gimme what I
want, what I really, really, want, maybe, along with
the rest of womankind, I would find it easier to
make up my mind about independence.
Nicola Barry is an Edinburgh-based freelance
journalist, author and blogger. Formerly with
the Sunday Express and Press and Journal,
Nicola Barry has won 25 press awards, including
Columnist of the Year in Scotland three times.
Her first book, Mother’s Ruin, was published in
2007. She is currently writing her second book
Do you have a comment to make on the issue of SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE? If so, contact us by writing to: Letters, The
Irish Voice, Arcadia Business Centre, Miller Lane, Clydebank, Scotland, G81 1UJ or by e-mail: [email protected]
The views expressed in our comment
section come from informed
individuals and/or groups to foster
debate and are not necessarily those
of The Irish Voice
6
THE IRISH VOICE
OPINION/EDITORIAL
APRIL 2014
PIC: MICHAEL JASTREMSKI
FOR OPENPHOTO.NET
T
EDITORIAL
Cultural expressions of Irishness
in Britain will inspire confidence
HE visit of President Michael Higgins and the comments of Ambassador Dan Mulhall are indicative of a
new and closer relationship between Britain and Ireland.
There has long been a link between the two countries
though emigration and shared elements of culture and
sport, but nevertheless it was a shock to the system for many of us
to have seen Irish flags mingling with Union Jacks on the news
footage and press images of the visit.
Regardless of how unaccustomed we are to the sights and sounds that
characterised the visit, with the queen and the Irish President appearing
like old chums, the developing relationship still offers an opportunity
for the Irish community in Britain and particularly in Scotland.
We must make sure that the Irish are strong and equal partners in
any such link, rather than a sidekick just along for the ride with
Britain. High profile exchanges, such as the visit by President
Higgins or the queen’s previous arrival in Ireland, do an important
job in securing the position of Ireland and of Irish people and their
descendents in Britain, but it is the cultural expression of Irishness
in Scotland—the music, the dance, the sport and the language—
which give the community, here, the confidence and security to
hold its place in a multicultural Scotland.
T
he results of the survey into sectarianism in Scotland by the
Conforti institute make for sobering reading. Though the survey focussed on the Catholic community in Scotland, it nevertheless holds significance for the Irish community here. There is
a huge crossover between the two demographics and anti-Catholic
attitudes go hand-in-hand with anti-Irish racism, to such an extent
that it is often impossible to tell which is which.
The survey showed that there still remains a reluctance to discuss
the issue of discrimination and intolerance in Scotland, for the
unfortunate reason that many respondents feel that to discuss such
issues is to invite others to attack and demean their very identity.
Among the issues raised was an attitude of fear and intimidation
from the presence of Orange parades and marches on Scotland’s
streets. As the summer approaches they are sure to be a hot topic once
again. The sheer number of them, added to their very public presence—often to the frustration of a general public who want to go about
their business without the disruption they cause—means that they are
never far away in the summer months. With global attention set to
focus on Glasgow and Scotland with the Commonwealth Games in a
few short months it will be a sorry sight for Glasgow when the traditional bedraggled processions wind their way through the city’s streets.
We hope that the Irish community in Glasgow will help to show
that the city can be a bright, open and happily multicultural place.
T
he new deal struck by the GAA with Sky means that Gaelic
games will now be broadcast in Britain as a matter of course.
That is good news for Gaelic football and hurling fans living
here, but better news for them is the confirmation by the GAA that
they have not been forgotten.
The association made great capital out of their loyalty to the Irish
diaspora as they answered questions about their decision to sign the
deal with Sky. They referenced not only the watching public, but
the many people outside of Ireland who work hard in their clubs to
advance Gaelic games and Irish sporting culture.
With youth clubs thriving across Scotland and the Gaelic football
season now underway in earnest for both men’s and women’s
teams, there is no better time to get involved in the sport.
From Aberdeen and Edinburgh to Coatbridge and Glasgow there
is an opportunity all over Scotland to get involved in Gaelic games.
With championship matches on our screens this summer, many more
will be exposed to Gaelic games as spectators. We hope that this
will also result in a rise in participation with Scotland’s club sides.
Contact one of our team with
your news stories/features
DAN McGINTY
[email protected]
GERARD GOUGH
[email protected]
MARY McGINTY
[email protected]
For general enquiries, letters to
The Irish Voice, subscriptions or to
advertise with us
E-mail: [email protected]
Call: 0141 249 0121
Write to: The Irish Voice, Arcadia Business Centre,
Miller Lane, Clydebank, Scotland, G81 1UJ
Be your own boss and take time off
B
At home with
Kate Kerrigan
EING your own boss. It’s what
self-employed people say to
other employed people to justify the stress and heartache of
running your own business. ‘I
may have a mortgage the size of a small
South American country, and work 18 hours
a day but... hey... I’m my own boss!’
Well I am my own boss and I am thinking
of firing myself. I had my hair cut yesterday. Nothing dramatic, just a fringe. What I
would like to spend my five allocated writing hours doing today is contemplating and
critiquing my ‘new look.’
Swivelling around in my office chair really quickly to catch myself in the mirror
behind me. How does my fringe look when
I am smiling? Frowning? Does it make the
bits at the side look shorter, longer? These...
these are the important questions on my
mind today, not: “Shall I remove this storyline altogether from chapter eight and what
will it mean for my protagonist if I do?” Or,
indeed, what can I interest the good readers
of the newspaper in my column in?
My boss is shouting at me: “No! You cannot waste a good day’s work looking at your
fringe,” but frankly, I can just put two fingers up to her. “Naff-off... what are you
going to do about it you uptight old cow?”
“Well, if you carry on like this our company
will fall on its face, you’ll never get the
book finished, your agent will dump you,
the readers will write in and complain that
you’re wasting precious column inches talking about your fringe... you’ll starve,” she’ll
say. “Get on with your work!”
T
he problem with being your own boss
is you can get away with nothing.
When you have a boss who is not
yourself, they are—usually—restricted by
the boundaries of normal human behaviour.
They cannot perpetually tell you that you are
crap and your children will starve if you
don’t work harder because... well then they
would be put in prison. Also, occasionally
they will leave the room and you will be able
to recreationally apply lip gloss, or study
your new fringe, or check out the New York
shop Anthropologie website which is now
mail-ordering from Ireland—it’s true!—
without them being any the wiser.
Bad bosses are frustrating and stressful,
but in my experience however bad other
people are to you, one is usually far harder
on oneself. My boss (me) is perpetually
issuing me with warnings of unemployment
and imminent destitution. So that when I do
fritter away precious work time dawdling
and doodling I eventually become catatonic
with guilt, self-flagellating and worrying
until I am so thoroughly bored with myself
that I leave myself no choice but to actually
sit down and write something.
I’m not unusual. That’s how most books
get written... I am told. Some ponderous
bores spend hours gazing at a sentence and
pretend to be actually thinking when, in
fact, they are just being ponderous bores. I
am incapable of pondering. I fiddle, make
corsages out of bits of paperclips and string
... but it amounts to the same thing. A couple of years later I have a book that somebody paid me to deliver a year earlier.
The truth is, we all need time to sit and gaze
(above), and we’ve lost our natural lying-fallow time to the frantic ‘work ethic’ of our age.
I spend time looking at my fringe because my
body and my brain need me to do that sometimes. I just can’t give myself permission to do
it. Think I’ll go and ask my boss for a day off.
I Kate Kerrigan was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife
of Irish parents and moved to her native
Ireland after a successful career as a
magazine editor in London. Kate’s novels
about the Irish emigration experience
have made her a New York Times bestseller and in her column for The Irish Voice
life she muses on life back ‘home’ in Killala,
County Mayo, where she lives with her
husband and two young sons
Everyday life can often be a tricky balancing act
At the moment, I feel like
there is no balance whatsoever. I
get home at night and before I
know it, it’s bed time and I’m
too tired to even speak to my
husband. I really need to get out
of this rut. Please help.
Glasgow wife in need of
help
Kathleen
McCarthy
Voice of Reason
DEAR Kathleen, I am feeling
really stressed and I can’t see a
way out this.
I work full-time and have two
small children. I have a loving
husband and good life outside of
work but recently have allowed
work and everyday chores to
take over and I am struggling to
get back in control of getting
that work-life balance.
HELLO Glasgow wife, thank
you for your letter and congratulations on being the first to
write in to the Voice of Reason.
Reading your letter, I was
not in the slightest way surprised to hear of your worries.
It’s a very common issue
amongst lots of couples and it’s
about how you work together
to overcome this.
Many couples find themselves constantly torn between
the pressures of employment
and personal life. We need to
earn a living, but we also want
quality time for our partners,
our family, our friends and for
ourselves. It can often feel as
though there just aren’t enough
hours in the day or days in the
week. And while we rush
around trying to fit more and
more activities into less and
less time, it is often our relationships that suffer
When we first fall in love we
spend as much time as possible
being together. In those early
days we are desperate to get to
know each other better. To share
the detail of our daily lives, our
thoughts and our feelings. And
it’s through this process that we
get closer and feel connected.
Time together is to a relationship is what water is to a plant.
It’s how a relationship is nurtured and cared for. It’s the stuff
that makes it stronger and helps
it to grow. To stay connected as
a couple, you need to feed your
relationship with time. Time to
share your hopes and dreams as
well as your fears and failings.
And time to have fun.
If it’s simply not possible to fit
everything into one week, con-
sider expanding your timetable.
Rather than stressing and ultimately failing to manage that
romantic evening every week or
that long country walk, consider
scheduling on a fortnightly or
even monthly basis. It may not
be ideal, but it may be more
realistic and less likely to fail.
Remember that when you’re
very busy, it’s better to let
your standards slip than your
relationship. Any meal tastes
better when it’s eaten together
and you can’t see the clutter by
candlelight!
Lots of people feel it’s far
too formal to schedule time
together as a couple. But sometimes making an appointment
to see each other is the only
way to make it happen. The
method may not be romantic,
but the outcome could be. Date
nights are important to keep the
romance alive and to help both
of you in making the effort for
one another.
Thanks, Kathleen
APRIL 2014
THE IRISH VOICE
1916 SOCIETIES
7
Members of the Sean Heuston 1916
Society in Dublin proudly display
their banners (right) while the
James Connolly Society in
Edinburgh do likewise (below)
during a march for Scottish
independence in the capital city.
The Scottish branch of the 1916
Societies, recently held its national
conference at which chair Barry
Monteith spoke (below right)
Shining a spotlight on Republicanism
T
PATRICK DONOHOE, of the 1916 Societies, speaks of working towards a United Ireland on both sides of the Irish Sea
HE 1916 Societies were founded a
mere four years ago in East Tyrone
and have grown at a rate that has even
surprised our founding members. The
societies’ primary goals were to commemorate Ireland’s patriot dead removing political agendas or party political affiliation. Our
commemorations involve the families as much as
possible and respect their wishes at all times. We
also engage in research and education to broaden
the knowledge of our Republican past through
commemorations, lectures, debates, murals, festivals and other activities and to work for the promotion of Irish sport, language and culture.
Central to all our work as Republicans is to promote the ideals of a free and United Ireland as set
out in the 1916 Proclamation, one of the most progressive documents produced, along with the
Fenian Proclamation of 1867. When what is commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement was
signed, it was heralded as the solving of the constitutional issue with the six north eastern counties of Ireland. It was proclaimed that the
democratic will of the people had been granted
and when a majority wished, then, and only then,
could a United Ireland come into being. That
would seem a fair resolution but what it failed to
mention was that this was for the six counties
only. Twenty-six counties would get no say. As
someone born is Dublin this is a denial to people
like myself having a say in my own country’s
future. It is not democratic and doesn't right the
wrongs of a gerrymandered state founded against
the wishes of those that lived there.
The 1916 Societies are campaigning for an all
Ireland referendum—One Ireland, One Vote. As
well as being the fastest growing political movement in Ireland, we now have societies established in Australia, the United States and also in
Scotland. The 1916 Societies believe the diaspora
have a crucial role in building a Republican alternative based on politics. Only by building political strength can Republicans overcome the
democratic deficit which exists through the
British State’s denial of the Irish people our right
to national self-determination.
