EuropeanIrish.com News Stories

More Irish people head to Europe, than to UK or USA

Cork Ireland, January 23rd 2008

A recent report by the CSO indicates that between the years 2006 and 2007, at least 25% of all Irish Emigrants settled in Continental Europe (CSO Population/ Migration Report December 07).
This is greater than those travelling to the UK 23.9%, and more than 3 times greater than the percentage travelling to the USA, both the traditional destinations for Irish emigrants.
It is estimated that approximately 300,000 Irish people have made their homes across Europe, and with 3.5 million trips by Irish residents to the Continent in 2006, Ireland’s relationship with her European neighbours has deepened considerably.
The Irish emigrants have settled in their new countries, raised families, and have sown the roots of future generations. As in the past, they have brought with them the wealth of culture that is unique to the Irish, a tradition long since enjoyed in both England and the States. A testament to this is the increasing number of Irish Clubs and Societies that have grown up across Europe, catering for both the Irish and native Europeans all of whom have a shared love of Irish Culture, Sport and Music.
For those interested in the Irish Scene across Europe, there is one unique central point – EuropeanIrish.com.
The brainchild of well travelled Irishman, Siasy Collins, this website is the focal point for all the information one needs to enjoy the Irish scene across Europe.
For the past 5 years the site has been managed on a part-time basis. Since May 2007, however, the emphasis has been on upgrading the existing site, to provide Irish in Europe with the opportunity to connect with other Irish in Europe, and with similar interests.
Siasy Collins, Editor & Publisher, EuropeanIrish, having been based in Europe himself, and involved in the local Irish scene there, explained that Irish people in Europe - want to find where to watch the All-Ireland or Heineken Cup, and where to find Irish Dancing Schools, Bands, Festivals, Irish Sports & Social Clubs, The Irish Embassy, and a choice of more than 2200 Irish Pubs across the Continent, when any local Irish Entertainment or Sport Events are on, and European Irish News.
“The new look Europeanirish.com has a lot of new benefits for visitors. The website is easy to use & navigate. You can build your profile and meet others through M I N E, which is My Irish Network in Europe. You can also chat with others, create a personal story and add events, items or news”, Siasy added.
Irish in Europe can always feel close to home, with the short and lower cost flights, and now through this website one can tune-in live online to over 50 Irish Radio stations, and download free music, supplied by Irish bands based at home and in Europe.

With thousands visiting the website daily, EuropeanIrish.com has something added for everybody, whether you’re an Irish person living in Europe or planning travel to Europe, or whether you’re from Continental Europe, enjoying Irish music, culture, sports or pubs.
Do you know any Irish person in Europe? Let them know today.
Are you planning a trip there for a vacation, on business, to study or to live?
The Next step is simple – just click on www.EuropeanIrish.com, browse the site, stay a while and enjoy it.
– Ends –

It seems that Yahoo has made changes to its authentication and Yahoo sites access, blocking you from accessing your own site, if you access mysql / phpmyadmin, and then run any query or make any table update.

It tracks your IP address, and blocks you from accessing the site, with an error 999,

it suggests that you have exceeded your bandwidth,

but that is not necessarily the case.

In my case a table with 8 fields, I removed 2,

Boom - Yahoo error 999.

”

Unable to process request at this time — error 999
Unfortunately, we are unable to process your request at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.”

I believe that there is a new change made to Yahoo in an effort to prevent spam, but in fact it is blocking its own business clients from accessing their own sites.

Yahoo error 999 errors are not NEW, but may be a response returned for a new scenario now.

Many examples of the error - on Yahoo services (including Yahoo owned  del.icio.us  )

Perhaps the develoers will address it soon.
Blocking legitimat users from Yahoo services - is a bug - and a serious one - whether Yahoo see it as that or not - time will tell - we’ll wait and see.

It impacts across browsers - ie6, ie7, firefox

The full text of the ERROR is:

 
Sorry, Unable to process request at this time — error 999.
Unfortunately we are unable to process your request at this time. This error is usually temporary. Please try again later.
If you continue to experience this error, it may be caused by one of the following:

1. You may want to scan your system for spyware and viruses, as they may interfere with your ability to connect to Yahoo!. For detailed information on spyware and virus protection, please visit the Yahoo! Security Center.
2. This problem may be due to unusual network activity coming from your Internet Service Provider. We recommend that you report this problem to them.

While this error is usually temporary, if it continues and the above solutions don’t resolve your problem, please let us know.

###

Both explanations given are rubbish, it seems, as it is not due to anything unusual from the ISP,

and spyware and viruses are not the issue -
talk about scaring people - when in fact it is a Yahoo internal bug in their scripts and code which has caused this problem - around since at least 2004.
There’s a quick turn-around of a problem found - NOT!

The Let us know is even more maddening, as it usually goes to a page that does not exist. and returns a page which states

Could not connect to arc database: Array

I hope this is resoved soon, as I need to access the db daily, via phpmyadmin,  

Wouldn’t it be great to hear more about top Irish sports stars who are competing for Ireland all across the Continent.

EuropeanIrish.