The solution to this constitutional crisis is
democracy. The Irish people, north and south, east
and west, across the island must be allowed to
determine their own constitutional future without
outside interference or impediment. Of course
much of this will be familiar to a Scottish audience as you have your own constitutional referendum in 2014. The 1916 Societies views the future
of the UK state to be of crucial importance to the
people of Ireland. Unlike nationalist parties in
Ireland, the 1916 Societies have made it clear we
will not be spectators and, as Republicans, intend
to play a full and active part in debates around the
constitutional future of the UK state. We have
noted, with interest, that all political parties in
Scotland, whether they support a Yes or No vote,
support the holding of a constitutional referendum. All the parties agree the constitutional future
of Scotland is a matter for the people of Scotland.
The 1916 Societies recently wrote to every MSP
asking them to accept the same principle for the
people of Ireland. In essence that is our position:
the people of Ireland have the same right, to determine our own constitutional future, as the people
of Scotland or any other nation.
The 1916 Societies are not a political party. We
do not stand candidates in elections and do not
just appear at election time. The 1916 Societies
are a grassroots, bottom up movement. We are
organised on a democratic basis with a horizontal
leadership. The politics of partition have failed
the people of Ireland. Whether we consider the
gombeen political culture in the Free State or the
sectarian and discriminatory politics of the occu-
pied six counties, this failure is plain to see.
The people of Ireland are crying out for change
and despite decades of struggle the nation remains
divided by an artificial border. All the votes for
various political parties have not changed that.
And all the sacrifice of the last 40 years of struggle has not changed it either. The 1916 Societies
are committed to working, with others, to develop
new strategies to advance Republicanism in the
21st century. Republicanism, going forward, must
be thoroughly democratic and we must link the
national struggle to people’s everyday lives.
F
or the Irish community in Scotland, the 1916
Societies is an exciting political alternative.
Committed to challenging anti-Irish racism
in Scotland, the societies are choosing a new and
distinct path to advance Republicanism. Our strategy is not based on bands or marches, rather we
are focusing on political activism and education.
The 1916 Societies in Scotland have—in the last
six months—held commemorations, book launches, educational tours, a wreath laying ceremony,
sponsored cycle, exhibitions, social events and
recently a national conference.
As well as all that, the 1916 Societies in Scotland
are a campaigning organisation. We recently
launched a campaign against political policing in
Scotland. The Irish community in Scotland faces
sustained and systematic harassment and intimidation and the hand of the police. Following the introduction of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and
Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012,
this sort of political policing has increased at football matches. We have also seen our community
continually targeted at airports and ferry ports
while travelling to and from Ireland.
All of this is unacceptable and it is wrong. We
continue to campaign for a repeal of the act and
have recently appointed a working group to com-
pile a dossier on political policing in Scotland.
All political activity in Scotland at this time
must be viewed through the prism of the referendum campaign. At a national level, the 1916
Societies continue to make the connection
between Scotland’s constitutional referendum and
our campaign for an all Ireland constitutional referendum. At a local level many of our members
are involved in campaigning for a Yes vote as a
means of breaking UK state power. Given the
SNP’s support for the monarchy, this campaigning work is being done in conjunction with the
group Republicans for Independence. The 1916
Societies have no truck with royalty and we won’t
be going to dinner with them either!
We are currently recruiting members throughout Scotland who have been crying out for a
non-party political, campaigning Republican
organisation. Our affiliated group in Scotland, the
James Connolly Society, are currently working
with Republicans throughout the country to
develop new societies. While there are already too
many Republican groups in Scotland, it is important to make the point that the 1916 Societies offer
Republicans a real alternative and a new way of
doing politics.
There has never been a better time to get
involved in Republicanism. Our task is to move
Republicanism from the periphery to the very
centre of political life in Scotland. To do that we
need your help.
Patrick Donohoe is a member of the Seán
Heuston 1916 Society in Dublin and lived in
Glasgow for many years. For more information
on the 1916 Socities in Scotland contact:
1916scotland @gmail.com
The views expressed in this feature article
are not necessarily those of The Irish Voice
THE VAGABOND STILL ENJOYING THE JOURNEY
8
EDDI READER
T
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
APRIL 2014
THE IRISH VOICE
EDDI READER
9
GERARD GOUGH speaks with celebrated Celtic singer and musician Eddi Reader about her musical career, Scotland’s political future and a relative who played a key role in the fight for Irish independence
HE BEST artists are those who are never at a
loss for words. Indeed loquaciousness from a
singer-songwriter is almost a pre-requisite and
it’s a trait that is happily evident in Celtic
songstress Eddi Reader’s personality. However,
few may be aware that that characteristic is something that
the musician shares with an Irishwoman who inspired one
of the new songs on her latest album Vagabond.
Eddi has recently returned from a tour of Ireland, where
she got to reconnect with some of her favourite places on
the island, take her new album to an enthusiastic and audience and celebrate her familial connection with Kerry.
“It was great, she said. “I always have a great time in
Ireland. The people are very musically appreciative. I find
it an incredibly musical place to gig. The Celtic audience is
a fine audience.
“I had a great gig in Dublin. Dublin will always have
something special about it, but I love Tralee because that’s
where part of my family comes from. My mum’s mum, my
granny, Madge Nammock is from Tralee.
“My granny’s stories used to fill my head about travelling
and going to Ireland and she told me about her travelling at
the age of 19 to Glasgow, which was a massive deal for
someone from the west of Ireland in 1919 to do that as a
young girl. The Vagabond theme is all about that and I use
one of her tapes because I used to tape her stories. She told
me one about Tralee and the greyhound track and I turned
that into the song Back the Dogs. I use a recording of her
voice for that.
“There are still a few Nammocks in Tralee and there are
a few descendents dotted about on Facebook that I’m meeting. I never found much out about the past from my granny
beyond her, because she just told me stories about her life.
It would be good to know where that name came from.”
Eddi’s Irish links though, are not simply ancestral. She
grew up with a love of Irish music and musicians thanks to
an early appreciation and immersion in traditional music—
which encompassed Scottish, Irish and English songs and
singers—thanks, in part, to a friend whom she met during
her time spent in Irvine.
“There was a girl called Eleanor Shaw, who lived locally
and played a bouzouki and a fiddle and she knew lots of traditional Scottish songs,” Eddi said. “She introduced me to
the Irvine Folk Club, she didn’t go to our school—
Greenwood Academy—but she was part of a group of girls
of that age, so I’d meet her and she taught me some Scottish
and traditional songs. It became a thing to do in my peer
group, hang out with this alternative bunch of girls and boys
who liked folk music and I never experienced anything like
it before. In 1978/79 there was a bunch of us who would
travel to the Inverness Folk Festival and see people like
Christy Moore and Archie Fisher. We’d go to all the parties
with people like Danny Kyle. So they influenced me and I
started to enjoy music that had more of a socialist flavour to
it. The folk scene held my hand, from playing acoustic
music all the way through the next 10 years, leading up to
the number one record.
“I used to have the Paul Brady/Andy Irvine album from
the 1970s, which was produced by Donal Lunny. I played it
non-stop. Those three guys became massive heroes to me. I
loved the way they sung, the mixture of north and south. I
loved Andy Irvine’s voice, which was a very gentle, southern voice and Paul Brady’s voice, which was a much more
aggressive voice. I think we have that mix in Glasgow too.”
Eddi’s love of traditional music is something that she was
able to showcase more fully in her 2003 album Eddi Reader
Sings the Songs of Robert Burns. It led to many in the music
media referring to her as a ‘Celtic artist.’ Although many
musicians take umbrage at pigeonholed descriptions, this is
one that Eddi feels comfortable with.
“I gave up years ago trying to talk to people about
music,” she opined. “It is what it is. People often get an
impression of you and that’s it, it sticks until they change
their mind. Music’s different for me because I’m very open.
I’m not a geek about music. I just play it and use it. I don’t
really collect it or investigate it. I think if someone
describes me as Celtic, I just think well that’s one of the
things I probably am.”
Y
et, it would be an act of folly to view Eddi’s musical
career through one particular scope. The three-time
Brit Award winner’s colourful background included
periods busking in Glasgow, London and various cities in
Europe and working with some of the biggest names in
music in the 1980s such as pop-rockers Eurythmics and
Alison Moyet, folk royalty The Waterboys and punk
favourites Gang of Four.
“I felt pretty nervous in their company, because they all
seemed like stars and I just felt like the hired help,” she said.
“I never felt totally at ease in that role because I’m a working class girl and I have that in my DNA. I’m not anyone
who understood that I was equal from birth. I had an innate
sense of inequality in my background. I did, though, take a
sense of pride with me of being Scottish and that gave me
confidence in working with The Waterboys and Annie
Lennox as they were Scottish people, so that felt easier.”
While working with such artists was a little daunting, it
was also enjoyable and it stood Eddi in good stead for the
success that she was soon to encounter with her own band
Fairground Attraction, who scored a hit with number one
single Perfect in 1988. Indeed the singer sees it as part of
the journey that she has undertaken throughout her career,
right up to the release of Vagabond.
“With the new album Vagabond, I get a real sense that
every stage has been a journey to this moment,” she said.
“Just before Perfect, I had got to a point where I was getting
called to sing on other people’s records and jingles so I
seemed to be someone who was quite successful amongst my
peers, in using my vocal ability as an applied working instrument. I was making a living, signing off the dole, staying in
very plush hotels with the likes of Eurythmics. I wasn’t feeling like I was in a place where I was lacking anything, it wasn’t like I’d gone from the dole and being a nobody busking
to being number one. There was a gradual incline from the
age of 18 to 28. In the 1980s I worked London really well.
There were times I was walking the streets with my demo
taking it to record companies, but all of the work that I’d
done, from not understanding the game to understanding it,
became the culmination of the number one, so that when we
got it, I thought ‘good everybody gets it.’”
Although success with the band was relatively fleeting,
spawning only one album—The First of a Million Kisses—
and a later compilation of B-sides—Ay Fond Kiss—Eddi
began to carve out a new career as a solo artist after the
band split towards the end of 1989. That too brought with it
some highs and lows.
“Mirmama was my first solo album and it was a very
low-key one because it was the first one I was able to do
with total autonomy over what the material was,” she
explained. “That remains my favourite ever record. I then
made the Eddi Reader album, which I wasn’t happy with at
all. It was a far more production led, record company led,
corporate album, which is something I rejected. Yet it was
the one that got all the publicity, which is kind of upsetting
for me because when you go into a music store and see one
of my albums, it’s often that one as opposed to Mirmama,
Angels and Electricity or Candyfloss and Medicine.”
In spite of that particular artistic disappointment however, Eddi is in a far happier place in terms of her music and
although she admits to being a perfectionist, she is learning
to be comfortable with a less precise style.
“Some of the songs on the current album were completed, but then I’d go back and say that I only liked the intro
on one, so let’s loop the intro and turn that into the song,”
she said. “A lot of that went on but as the summer of 2013
passed I knew that had a deadline that I had to honour. If I
hadn’t, I’d still be working on it now.
“But I’m getting less precise as I get older. I’m finally
getting that rough and ready voice I always longed for when
I was an angelic voiced young thing. I have these rough
edges and it suits a more contemplative style of singing and
a more improvisational style of singing. I believe in
improvisation anyway, but I used to abandon a sense of
sloppiness and roughness in favour of precision in sense of
harmonics. I have a great longing for a time when I could
scale four octaves without worry, but nowadays I have to
measure it a little bit and I think that’s ok. I used to worry
about it, but now I fly in different ways and have a different
way of enjoying it.”
It’s not only her singing style that has changed down
throughout the years however, as the singer admits that naturally, the themes of the albums have too, with Vagabond having a far more reminiscent quality to it than her previous work.
“Every album is different,” Eddi said. “In terms of themes
it’s always different and this one, Vagabond, was much less
about love that the albums used to be. You can map the
human heart so that if you listen to albums you made at different stages in your life, it’s all in there. Vagabond has a
more reminiscent quality about it, something that I seem to
be doing more often now—chasing a sense of history about
myself and asking who am I? Why did I do the things I did?
When I look at songs like Midnight In Paris—which is a
story of me at 19 years old—I think ‘wow’ that was brave I
don’t know if I would do that today. But look at the wonderful memories it gave me and now I want to share the
memories because I didn’t think they were important before,
but now I see that they are, they’re important to other 18 and
19 year olds. A sense of adventure is great.”
That sense of adventure will see Eddi touring the UK this
month and next, before heading to Australia in June and
then returning to British shores for festival dates in July and
touring is something that she feels gives an added vibrancy
to her music.
“The actual physicality of seeing other places and being
in front of audiences, I get such reward from that,” she said.
“I get to sing and use all the physical mechanisms of my
body properly. I get to use my breathing apparatus properly. I get to be inventive in my head in the moment properly.
I get to live in moment properly. I don’t have to worry about
the gas, the electricity and the tax. I become more alive just
Eddi performs onstage with
her husband John Douglas, in
Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall
as part of the 2014 Celtic
Connections Festival
PIC: GERARD GOUGH
A
by touring. I don’t know how long it will last. While I’m
doing it I’m enjoying it, I really am, it’s great.”
s those who follow Eddi on social media will know
though, the singer’s passion doesn’t not simply start
and end with music. She has been a vocal supporter
of Scottish independence ahead of the upcoming referendum on the Scotland’s future, but she is dismayed that the
facts of the situation concerning that future have not been
more readily accessible.
“I had to go and find out the facts and when I did, I
realised that it doesn’t suit me that I don’t have a vote that
changes my government,” she said. “When I lived in
England for 28 years I had one. I want a vote that means
something. What leans me towards a yes vote is that I will
have a vote that is 100 per cent powerful. Whether or not
my country votes for Tories, Liberal Democrats or my
granny’s bingo party, I don’t care, I just want to be part of a
democratic process that values my vote 100 per cent, not
just for 59 seats going to Westminster.”
That support for a yes vote however, has led to abuse and
derision of the singer from some quarters, most notably
from former presiding officer Lord Steele, who in support
of a motion by Lord Lang of Monkton, on the implications
of independence for Scotland, snidely accused Eddi of
‘murdering’ Robert Burns songs.
“When I heard about it I felt a mixture of excitement and
worry for him,” Eddi said. “It doesn’t feel good to bring
anyone down. It doesn’t feel good for the person doing it or
the person receiving it. The person doing it might get a little tingle in their belly for five minutes, but there’s a sense
of darkness about that. I would never wish anyone to live in
the mind of anyone who is critical about everybody and
everything. I’m not insecure enough to worry about
whether one guy doesn’t like my singing or not, I’m not
bothered about that at all. What does bother me about the
Lord Steele thing is that the minutes of that meeting will be
recorded for centuries, for my descendents to read and I
have no right of reply. I did ask for an apology for that very
reason. I said ‘you can think what you like about my
attempts at my art, but what I do object to is that you said
that about my work in a forum where I have no right of
reply. I would like you to apologise in the same forum about
doing that.’ He wrote back and just said ‘where’s your sense
of humour.’ I didn’t get an apology. Like I’m fodder for his
jokes in an establishment that is supposed to be guiding us.”
The singer has also had to contend with a national newspaper printing a story about her great uncle Seamus
Reader—who was both an Irish Republican and a Scottish
Nationalist, not to mention a skilled piper—which the
singer feels was a very glib report, that was ‘slack with the
truth’ and contained a misleading headline. Eddi is currently working on a book based in large part on her uncle’s fascinating memoirs.
“I did no interview with The Scotsman,” she said. “There
is a book I am writing which will be out. The Scotsman did
a hatchet job on me, and in regards to my ancestor, they were
very slack with the truth. It’s a rather large tale, which needs
more than glib reporting. The living history in it is fascinating and I am preparing it to be shared, independence or not!
“I knew that he [Seamus] had some kind of association
with the Irish independence movement in 1915. I knew that
because during the 1960s, the adults would laugh and joke
about my grandad’s brother and they would say things like
‘sssh they’re still looking for him, don’t talk about your
grandad’s brother.’ It was a bit of a piss take and I didn’t
really think anything else of it as a 7 or 8 year old.
“At first he was a Baden Powell scout and then he joined the
Irish Fianna Scouts because they did sword fighting when he
was 10 or 11. So him and many of his pals from Dumbarton Rd
and Anderston and Garngad and the Gallowgate and Coatbridge
joined the Fianna just because they learned sword fighting.
“Because they joined the Fianna, they became message
boys for the meetings between John McLean, Arthur
Griffiths and the like, who came over and had meetings in
Partick Burgh Halls.”
Seamus soon progressed to becoming an organiser of
Fianna Éireann and the commanding officer of the Scottish
Brigade of the Irish Republican Brotherhood with a responsibility for procuring arms, but he became disillusioned
when the civil war broke out.
“By the time he was 18, he had been in jail, during the
Easter Rising,” Eddi explained. “By the time he was 19,
there was the Black and Tan War, so he helped during that
along with thousands of others from Glasgow. At that stage
you knew who your friends were. When the civil war broke
out and you effectively had two armies, he didn’t want any
part of that. He detested the fact that brother would be fighting against brother. In one of his stories though, he mentions having a pass to visit Michael Collins and Griffiths
who were shooting at Sean Nelson in the Four Courts and
another pass to see Sean Nelson, but the civil war saw him
returning to Scotland until he was asked to go back.”
And such was the regard that Seamus was held in, In
Ireland, he was asked to go back, but many years later in
1938, to become a verification officer in Dáil Éireann. This
job principally involved helping families who had lost their
sons from 1921 get some closure with regards to their fate.
“He was offered a job at the Dail trying to be a verification officer from 1938 all the way through to after his retirement as a consultant on Scottish affairs,” Eddi explained.
“Throughout the 1950s he collected letters from people
looking for their sons, who had lost their sons from 1921
onwards and didn’t know what had happened to them. At
the bottom of some of the letters he would have to write
‘killed by the free staters in Cork’ and the date and then in
the others he would have to write ‘killed by the IRA.’ I’m
very proud of him for taking on that role.”
No doubt Seamus would be very proud of his grand
niece’s shared musical talents and desire that small nations
might be free too.
I Eddi’s new album Vagabond is available from all good
music retailers both in the high street and online. Visit
her website: www.eddireader.co.uk
THE VAGABOND STILL ENJOYING THE JOURNEY
8
EDDI READER
T
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
APRIL 2014
THE IRISH VOICE
EDDI READER
9
GERARD GOUGH speaks with celebrated Celtic singer and musician Eddi Reader about her musical career, Scotland’s political future and a relative who played a key role in the fight for Irish independence
HE BEST artists are those who are never at a
loss for words. Indeed loquaciousness from a
singer-songwriter is almost a pre-requisite and
it’s a trait that is happily evident in Celtic
songstress Eddi Reader’s personality. However,
few may be aware that that characteristic is something that
the musician shares with an Irishwoman who inspired one
of the new songs on her latest album Vagabond.
Eddi has recently returned from a tour of Ireland, where
she got to reconnect with some of her favourite places on
the island, take her new album to an enthusiastic and audience and celebrate her familial connection with Kerry.
“It was great, she said. “I always have a great time in
Ireland. The people are very musically appreciative. I find
it an incredibly musical place to gig. The Celtic audience is
a fine audience.
“I had a great gig in Dublin. Dublin will always have
something special about it, but I love Tralee because that’s
where part of my family comes from. My mum’s mum, my
granny, Madge Nammock is from Tralee.
“My granny’s stories used to fill my head about travelling
and going to Ireland and she told me about her travelling at
the age of 19 to Glasgow, which was a massive deal for
someone from the west of Ireland in 1919 to do that as a
young girl. The Vagabond theme is all about that and I use
one of her tapes because I used to tape her stories. She told
me one about Tralee and the greyhound track and I turned
that into the song Back the Dogs. I use a recording of her
voice for that.
“There are still a few Nammocks in Tralee and there are
a few descendents dotted about on Facebook that I’m meeting. I never found much out about the past from my granny
beyond her, because she just told me stories about her life.
It would be good to know where that name came from.”
Eddi’s Irish links though, are not simply ancestral. She
grew up with a love of Irish music and musicians thanks to
an early appreciation and immersion in traditional music—
which encompassed Scottish, Irish and English songs and
singers—thanks, in part, to a friend whom she met during
her time spent in Irvine.
“There was a girl called Eleanor Shaw, who lived locally
and played a bouzouki and a fiddle and she knew lots of traditional Scottish songs,” Eddi said. “She introduced me to
the Irvine Folk Club, she didn’t go to our school—
Greenwood Academy—but she was part of a group of girls
of that age, so I’d meet her and she taught me some Scottish
and traditional songs. It became a thing to do in my peer
group, hang out with this alternative bunch of girls and boys
who liked folk music and I never experienced anything like
it before. In 1978/79 there was a bunch of us who would
travel to the Inverness Folk Festival and see people like
Christy Moore and Archie Fisher. We’d go to all the parties
with people like Danny Kyle. So they influenced me and I
started to enjoy music that had more of a socialist flavour to
it. The folk scene held my hand, from playing acoustic
music all the way through the next 10 years, leading up to
the number one record.
“I used to have the Paul Brady/Andy Irvine album from
the 1970s, which was produced by Donal Lunny. I played it
non-stop. Those three guys became massive heroes to me. I
loved the way they sung, the mixture of north and south. I
loved Andy Irvine’s voice, which was a very gentle, southern voice and Paul Brady’s voice, which was a much more
aggressive voice. I think we have that mix in Glasgow too.”
Eddi’s love of traditional music is something that she was
able to showcase more fully in her 2003 album Eddi Reader
Sings the Songs of Robert Burns. It led to many in the music
media referring to her as a ‘Celtic artist.’ Although many
musicians take umbrage at pigeonholed descriptions, this is
one that Eddi feels comfortable with.
“I gave up years ago trying to talk to people about
music,” she opined. “It is what it is. People often get an
impression of you and that’s it, it sticks until they change
their mind. Music’s different for me because I’m very open.
I’m not a geek about music. I just play it and use it. I don’t
really collect it or investigate it. I think if someone
describes me as Celtic, I just think well that’s one of the
things I probably am.”
Y
et, it would be an act of folly to view Eddi’s musical
career through one particular scope. The three-time
Brit Award winner’s colourful background included
periods busking in Glasgow, London and various cities in
Europe and working with some of the biggest names in
music in the 1980s such as pop-rockers Eurythmics and
Alison Moyet, folk royalty The Waterboys and punk
favourites Gang of Four.
“I felt pretty nervous in their company, because they all
seemed like stars and I just felt like the hired help,” she said.
“I never felt totally at ease in that role because I’m a working class girl and I have that in my DNA. I’m not anyone
who understood that I was equal from birth. I had an innate
sense of inequality in my background. I did, though, take a
sense of pride with me of being Scottish and that gave me
confidence in working with The Waterboys and Annie
Lennox as they were Scottish people, so that felt easier.”
While working with such artists was a little daunting, it
was also enjoyable and it stood Eddi in good stead for the
success that she was soon to encounter with her own band
Fairground Attraction, who scored a hit with number one
single Perfect in 1988. Indeed the singer sees it as part of
the journey that she has undertaken throughout her career,
right up to the release of Vagabond.
“With the new album Vagabond, I get a real sense that
every stage has been a journey to this moment,” she said.
“Just before Perfect, I had got to a point where I was getting
called to sing on other people’s records and jingles so I
seemed to be someone who was quite successful amongst my
peers, in using my vocal ability as an applied working instrument. I was making a living, signing off the dole, staying in
very plush hotels with the likes of Eurythmics. I wasn’t feeling like I was in a place where I was lacking anything, it wasn’t like I’d gone from the dole and being a nobody busking
to being number one. There was a gradual incline from the
age of 18 to 28. In the 1980s I worked London really well.
There were times I was walking the streets with my demo
taking it to record companies, but all of the work that I’d
done, from not understanding the game to understanding it,
became the culmination of the number one, so that when we
got it, I thought ‘good everybody gets it.’”
Although success with the band was relatively fleeting,
spawning only one album—The First of a Million Kisses—
and a later compilation of B-sides—Ay Fond Kiss—Eddi
began to carve out a new career as a solo artist after the
band split towards the end of 1989. That too brought with it
some highs and lows.
“Mirmama was my first solo album and it was a very
low-key one because it was the first one I was able to do
with total autonomy over what the material was,” she
explained. “That remains my favourite ever record. I then
made the Eddi Reader album, which I wasn’t happy with at
all. It was a far more production led, record company led,
corporate album, which is something I rejected. Yet it was
the one that got all the publicity, which is kind of upsetting
for me because when you go into a music store and see one
of my albums, it’s often that one as opposed to Mirmama,
Angels and Electricity or Candyfloss and Medicine.”
In spite of that particular artistic disappointment however, Eddi is in a far happier place in terms of her music and
although she admits to being a perfectionist, she is learning
to be comfortable with a less precise style.
“Some of the songs on the current album were completed, but then I’d go back and say that I only liked the intro
on one, so let’s loop the intro and turn that into the song,”
she said. “A lot of that went on but as the summer of 2013
passed I knew that had a deadline that I had to honour. If I
hadn’t, I’d still be working on it now.
“But I’m getting less precise as I get older. I’m finally
getting that rough and ready voice I always longed for when
I was an angelic voiced young thing. I have these rough
edges and it suits a more contemplative style of singing and
a more improvisational style of singing. I believe in
improvisation anyway, but I used to abandon a sense of
sloppiness and roughness in favour of precision in sense of
harmonics. I have a great longing for a time when I could
scale four octaves without worry, but nowadays I have to
measure it a little bit and I think that’s ok. I used to worry
about it, but now I fly in different ways and have a different
way of enjoying it.”
It’s not only her singing style that has changed down
throughout the years however, as the singer admits that naturally, the themes of the albums have too, with Vagabond having a far more reminiscent quality to it than her previous work.
“Every album is different,” Eddi said. “In terms of themes
it’s always different and this one, Vagabond, was much less
about love that the albums used to be. You can map the
human heart so that if you listen to albums you made at different stages in your life, it’s all in there. Vagabond has a
more reminiscent quality about it, something that I seem to
be doing more often now—chasing a sense of history about
myself and asking who am I? Why did I do the things I did?
When I look at songs like Midnight In Paris—which is a
story of me at 19 years old—I think ‘wow’ that was brave I
don’t know if I would do that today. But look at the wonderful memories it gave me and now I want to share the
memories because I didn’t think they were important before,
but now I see that they are, they’re important to other 18 and
19 year olds. A sense of adventure is great.”
That sense of adventure will see Eddi touring the UK this
month and next, before heading to Australia in June and
then returning to British shores for festival dates in July and
touring is something that she feels gives an added vibrancy
to her music.
“The actual physicality of seeing other places and being
in front of audiences, I get such reward from that,” she said.
“I get to sing and use all the physical mechanisms of my
body properly. I get to use my breathing apparatus properly. I get to be inventive in my head in the moment properly.
I get to live in moment properly. I don’t have to worry about
the gas, the electricity and the tax. I become more alive just
Eddi performs onstage with
her husband John Douglas, in
Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall
as part of the 2014 Celtic
Connections Festival
PIC: GERARD GOUGH
A
by touring. I don’t know how long it will last. While I’m
doing it I’m enjoying it, I really am, it’s great.”
s those who follow Eddi on social media will know
though, the singer’s passion doesn’t not simply start
and end with music. She has been a vocal supporter
of Scottish independence ahead of the upcoming referendum on the Scotland’s future, but she is dismayed that the
facts of the situation concerning that future have not been
more readily accessible.
“I had to go and find out the facts and when I did, I
realised that it doesn’t suit me that I don’t have a vote that
changes my government,” she said. “When I lived in
England for 28 years I had one. I want a vote that means
something. What leans me towards a yes vote is that I will
have a vote that is 100 per cent powerful. Whether or not
my country votes for Tories, Liberal Democrats or my
granny’s bingo party, I don’t care, I just want to be part of a
democratic process that values my vote 100 per cent, not
just for 59 seats going to Westminster.”
That support for a yes vote however, has led to abuse and
derision of the singer from some quarters, most notably
from former presiding officer Lord Steele, who in support
of a motion by Lord Lang of Monkton, on the implications
of independence for Scotland, snidely accused Eddi of
‘murdering’ Robert Burns songs.
“When I heard about it I felt a mixture of excitement and
worry for him,” Eddi said. “It doesn’t feel good to bring
anyone down. It doesn’t feel good for the person doing it or
the person receiving it. The person doing it might get a little tingle in their belly for five minutes, but there’s a sense
of darkness about that. I would never wish anyone to live in
the mind of anyone who is critical about everybody and
everything. I’m not insecure enough to worry about
whether one guy doesn’t like my singing or not, I’m not
bothered about that at all. What does bother me about the
Lord Steele thing is that the minutes of that meeting will be
recorded for centuries, for my descendents to read and I
have no right of reply. I did ask for an apology for that very
reason. I said ‘you can think what you like about my
attempts at my art, but what I do object to is that you said
that about my work in a forum where I have no right of
reply. I would like you to apologise in the same forum about
doing that.’ He wrote back and just said ‘where’s your sense
of humour.’ I didn’t get an apology. Like I’m fodder for his
jokes in an establishment that is supposed to be guiding us.”
The singer has also had to contend with a national newspaper printing a story about her great uncle Seamus
Reader—who was both an Irish Republican and a Scottish
Nationalist, not to mention a skilled piper—which the
singer feels was a very glib report, that was ‘slack with the
truth’ and contained a misleading headline. Eddi is currently working on a book based in large part on her uncle’s fascinating memoirs.
“I did no interview with The Scotsman,” she said. “There
is a book I am writing which will be out. The Scotsman did
a hatchet job on me, and in regards to my ancestor, they were
very slack with the truth. It’s a rather large tale, which needs
more than glib reporting. The living history in it is fascinating and I am preparing it to be shared, independence or not!
“I knew that he [Seamus] had some kind of association
with the Irish independence movement in 1915. I knew that
because during the 1960s, the adults would laugh and joke
about my grandad’s brother and they would say things like
‘sssh they’re still looking for him, don’t talk about your
grandad’s brother.’ It was a bit of a piss take and I didn’t
really think anything else of it as a 7 or 8 year old.
“At first he was a Baden Powell scout and then he joined the
Irish Fianna Scouts because they did sword fighting when he
was 10 or 11. So him and many of his pals from Dumbarton Rd
and Anderston and Garngad and the Gallowgate and Coatbridge
joined the Fianna just because they learned sword fighting.
“Because they joined the Fianna, they became message
boys for the meetings between John McLean, Arthur
Griffiths and the like, who came over and had meetings in
Partick Burgh Halls.”
Seamus soon progressed to becoming an organiser of
Fianna Éireann and the commanding officer of the Scottish
Brigade of the Irish Republican Brotherhood with a responsibility for procuring arms, but he became disillusioned
when the civil war broke out.
“By the time he was 18, he had been in jail, during the
Easter Rising,” Eddi explained. “By the time he was 19,
there was the Black and Tan War, so he helped during that
along with thousands of others from Glasgow. At that stage
you knew who your friends were. When the civil war broke
out and you effectively had two armies, he didn’t want any
part of that. He detested the fact that brother would be fighting against brother. In one of his stories though, he mentions having a pass to visit Michael Collins and Griffiths
who were shooting at Sean Nelson in the Four Courts and
another pass to see Sean Nelson, but the civil war saw him
returning to Scotland until he was asked to go back.”
And such was the regard that Seamus was held in, In
Ireland, he was asked to go back, but many years later in
1938, to become a verification officer in Dáil Éireann. This
job principally involved helping families who had lost their
sons from 1921 get some closure with regards to their fate.
“He was offered a job at the Dail trying to be a verification officer from 1938 all the way through to after his retirement as a consultant on Scottish affairs,” Eddi explained.
“Throughout the 1950s he collected letters from people
looking for their sons, who had lost their sons from 1921
onwards and didn’t know what had happened to them. At
the bottom of some of the letters he would have to write
‘killed by the free staters in Cork’ and the date and then in
the others he would have to write ‘killed by the IRA.’ I’m
very proud of him for taking on that role.”
No doubt Seamus would be very proud of his grand
niece’s shared musical talents and desire that small nations
might be free too.
I Eddi’s new album Vagabond is available from all good
music retailers both in the high street and online. Visit
her website: www.eddireader.co.uk
10
RICHARD PURDEN
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
PIC: GERARD GOUGH
Exploring the true essence of football support
I
MARY McGINTY speaks with author and freelance journalist Richard Purden about his writings on supporting Celtic FC
T’S HARD work but someone has to do it.
Gabbing with fans, players and assorted
interested parties, talking into the wee small
hours about Celtic FC is second only to
donning the hoops in earnest in the dream
job stakes. Writer and freelance journalist,
Richard Purden had just that job when he was
writing We Are Celtic Supporters and Faithful
Through and Through.
Working on the books, Richard delved deep
into the psychology of what it is to be a Celtic
supporter. Drawing from his Irish roots—tales of
which his gran had ‘fed in dribs and drabs’—and
contemplating his choice, as an Edinburgh boy, to
support Celtic rather than Hibs, he sought the
essence of the Celtic fan.
Unusually for a football writer, he showed due
regard to female fans in his exploration of the cultural understanding and expression of all-thingsCeltic. Much of this had its origins in his own
family background and the influence of his gran,
but credit was also due to author Andrew O’Hagan.
“When I interviewed Andrew O’Hagan I was
struck by his insight,” the author said. “It was his
view that the biggest Celtic fans were the grannies
and the mums who didn’t ever go to a game, yet it
was so much part of their culture and their everyday lives. That was always something that had
interested me and when I got into journalism I
wanted to explore it as much as possible so I tried
to interview as many women as I could from that
angle,” explained Richard.
Amongst others he interviewed feisty characters, Eddi Reader and Elaine C Smith, and conveyed the unique perspective and illuminating
example of former Strathclyde Police officer,
Carole McQueen.
A Scotswoman, Irish on one side and Lithuanian
on the other, Carole was an example of ‘Glasgow’s
cultural cross-stew.’ Through her experience with
the intelligence branch and her work on the Mark
Scott case she had a particular understanding. At
home, too, she had been in the thick of it. A season ticket holder of 40 years, now widowed, she
and her die-hard Rangers husband had enjoyed a
special sort of unity which saw them eschewing
their own teams’ away games to attend all each
other’s home games together.
Now living in Boston, Massachusetts she
recalled with humour how her ‘card-carrying
Orange Protestant’ husband sat with her at her
mother’s funeral, smiling at the notion that he
would be the only Orangeman ‘in a chapel on July
12.’ On another occasion the couple attended the
ordination of a priest—a convert whose family
were proudly Orange. Finding himself seated next
to friends and fellow lodge members in a Catholic
church was a revelation to her husband.
Preparing to interview the great Henrik Larsson
there was an undoubted buzz in the air but, in awe
as he was of the player’s talents on the field, it was
the man’s character that most impressed Richard.
“Henrik stayed with Celtic for the jersey,” he
said. “When he came it was a kind of last chance
saloon—he had to make a success of it. He had a
tremendous work rate, he came from a working
class background with hard-working parents and
he underlined the importance of education. He
was cited by parents as an example for that and
for the way he conducted himself as a player.
Celtic fans look for that. When you look at, say,
John Terry, he might get away with his antics at
Chelsea, but I don’t think he would here,” he said.
T
alking to prominent people who had all
done well in their own particular fields he
found that ‘what came across was that
Celtic had played a fundamental part in their past
and the shaping of their values and is probably a
factor in what they have done.’
Yet it was often the stories of fans such as Israeli
farmer Benny Krieger that spoke with the most profound meaning. After the match, sitting in the pub
nursing a pint and sporting a Pogues tattoo he is not
out of place. His journey from his farm must make
him one of the most far-travelled fans. His boyhood
attraction to a team playing in green and white
hoops just like his local team grew in to deep
respect and allegiance to Celtic on grounds of social
justice. For Benny there is a strong resonance with
Hapoel Kfar Saba, ‘the team of workers; they are
socialist and pro-peace with the Palestinians.’
All this gave Richard ample opportunity to contemplate the intensity and fervour of his own
ardent support of the club, its history and culture.
“It must have taken great courage for John
Thompson, a member of a Protestant sect, to play
for Celtic in the 1920s when society would have
been so different,” he said. “So the fact that Celtic
always had that openness and forward thinking
attracted people like John Thompson and Jock
Stein and I find that very attractive.
“That came across when I spoke to fans in the
North of Ireland. It had appealed to them that
Catholics and Protestants could work together to
In the course of writing We Are Celtic Supporters (top
left) and Faithful Through and Through (above right)
Richard Purden has found himself speaking to former
players such as Frank McGarvey (top right) and Pat
Stanton (above left) as well as ordinary fans
make Celtic the best team in Europe. I felt that
there was a very healthy and nourishing support
over there.”
No meaningful examination of the culture of
Celtic would be complete without reference to
Croy. The stories told by the men of Croy Miners’
Welfare Charitable Society, some in their 80s and
90s, going back several generations and the artefacts they showed him such were invaluable material for Richard. Their pride in their most famous
son, Jimmy Quinn—still Celtic’s fifth highest
goal scorer—saw them pay almost £18,000 for
the ball from the 1904 Scottish Cup Final
“Croy set the blueprint for the second book and,
in fact, was the opening chapter,” he recalled.
“They built up their community in trying times
and character mattered most. When they spoke of
a player they talked of what kind of man he was
and his talent as a player was secondary.
“It was always about taking a pride in where
you came from. Boxer Billy Clinton would spar
with the boys in the ring telling them ‘always
remember you’re a Croy boy.’ They were a community with values and value have always been
important to Celtic supporters.”
I We Are Celtic Supporters and Faithful Through
and Through are available in the Celtic shops and
other high street and online retailers
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
TRAVEL
11
A bustling city that’s brimming with life
A
BILL HEANEY reports on his recent visit to Belfast, where he enjoyed his time discovering some of the city’s hidden gems
BOOZER, a bookies and a bingo hall
and the bustle of people on a mission
to spend hard earned cash boosted
the buzz in Belfast on a Thursday
afternoon. It’s what the people like to
do and want and love in the North of Ireland,
especially in the week of Cheltenham Races and
with Paddy’s Day just around the corner.
This was the scene I met around Smithfield
Market and the busy Castle Court shopping centre,
which runs through to Royal Avenue and the
famous City Halls (above left). There are lots of
busy shops and restaurants, fine foods and fast
foods and the style in the clothing shops is cutting
edge. Castle Court is a family friendly mall with
excellent city centre car parking. There are over 80
retail stores including the cafes and coffee shops.
The one shop you mustn’t miss though is
Carrolls Irish Gift shop in Donegal Place. I have
honestly never seen such an Aladdin’s Cave of
souvenirs and gifts. Carrolls are one of the leading
retailers of quality Irish clothing and jewellery.
They stock leading Irish products such as
Guinness, Aran knitwear, Solvar, Trinity,
Mullingar Pewter and many more. Their range of
T-shirts and tweeds, caps and cups and crystal has
to be seen to be believed. It is said that three guys
who sent their wives in to get presents to bring
home with them had to send out a search party to
look for them. Carrolls have been in business for
30 years and are renowned for their customer
service and massive range of top quality products
at the keenest prices.
I
f shopping is not your bag then there are a
whole host of good pubs and other attractions
including the Kelly’s Eye bingo parlour and
the Hercules Bar. They’re near St Mary’s Catholic
Church which was built with money from both
sides of the religious divide when relations
between the communities were a bit more cordial
than they are now. But Belfast is as safe a shopping centre as any these days and the barriers and
police have moved into the background.
One really hip joint near the church is Kelly’s
Cellars (above right) where you can enjoy the
craic and the music and the beer in the company
of a Bohemian local crowd and a host of visitors.
There’s a seafood restaurant and, wait for it, an
Indian curry house on the premises.
The Belfast nightlife is exciting and there are
lots of clubs and famous bars including the Crown
Bar, opposite the Europa Hotel, which is world
famous.
Don’t take my word for it though. Go and see it
for yourself.
Bill took the Stena Line ferry from Cairnryan
to Belfast. Bookings: http://www.stenaline.
co.uk/ferries-to-ireland
Bogside History Tours shine a light on Derry’s past
GLEANN DOHERTY
BLOODY Sunday, January
30, 1972 changed the course
of Irish history when it
occurred on the streets of
the Bogside, Derry.
On that day the 1st battalion
of the Parachute Regiment
opened fire on a peaceful civil
rights march and murdered 14
innocent civilians in a 15
minute time frame in which the
British Army claimed that they
shot gunmen and bombers.
This claim was always denied
by the relatives of those murdered and the people of Derry
and indeed they were proved
innocent by the Saville Report
in to Bloody Sunday.
The Bloody Sunday massacre
was carried out by the British
Army on a civil rights march in
Derry City, Ireland. This march
was organised to demand that
Irish Catholics were given
equal rights in the northern
state. These rights were not
extortionate demands for independence for Ireland but for
three simple demands. A right
to a fair vote, fair job and proper housing would hardly be
deemed revolutionary.
Everything in this northern state
was done along sectarian lines
and this was the reason for the
Civil Rights Association coming into being in 1967. Irish
Catholics were being denied the
same rights as Protestants in
their own country. The Civil
Rights Association would be
seen as a challenge to the status
quo of the Protestant run six
county state.
Bloody Sunday was the
British Government’s response
to its Irish citizens’ demands
for basic civil rights. On that
day in January the British
Government and its army put
down what it saw as a people’s
revolt and in doing so it also
killed off the Civil Right
Association, an organisation
that used peaceful means to
achieve its aims. The Bloody
Sunday massacre would act as
a recruitment officer for the
Provisional Irish Republican
Army, whose numbers would
rise dramatically in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday. Of the
14 people that were murdered
that day, six of them were 17
year old boys, with the vast
majority of the victims being
shot in the back from less than
50 yards as they fled from the
British Army assault.
The first tribunal into the
massacre exonerated the British
Army for any wrong doing and
blamed the victims. The highest judge in Britain Lord
Widgery carried out this tribunal, which is known now
throughout the world as the
whitewash, because that is
exactly what it did.
The second tribunal into the
massacre was carried out by
Lord Saville, who, after 12
years from start to finish, found
the opposite of the Widgery
Report. Lord Saville would find
that there was no set of circumstances that would justify one
of the killings never mind 14.
This report was published on
June 15, 2010 at Derry’s
Guildhall in front of thousands
of friends and supporters. This
report was followed up by a full
public apology by the British
Prime Minister David Cameron
live from the British House of
Commons.
Patrick Joseph Doherty was
31 when he was shot in the
back by Soldier F as he
attempted to crawl to safety,
just below block 2 of the
Rossville flats in Derry’s
Bogside. Patrick Joseph
Doherty was the father of six
children of which I was the
youngest at eight months old.
My brother Paul was seven.
Bogside History Tours was set
up in April 2013 to offer visitors
to Derry the authentic and
detailed account of the day of
Bloody Sunday, its aftermath
and both inquiries. This walking
tour offers the visitor the personal insight in to Bloody Sunday
and the judicial investigations
from a family perspective. The
tour is a testimony to the families of the dead and injured that
no matter what obstacles the
British Government or the
British Army put in our way we
kept on chipping away at the lie
that was Bloody Sunday.
Paul—my brother—originally set up Bogside History Tours
in 2013 and when I graduated
with degree in Irish History
and Politics in May (2013), I
began doing the Bloody
Sunday tour as well. The other
tour guide is John McKinney,
whose brother William was
also murdered on the day.
The tour begins at the
Guildhall in the centre of Derry
where the original march was
to finish and makes its way
over to the Bogside, through
Glenfada Park and finishes at
the Bloody Sunday monument
on Rossville Street.
This tour is not just about the
Bloody Sunday massacre, it is
(From right to left) Bogside History
Tour guides Gleann Doherty, John
McKinney and Paul Doherty (centre).
Far left is John Kelly of the Museum
of Free Derry
about when the truth was set
free and the people of Derry,
and indeed Ireland, were
allowed to embrace a brighter
future and a new beginning.
To learn more about
the Bogside History Tours
visit: www.bogside-historytours.com. You can also find
information on the tours via
Tripadvisor and also the
Bogside History Tour
Facebook page
12
CLASSIFIEDS
Classifieds
51 Old Rutherglen Road,
Gorbals, Glasgow, G5 9DT
0141 429 3944
SHARKEY’S BAR
Live music every Saturday.
Lunches served daily.
Lounge available for private
functions.
THE VICTORIA BAR
Live music every Saturday
and Sunday
400 Victoria Rd,
Glasgow, G42 8YS
0141 423 3303
THE IRISH VOICE
WHISTLIN KIRK
Live music after all Celtic home
games. 60s and 70s music last
Friday of each month.
5 Greendyke St, Glasgow, G1 5PU
0141 552 7851
457 Sauchiehall Street,
Glasgow, G2 3LG
0141 332 9482
facebook.com/
ONeillsSauchiehallSt
Twitter:
@ONeills_Sauchie
THE DUBLINER BAR
Live entertainment and sports
47 Glasgow Rd, Rutherglen
Glasgow, Lanarkshire, G73 1L
W G McNeill
102-106 Torrisdale Street, Glasgow,
G42 8PH. Call: 0141 423 7961
Sat March 8 Cabaret Night featuring
Rock Soul Diva Louise 8pm-1am Tickets
£2
THE DOLPHIN
Live music and GAA action on
big screen TVs. A fine selection
of Scottish and Irish malts.
157 Dumbarton Road,
Glasgow, G11 6PT
0141 576 0175
0141 647 8275
The Tolbooth
Live music every day
SKY Sports & GAA matches
11 Saltmarket, Glasgow,
G1 5NA, 0141 552 4955
http://www.facebook.com
/tolbooth.bar.5?fref=ts
OLIVERʼS
Boulevard & Drumry Taxis
Drumchapel
24 Hours Service
Cars for all occasions
Radio Controlled Cars - All Calls Monitored
SINGLE PASSENGERS TRAVEL SAFELY
0141-944 8111
0141-944 8222
0141-944 8333
0141-944 7374
0141-944 4079
0141-944 8444
NO BOUNDARY CHARGES
APRIL 2014
THE SQUIRREL BAR
36-40 Stevenston St, Calton,
Glasgow, G40 2ST. 0141 552 2551
Live music every Fri, Sat and Sun.
Open: 4.30pm-Midnight (Fri),
11am-Midnight (Sat), 12.30pmMidnight (Sun)
Merchant Square
Food Served till 10pm every day.
Live music every Friday and Saturday.
Go to www.oneills.co.uk for more information.
LIFE O’REILLY
Music Sat and Sun
evenings, Irish Bands
21 Dixon Ave, Glasgow
G42 8EB
0141 237 2028
TALL CRANES
Live Music after all Celtic games
10-12 Craigton Road,
Glasgow, G51 3TB
0141 445 5177
Find us on Facebook/Twitter
THE COLUMBA CLUB
Open 7 days 11am-1am, Saturday
and Sunday
Singalongs/Karaokes
8 John Street, Coatbridge, ML5 8EJ
01236 421282
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WEE MAN’S BAR
All major sporting events shown
live including Celtic games.
429 Gallowgate, Glasgow, G40 2DY
0141 564 1061
Catch The Dubliner live on Sunday May 4 and Sunday
May 25 (European Cup win anniversary) from 4-6.30pm
If so call: 0141 249 0121 or e-mail: info@theirishvoice
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THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
BRIAN O’DRISCOLL
13
Waving goodbye to an Irish rugby warrior
I
IAN DUNN speaks with Irish sports journalist Tom English about the career of Ireland’s retired rubgy star Brian O’Driscoll
RELAND’S Six Nations victory last month
proved a fitting finale to the career one of
the greatest athletes the island has ever produced. Brian O’Driscoll—the man in question—was applauded out of the Stade de
France having helped his side to the Six Nations
Championship title, with all present knowing they
had just bid farewell to one of the greats of the
game.
Veteran Irish rugby correspondent Tom
English—now of BBC Scotland—sat down with The
Irish Voice to give a special insight into what drove
O’Driscoll, his highs and lows and how he resurrected Irish rugby. English, who was the Sunday Times’
Irish rugby correspondent nearly a decade, has interviewed O’Driscoll many times, and said he was
‘amazed’ O’Driscoll had kept going for so long.
“He has an incredible desire to win, but he’s
been such a warrior for such a long time,” he said.
“He’s had so many serious injuries and every time
he’s come back and managed to keep playing at
the top level.”
The gargantuan outpouring of tributes that
greeted O’Driscoll’s international retirement was
due to his unique status in Ireland.
“He is one of the best loved sportsman in the
world,” English said. “I can’t think of anyone else
who compares, maybe Usian Bolt in Jamaica, but
that’s the level we’re talking about. Certainly
Ireland’s never had anyone else like that. Look at
Roy Keane, who is the embodiment of a winner
and incredibly uncompromising, but he divides
opinion. O’Driscoll has all that, but he’s able to
marry it with a softer personality, so he is just
absolutely accepted in Ireland.”
For English, that love for O’Driscoll comes out
of the man the centre is.
“He has a life, he loves music, he likes going
out, loves life, he likes a beer and a night out, He
doesn’t act like a star even though he is one,” he
said. “He’s refused to let rugby turn him into
something that he isn’t. That’s essential to him.
He’s stayed close to his pals since he was a kid. He
really comes across as an ordinary bloke with
extraordinary ability. He’s just a really good fella.”
The key to understanding O’Driscoll’s success
is how he married that winning personality with
an absolute desire to win.
“He’s made the most of himself, and shown
tremendous discipline when he got injured,”
English said. “He would do all the right things and
come back a better player each time. And he was
able to compensate when the pace went. Where his
early career was all about pace and explosiveness,
latterly it’s been his ability to read a game, his
game management has become extraordinary.”
Some admiring tributes are but the merest of
drops amid the tsunami of praise that has deluged
O’Driscoll at the culmination of his career. Yet he
was not always universally loved, English
reveals. In his early career he was as well known
for his bleached blonde hair and being voted
Ireland’s sexiest man, as much as his remarkable
feats on the rugby field.
“Even as late December 2004, he was getting a
lot of grief in Dublin,” English said. “Tall poppy
syndrome, people spreading lies about him, slagging him off about his hair. He told me that a good
pal of his called Damo kept quiet about all but a
fraction of the stuff he heard about him. And that
stuff was malicious.”
“Ireland hadn’t taken to him,” English asserted.
“People look at him now, and he’s the darling of the
nation like no-one else before or since. They forget
back then there was a lot of bitching. Everyone has
gone on a journey, he’s taken them all with him.”
A
nd he’s done that, even though at times
O’Driscoll’s Ireland have not achieved as
much success as their talent would allow.
“I don’t think any of them would make any
bones about that,” English said. “Winning the
championship this year meant masses because
since 2006 Ireland has won five Heineken Cups
and one Six Nations Championship. Wales have
won three championships and two grand slams in
same time frame.”
That’s an underwhelming tally for a group of players that many dubbed Ireland’s ‘golden generation.’
“To be honest I hate the ‘golden generation’ tag
because you’re only golden when you actually win
things,” English interjects. “But at least now they
have two, it’s not enough but a lot better than one.”
The sportswriter is sure though, that the biggest
regret of O’Driscoll’s career will be not making
the more of an impact on World Cups.
“In 1999 we were terrible, in 2003 we were outclassed by France, 2007 was just a disaster, but I
think 2011 is the worst because we beat Australia
then didn’t turn up against Wales,” English surmised. “It’s ridiculous that one of the games greatest players never appeared in a World Cup
semi-final. There are different reasons, but it comes
down to just got being good enough on the day.”
However O’Driscoll’s legacy is far greater that
trophies, English recalled: “I was Irish rugby correspondent at the Sunday Times from 1996-2005
and up until O’Driscoll came on the scene it was
a barren place.
“After Ireland got knocked out the World Cup by
Argentina, then lost 50 points at Twickenham, I
was having a few pints with a couple of colleagues
and we were saying we are rugby correspondents
covering Irish rugby and if this carries on we’re
going to lose our jobs, because no one’s going to
give a shit about rugby, the team is going nowhere,
the provinces are crap. It’s humiliation after humiliation. How long is it going to be before our editors
say you know what, we don't need a rugby correspondent? And this was a serious conversation.”
A few weeks later, O’Driscoll scored his famous
hat-trick in Paris, giving the Irish their first win in the
French capital for nearly 30 years and a star was born.
“And then later there was O’Gara and Stringer
and O’Connell and others, but you could boil it
down to O’Driscoll,” he said. “There was this new
mindset, this skilled player started to do things we
hadn’t seen before and suddenly all the old hardened players got elevated by this kid who played
like he didn’t know fear.”
Before O’Driscoll, Ireland were ‘hopeless,’ he
reflected.
“And the lesson of O’Driscoll is there’s always
hope,” he said. “We were in darker place in 1999
than Scotland are in now. And one player changed
it, made an immediate difference, then a few more
came in, things snowballed, the interest in rugby
snowballed and now rugby is a beast in Ireland.
And I don’t think any of that happens without
O’Driscoll. He was the guy.”
I
n that past 15 years, the difference in rugby’s
importance in Ireland has changed utterly. “I
remember interviewing John Hayes, who ended
up getting 100 caps for Ireland but came from a
Gaelic background,” English said. “I asked him if
he’d seen a rugby ball when he was 17 what would
he have thought, and he said he would have
thought it was a Gaelic football that had been rolled
over by a tractor. There’s no one in Ireland who
doesn’t know what a rugby ball looks like now.”
Part of that impact he believes is because ‘the
likes of Driscoll stayed in Ireland and didn’t go to
France for the money.’
“He’s visible, he’s accessible at open days at
Leinster, so the Irish kids get to see him and they
know that he’s one of their own,” he said.
Those kids O’Driscoll has inspired are helping
to ensure Irish rugby looks in good health even
after his retirement
“We’ve got a good coach and I think we’ve got
some guys who can come in, Jared Pain, Robbie
Henshaw,” English said. “But God, we’ll miss him!
I think the last 20 years we’ve seen some the best
players ever to play the game, Dan Carter, Ritchie
McCaw, but he’s as good as any of them. You never
like to say never, but we could live to be 100 and
we’ll never see another O’Driscoll.”
14
GAELIC GAMES
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
Scottish Championship taking shape
I LIAM DUFFY
THE 2014 Scottish Men’s Gaelic
Football League is beginning to take
shape after the early rounds of matches.
Sporting giants unite for youth
coaching sessions in Coatbridge
CELTIC joined forces with
the GAA as the two sporting
giants delivered a week-long
programme of coaching for
youngsters in Coatbridge.
The purpose built St Ambrose
Gaelic Football Arena in
Coatbridge, the result of a
phenomenal growth of Gaelic
Football activities in and around
the town since 2006, played
host to the event, which builds
on the weekly coaching sessions
held by Coatbridge Davitts
GFC in conjunction with the
University of Stirling and North
Lanarkshire Leisure where 400
children in Coatbridge rake part
in the sport.
And the inclusion of Celtic
coaching staff in the sessions
meant that participating children
were given top quality soccer
coaching as well as lessons in
healthy lifestyle coaching in
addition to their now familiar
sport of Gaelic football.
Among those involved in the
event was Eoghan O’Connell,
one of Celtic’s brightest
prospects for the future, and the
18-year-old from Cork was
delighted to reacquaint himself
with Gaelic football as he met
with Coatbridge’s young sporting stars and shared with them
his passion for the sport.
“It’s great to let people know
more about the game itself, it
can only be good for it,” he
said afterwards. “If you’ve
seen it it’s a very enjoyable
sport to play in. I think once
people watch and play it once
or twice they’ll want more.
“I played right up until I
moved, so I was very passionate about it when I was
younger. The more people who
know about it and the more
information that gets passed
across, like how to play the
game, then it’ll definitely hit
the ground running.”
However, based in a post-
S
I KEVIN DAWSON
industrial area with poor socioeconomic statistics, the priorities of Coatbridge Davitts
extend beyond just providing
sports coaching, with coaches
at the club combining with
North Lanarkshire Leisure to
focus on building values of
healthy living and lifestyles,
understanding, respect, inclusion, equality and education.
Eddie Dollochin, Sport
Development and Inclusions
Manager speaking on behalf of
North Lanarkshire Leisure, is
delighted at the progress of
Gaelic football as a means to
bring youngsters from a range
of ethnic, social, economic and
religious backgrounds together.
“A key aspect of what we do
is foster, encourage and support
equality and diversity within
North Lanarkshire and increase
sports participation,” he said.
“Gaelic Football has been one
of our major success stories in
recent years. To see girls and
boys not only playing at St
Ambrose but competing at
national and international level,
as these kids playing Gaelic
have been doing for the past
couple of years, is a tremendous achievement.
“Our linking with the wider
GAA and Celtic FC Foundation
for part of the project has been
highly beneficial to many
youngsters.”
With over 70 youngsters benefiting from the bespoke Gaelic
football and soccer training over
the course of the Easter camp,
more events are by planned
across Scotland by the new sporting partners. In addition to the
Coatbridge event, two more are
planned in the near future. The
sessions will serve as another shot
in the arm to Gaelic football in
the town as the local youngsters
look ahead to a hectic summer of
matches, tours and elite competitions across Britain and Ireland.
O WE have finally gone
down the pay-per-view road
when covering our championship games. The GAA’s
agreement with Sky Sports
to grant them exclusive access to
broadcast 14 championship games, as
well sharing coverage with RTÉ of AllIreland semi-finals and finals in both
codes, has shaken the GAA family
throughout all levels.
I feel we could have a civil war on
our hands with those in favour of the
agreement and those who are against.
At first, I was very disappointed with
the announcement. My first thought
was that it could lead us down the road
towards professionalism—as the GAA
receives more and more revenue, players will want a bigger slice of the cake.
During these tough economic times,
many people, particularly elderly people living in rural areas, will not be able
to afford a subscription service such as
Sky. Many of these people will likely
With every club taking the field and some
big matches already decided, the 2014
league season is beginning to take on a
familiar look, with last year’s Championship
finalists occupying first and second place,
albeit with champions Dunedin Connollys in
second having only played two matches.
Among the early tussles was the Glasgow
derby between Tír Conaill Harps and
Glaschu Gaels, with the two clubs battling it
out for the bragging rights in Glasgow. A
hard fought match finished honours even in
an enthralling tie, after Harps strong start was
cancelled out by a resurgent Gaels side determined not to let their rivals take the spoils.
After building up a healthy lead in the
first half, Harps were three points in the lead
and looking to get in with their buffer intact
at half time, but a penalty, converted by
Cian Geoghan, meant that the sides went in
at the break with nothing to separate them,
1-2 to 0-5.
Whatever was said at half time seemed to
spur Gaels on, and with David McGovern
and Eoin O’Kane finding the net twice in
quick succession for Glaschu they stormed
into a commanding lead with less than 15
minutes remaining.
Tir Conaill have more than demonstrated
their ability to win big matches in recent
years, though, and not for nothing were they
crowned Scottish champions only two years
ago. Digging deep they chipped away at
Gaels’ lead and thanks to succession of
points by Daniel Gallagher and a goal from
Manus Brennan—off the bench to save his
team from defeat—the scores were level
with only two minutes left.
That was only the start of the drama,
though, with Harps surging into the lead courtesy of the left foot of Emmet McLaughlin,
before Gaels saved their blushes with a point
from goalscorer Geoghan.
The match ended in a draw, 3-4 to 1-10,
but not before a final flurry of controversy.
As the match approached its conclusion
McGovern’s last gasp effort had convinced
Gaels they had secured the points, but the
officials failed to agree, judging that his
effort had sneaked just past the wrong side
of the post.
There was less trouble finding a winner
between Dalriada and Connollys (above
right), though, as the former hosted the latter in Aberdeen in a match which held far
more significance than merely the two
points on offer for the winner.
These two sides battled it out in a hard
fought Championship Final at Coatbridge last
year, and will both confidently harbour hopes
of finding their way to the same stage again
their year. Thus, the early meeting in the
league was a chance for the winners to put
down a marker and show their intent for 2014.
Dalriada certainly wasted no time in
throwing themselves into the fray, bursting
out the traps and stunning the visitors with
their early momentum. Working themselves
into a leading position, with the cushion of
a solitary point, Dalriada showed that they
have lost none of the verve and drive which
brought them to the final stage of last year’s
championship by crashing in a goal from an
effort rebounded by the crossbar and
stretching their lead to four.
With half-time approaching the hosts
were looking to get to the break with their
lead fully intact, but drawing on all their
experience Connollys calmly worked away
until the chance they had been waiting for
presented itself, with Brian Farrell sticking
the ball into the net and sending the sides in
at half-time with only the minimum between
them, 1-7 to 1-6 in Dalriada’s favour.
Dalriada’s resolve was broken shortly
after half-time though, with three points
from Connollys putting them into the lead
before Alan Ward was awarded a penalty,
which he duly converted to send his side
ahead by five.
Despite a resurgence by Dalriada, and
another goal for the hosts, Connollys
remained in control, thanks in no small part
to the five excellently taken score of captain
Brian McAteer which ensured his side
never relinquished their lead.
Although Paul Cribbon received a black
card, the current league champions saw the
match out comfortably 2-13 to 2-09, and in
the process moved closer to an auspicious
milestone—Connollys have now gone nearly three years without tasting league defeat.
Sands MacSwineys kicked off their 2014
season by welcoming Dalriada to St
Ambrose Gaelic Ground, Coatbridge.
Despite both teams missing a number of
key players and a blustery wind threatening
to put paid to many point scoring attempts,
the match started in highly competitive
fashion, with Dalriada having the better of
the first half, notching a number of impressive points and a goal to take a strong lead
into half-time.
The sideline ball
A monthly column on Gaelic football and hurling from our tough-tackling Tipperaryman
have given their own time at some
stage in their lives assisting the development of Gaelic Games through
coaching young children or refereeing
and so on. I just think the pure greed of
the GAA can be infuriating at times
and this deal is a classic example.
However, after a while, anger and
trepidation also turned to excitement at
what Sky could do for our games in
terms of marketing and promotion both
at home and abroad.
There’s no denying their world class
approach to sports coverage—just look
at what they have done for English
football over the last 20 years—while
Kerry’s Darren O’Sullivan’s tweet
about darts seeming like the most exciting sport in the world because of Sky’s
coverage, even though it is just two fat
lads on a stage, is very true.
Imagine what they can do with an
action packed Gaelic football or hurling match? We await with interest.
Maybe ‘Effin Eddie’ will become Sky
Sports chief GAA commentator?
B
ack to the action on the field, and
well done to Portumna (Galway)
and St Vincent’s (Dublin) for
winning the All-Ireland club championships in hurling and football respectively on St Patrick’s Day at Croke
Park. Both teams were hugely deserving winners after long campaigns.
We had two gripping semi-finals in
the National Football League recently.
Dublin completed a remarkable 17 point
With a determined Sands side hoping to
change their fortunes this year, the
Coatbridge men dug deep and clawed back
three valuable points to bring something in
with them at the break. The first was the
result of good work by young Deklin
Renicks who reacted first to the breaking
ball to feed the ball to Dan McGinty who
snuck the ball over under pressure. A calmly struck free by Ciaran Lappin, Sands’ midfield powerhouse, and another free by
McGinty meant they had something to build
on in the second period.
After the break, Sands, who were blooding many of their young footballers, came
back into the game, scoring two goals in
quick succession, one from the impressive
Lappin, who scored 1-3 on the day, and the
other from rising star Mark McDougal, who
showed Dalriada had no match for his pace
and skill when Sands could get him on the
ball by beating his man easily and curling a
fine effort into the top-left corner of the goal.
With strong performances throughout the
Sands’ team, including those from Tipperary
natives Adrian and Kevin Dawson and Down
man Ruari Laverty in the forward line, Sands
were showing that they have the ability this
year to make life tough for other teams.
Dalriada, though, despite tiring from their
journey and a hectic schedule of matches
continued to demonstrate the form that
drove them to such a successful season last
year by resisting Sands’ resurgence and netting two goals of their own in the second
half, which was enough to see them run out
worthy winners on the day by 3-14 to 2-08.
turnaround against Cork with another
trademark powerful second half performance. To overcome a 10-point
deficit in just over 30 minutes to win by
seven against a quality outfit like Cork is
ominous, and when they click into gear
nobody can seem to live with them.
In the other semi-final, Derry’s
remarkable season continued with a
narrow victory over Mayo. The fact
they achieved it with 14 men while also
scoring the last four points of the game
show a side that is developing nicely
with a steely resolve.
One of the most noticeable trends
throughout the football league has been
the high scoring with average goals and
points well up on previous years. It has
probably a lot to do with the new black
card rule with more space and less pulling
and dragging among players prevalent.
In the hurling semi-finals Kilkenny
took on Galway, while Tipperary faced
All-Ireland champions Clare.
Kilkenny and Clare started as
favourites but these games looked
50/50 to me. Galway easily oversaw
Limerick last time out and had their
Portumna contingent back, while Tipp
looked in serious trouble when they
lost three games in a row, but took
plenty confidence from impressive
wins over Cork and Dublin.
All these teams wanted to lay down
an early season marker, but it was Tipp
and Kilkenny who made it to the final.
Expect fireworks as we head towards
the championship!
Next month, championship fever
will be gripping us all. Don’t miss my
preview of the football and hurling
Championship landscape, the contenders and favourites, players to
watch while there will also be a review
of the national league finals. Best of
luck to all involved!
Leigh’s a hit on the park, but a liability off it
THE IRISH VOICE
APRIL 2014
FOOTBALL
World Cup stars
DAN McGINTY
WHEN Leigh Griffiths skipped through the
Motherwell defence and onto a loose ball at
Fir Park to send Celtic into a 3-2 lead— which
they would eventually surrender in injury
time—after being two goals down, he threw
into sharp relief the problem that he has left
the Celtic manager and the club’s supporters.
Currently under investigation for singing a
derogatory song about fellow professional Rudi
Skacel, Griffiths (right) has demonstrated himself to
be one of football’s traditional ‘problem players.’
His ability is beyond question. The man will
score goals with ease, drive his team on to victory, work terrifically hard on the field and bring the
gallusness and cheek that are time-honoured
trademarks of Scottish football—but he is also
quite clearly a headcase.
His first thought when he scores a goal is to
noise-up opposing fans, or try to drive his own
supporters into a frenzy, rather than simply take
the congratulations of his team-mates. That is all
well and good—in fact, every team should have a
headcase like that—but when he allows it to spill
over and result in conduct that is, frankly, unacceptable, or when he allows himself to air
unsavoury and intolerant views, he is doing himself and his new club a great disservice.
Antics
Celtic supporters must have cringed when they
saw his antics in an Edinburgh pub, as he
appeared to conduct Hibernian supporters—who
enthusiastically followed his lead—in denouncing
Skacel, a well paid footballer and former Czech
Republic internationalist, as ‘a refugee.’
The cringing quickly turned to anger at the
obvious irony of dismissing someone as a refugee
15
while in the employ of Celtic, one football club
whose very roots were among a community of
refugees from hunger and poverty, and surrounded by the supporters of Hibernian, another.
Celtic now have to deal with the situation effectively, but whatever is done Celtic will lose something—either they will have a player in the first
team scoring goals and winning matches who is
Hibs targeting derby date to restore pride
forever tainted by such profoundly stupid behaviour or they will send a message that such conduct
is incompatible with playing at a club with
Celtic’s history and background and in the process
lose what looks to be a fine talent.
It is a great shame that Griffiths’ behaviour has
cast such a shadow on his Celtic career, however
long it will last.
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Fans say farewell to a United legend
GERARD GOUGH
ROBERT McGLONE
The Edinburgh side ended
March with a 2-0 defeat away
to their city rivals Hearts at
Tynecastle, with Dale Carrick
and substitute Billy King netting for the Jambos, but the
Hibees were left feeling hard
done to after Jordan Foster had
a goal wrongly disallowed for
offside, which would have
levelled the scores at 1-1.
Despite starting the following
game at home to Aberdeen brightly, two goals from Irish striker
Niall McGinn plunged Hibs
further into relegation trouble. It
was the club’s eighth game without a win and third without a goal.
Things went from bad to
worse when the Edinburgh side
travelled to St Mirren Park to
take on the Buddies. Fellow
strugglers St Mirren, however,
scored almost straight from
kick-off through Kenny
McLean and Paul McGowan
added a second after 15 minutes. Despite the Paisley side
being reduced to ten men when
Jim Goodwin was sent off, Hibs
failed to capitalise on this and
suffered yet another 2-0 defeat.
The result left manager Terry
Butcher speechless, although
he vowed to get the club back
on track with a victory against
Hearts at Easter Rd.
“We have to give the fans
something back in the next four
games,” Butcher said. “We work
all week on the way we want to
play. We work on a shape and a
system and then we concede a
goal after 13 seconds. All that
work during the week is gone in
13 seconds. And then we've tried
to get back into the game, no
panic, no pressure, let’s get on
with it. Sometimes maybe it’s a
For almost a decade Frank
(right) made 407 appearances
for United and as a full back
under Jim McLean he was part
of the now legendary team that
lifted Dundee United’s first
major honour winning the
League Cup in 1979. He would
also help retain the same trophy
the following season defeating
city rivals Dundee FC on their
own Dens Park pitch.
Frank made his break into
professional football after her
was signed by Sir Matt Busby
for Manchester United, before a
move to Blackburn. He would
make 25 appearances for
Rovers before moving back to
Scotland in 1972, after he was
signed by Dundee United.
Frank’s legendary status was
assured as he scored one of the
club’s most memorable European
goals. A late wonder goal against
Anderlecht in 1979, which helped
United through to the next round
of the UEFA Cup. A hugely popular personality around the club,
the city and beyond, his sad loss
will be felt by all those associated
with United and the wider football community in the area.
After a win against Rangers in
the Scottish Cup for the second
year running, Dundee United can
now look forward to their second
Scottish Cup Final in four years
and the tenth in the club’s history. United will face St Johnstone
in an all Tayside showpiece at
Celtic Park on May 17 and
should be feeling confident having scored 15 goals so far in this
year’s competition.
In the semi-final clash at
Ibrox, United made hard work
of disposing of the second divi-
HIBS recent poor form
continued with a trio of 2-0
defeats that has seen them
sucked into battle to avoid
finishing in the relegation
play-off spot.
Three Celts will travel to Brazil this year
for the World Cup—Samaras, Izaguirre and
Ambrose, though only two will return, with the
Greek internationalist set to depart on a free transfer.
If they are to make any kind of impact then they
will have to perform better than they did in
Celtic’s 3-3 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park.
Though Samaras found the net in the match, he
looked, along with Ambrose and Izaguirre, to be
somewhere else.
Ambrose put in a dismal show in defence, making a couple of glaring errors, while Celtic’s
Honduran left back lacked his usual pace and
power in getting forward.
It is natural that as the season comes to a close,
with the league championship secure and no cup
final to look forward to, that players with a major
summer tournament looming will begin to conserve their energy and concentrate as much on
avoiding injury as winning matches, but it is frustrating for supporters.
Perhaps more judicious use should be made of
Celtic’s young talent, such as Henderson and
Herron, in the final matches in an effort to keep
the performances energetic and give a greater significance to matches which are now essentially
training ground exercises.
What is certain, though, is that with European
qualifiers looming for Celtic—this year in
the unfamiliar surroundings of Murrayfield
Stadium—Ambrose and Izaguirre can be allowed
no World Cup hangover upon their return from
Brazil. Every player must be ready and prepared
to put in performances that will be sufficient for
Celtic to negotiate their passage to the Champions
League proper.
EVERYONE associated with
Dundee United has been saddened to hear that former player and Hall of Fame inductee
Frank Kopel lost his brave
battle against Alzheimer’s at
the age of just 65.
good thing if you lose an early
goal because it takes away the
threat of conceding because you
have conceded—and then we
lose a second goal. So you’re 20 down and facing a mountain
to climb really.
“The sending off, although it
didn't help St Mirren, it certainly galvanised them and made
them defend a two-goal lead
very resolutely, but we've had
enough pressure and enough
chances to put decent balls in
the box. We pushed four men
forward. We haven’t scored a
goal for a long while, it’s a
fifth straight defeat, and we
have to look at the derby next
week and pick a team that's
going to compete and do Hibs
proud, but at this moment in
time we’ll have to find one.”
There was better news for
the club, though, when they
announced that young midfield
star Sam Stanton (above) had
signed a new deal—agreeing to
extend his contract until the
summer of 2018.
The 19-year old midfielder,
who is a lifelong Hibs supporter and who graduated from the
club’s youth academy, cemented his position in the squad in
the wake of Butcher’s arrival at
the club, with a string of good
performances. He has also
earned international recognition
with Scotland under-21s.
The player said that he is
looking forward to continuing
his development at Easter Road.
“I’m very excited about the
future here at Hibs and I’m
delighted to have agreed an
extension to my contract,” the
player told the club’s official
website. “It was a really easy
decision for me to make; I've
always wanted to play for Hibs
and everything that has happened so far has been like a
dream come true for me.
“There is a lot to look forward
to and I’m pleased to be on board
for the next four years; to get that
recognition from the club was a
great feeling. Right now though,
we’ve got to make sure we
finish this season positively.”
The Hibs boss said that he is
delighted with the teenager’s
progress so far and added that he
aims to make Stanton a key part
of his long-term plans at the club.
“Sam’s new deal is great news
for everybody connected to
Hibernian Football Club; he is a
talented young player with an
incredibly bright future,” the
manager said. “When I first
arrived here Sam wasn’t part of
the first team squad, but now he
is probably one of the first
names on the team sheet. That
underlines the progress he has
made in a short space of time.
He is eager to learn and continue
to develop into becoming a better player and that augurs well
for Hibernian in the future.”
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sion champions who, in fairness, had some great chances
early on, before goals from
Stuart Armstrong and Gary
Mackay-Steven looked to have
put the Tangerines into a comfortable lead. The ‘home’ team
however got back into the tie
via a goalkeeping error from a
free kick just before half-time.
The icing on the cake for
United though came late in the
game when Rangers goalkeeper,
Steve Simonsen, made a horrendous blunder from a back pass
to allow top scorer Nadir Çiftçi
to walk the ball into an empty
net to the delight of the 12,000
Arab faithful behind the goal.
“Its fantastic," manager Jackie
McNamara told BBC Radio
Scotland. “It’s a great feeling,
especially beating Rangers at
Ibrox. It’s a great place to come
and play on such a great occasion and I’m just delighted that
we managed to do it.”
United’s chance of securing
European qualification through
their league position looks to
have all but disappeared though
after a 2-0 loss to St Johnstone in
a dress rehearsal for next
month’s final. This was the third
defeat to the Saints this season
and maybe a bit of a psychological blow. It’s safe to say, however, the Arabs will not be taking
anything for granted on cup final
day having had their hearts broken on so many occasions
before, and falling at the final
hurdle no fewer than seven
times. The remaining league
games see the Tangerines face
Aberdeen, Motherwell and
Inverness who are all chasing
that coveted third place Europa
league berth. A trip to champions
Celtic on the last day concludes
league duty for the season.
In recognition of the efforts
of Jackie McNamara’s young
starlets, Stuart Armstrong, Ryan
Gauld and Andy Robertson
have all been nominated for the
PFA Scotland Young Player of
the Year Award, which will be
announced in late May. So too,
the Sky Sports/PFA Scotland
goal of the season shortlist has
been announced and Dundee
United have two nominations—
Andy Robertson and Nadir
Çiftçi. The club have vowed to
try their best to hang on to their
bright young things and it
would certainly seem if that is
the case, the future is bright, the
future is, indeed, tangerine!
GAA says Sky deal is best for the Irish diaspora
16
THE IRISH VOICE
SPORT
APRIL 2014
DAN McGINTY
SPEAKING in defence of their decision to
sign a three-year deal with British broadcasters Sky, GAA bosses have cited the association's responsibility to Irish communities
overseas as the driving reason behind the
launch of their new partnership.
With the decision causing controversy in
Ireland and GAA officials invited before government committees to discuss the motivations
behind the deal and the consequences it will have
on Ireland’s national sports, the GAA has
launched a staunch defence of its decision and
underlined the importance of Gaelic games to the
Irish diaspora across the globe.
The deal will see Sky exclusively broadcast 20
matches in the UK, beginning with the Leinster
Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final
between Kilkenny and Offaly live from Nowlan
Park on June 7, and will bring Gaelic games to
screens across Britain.
“We’re delighted to be awarded the rights and
I'm sure our viewers will be captivated by the
thrill and passion of Gaelic football and hurling,”
Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports
said. “We are excited to be working with the GAA
and providing extensive coverage to their exhilarating sports throughout the summer.”
However, with 14 matches being broadcast
exclusively in Ireland, the GAA has faced criticism for disenfranchising fans of Gaelic games by
moving matches away from their traditional home
on terrestrial television.
Answering calls that the GAA have broken a
promise made in 2010 to keep matches live on terrestrial channels, Paraic Duffy, the GAA’s director
general said: “We could not deal with things this
time around like we did in 2010, because Ireland
is different. There are far more Irish people
abroad than there were in 2010. The Gaelic games
family abroad is far bigger than ever before and
we could not afford to ignore those people.
“It is no longer tenable for the GAA to see the
audience for Gaelic games as Irish people living
in Ireland.
“At the top of the list, receiving a necessary priority recognised by all of us in Croke Park, was
the need to make our games available to Irish people living abroad.
“In planning our negotiations of these new contracts, the GAA felt that it had an obligation to
Irish people living abroad to respond to their
appeals on this issue, if for no other reason than
the fact that many of them, while living at home,
had contributed to the GAA as members, and were
now continuing that work in GAA clubs abroad.”
Speaking to the committee of TDs and Senators
assembled to examine the deal, Mr Duffy gave an
example of an Irishwoman working abroad who
will now have the opportunity to watch Gaelic
games in her adopted home of Bahrain.
T
“She said to me, ‘being able to watch the games will
be like a band aid on a homesick heart,’” Mr Duffy
concluded. “We’ve reached out to our own people.”
Under the new broadcasting deal, BBC
Northern Ireland will still have the right to broadcast Ulster Championship matches, including the
provincial football final.
First past the post
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A monthly insight into the world of horse racing from our man in the field
EDWARD BRADY
Joy and despair for Irish football teams
GERARD GOUGH
THERE were contrasting
emotions recently among
the Irish men’s and
women’s football teams.
For the men, the news that
Ireland will take on England in
a friendly at the Aviva Stadium
in Dublin in June next year,
received a positive reaction on
both sides of the Irish Sea.
The teams last met at
Wembley in May 2013 (above),
and the Football Association of
Ireland (FAI) said there was an
agreement for a return game in
Dublin. That match ended in a
1-1 draw, with Frank Lampard
equalising after Shane Long
headed Ireland into an early lead.
England, however, have not
played in the Republic of
Ireland since 1995, when a
friendly had to be abandoned
because of rioting by visiting
fans at Lansdowne Road. The
match was called off after seats
in the England section were
ripped up and missiles thrown.
The June 7 friendly will be
England’s first visit to the
Aviva Stadium.
“While inevitably the focus
for Roy Hodgson and his team
is on Brazil and the World Cup,
we are always planning further
ahead and we are delighted to
announce this fixture next summer,” Adrian Bevington, Club
England managing director said.
“It will be a significant moment
for England to play in Dublin
again, and due to the hard work
by both organisations on many
fronts we fully expect it to be a
fantastic occasion enjoyed by
both sets of fans.”
John Delaney, cheif executive of the FAI added: “The
inclusion of the England match
along with an eagerly anticipated qualification campaign
makes this sure to be a winning
ticket for Irish supporters.”
There was heartbreak, however, for the Irish women’s side
as they were unlucky to lose 32 defeat to European champions Germany in a thrilling
FIFA World Cup qualifier at
Tallaght Stadium in Dublin.
With Glasgow City star
Denise O’Sullivan in the start-
ing lineup, the Irishwomen took
an early lead thanks to a headed
goal by Louise Quinn in the
second minute of the match.
The Germans levelled matters
after the break through a penalty
by Simone Laudehr in the 65th
minute and looked to have the
match tied up in the 84th
minute when Lena Lotzen put
Germany in front.
Substitute Stephanie Roche,
however, equalised five minutes
later and Ireland looked likely
to maintain their unbeaten start
to qualifying in Group 1.
Joy turned to despair just a
minute later though, when
Germany’s Melanie Leupolz
lobbed Irish keeper Emma
Byrne—who was making a
record 106th appearance for her
country—to take all three points.
Next up for Ireland’s women
is a home qualifier against
Russia on May 7, where they
will be full of confidence about
picking up a result considering
their performance against the
European champions.
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HERE are great races
to look forward to
over the the next few
weeks. At the end of
the month there is the
Punchestown Festival, with races
like the Punchestown Gold Cup,
which sees On His Own,
Bobsworth, Boston Bob, Long Run
and First Lieutenant all running.
I fancy On His Own for this one.
In the Ladbrokes World Series
Hurdle, the top three are
Quevega, Annie Power and At
Fishers Cross. Hopefully Ruby
Walsh (right) will be back in
time to ride Annie Power. Ruby
blamed himself for her defeat at
Cheltenham, so hopefully things
work out better this time. I think
they will.
In the Boylesport Champion
Chase, Module, Hidden Cyclone,
Somersby, Balder Succes and
Champagne Fever are down to
run. I think Hidden Cyclone will
win this one.
There’s also The Oaks and the
two Guineas races at Newmarket.
The Oaks is very open, but the
two I fancy Tapestry and Ihtimal.
Tapestry may run and win the
1000 Guineas before she goes on
to win The Oaks. In the 2000
Guineas, Kingman is all the rage
after his latest win, but Rodger
Varian also has another hope in
the race—Kingston Hill—at a
bigger price, who could go well.
Kingston Hill also has a Derby
entry.
T
he average attendance at a
race meeting in the UK
was just under 4000 last
year. Ten years ago the average
attendance was 5000. So horse
racing is only second to football
in the UK.
With 1430 meetings in 2013,
that seems a lot, but probably half
of that total were staged for the
off course industry, where
crowds are poor, as are the betting markets. More meetings
mean more races for owners to
win. Punters have to lose more
money to pay for it. You can get
into some race meetings for £15,
but who really wants to pay that
to watch moderate horses, when
they can stay at home and watch
At The Races or Racing UK? At
Woodbine Race Track in
Toronto, Canada, you get in for
free at most meetings and even
the big meetings don't cost as
much as they do here. Crowds
will continue to go down as the
fare on show gets poorer.
Long gone are the days of the
Glasgow Fair fortnight, when
you had a better class of racing
at Ayr and Hamilton throughout
the fortnight. Now you only
really have the Scottish Grand
National, the Ayr Gold Cup and,
on a decent day, the Glasgow
Fair Monday meeting. Maybe
I'm showing my age, but those
Fair fortnight meetings seem so
far away now.
T
here are a lot of Irish
trainers sending their
horses over to Scotland
and the North of England. They
are getting quite a few winners
as they get better opportunities
with the smaller field sizes here
and less competition. The
Crawford Stable from Larne
does really well at Ayr and Tony
Martin does well at Perth in the
better class races.
So keep an eye out for the
Irish trainers at the smaller
meerings in Scotland and the
North of England. Good luck!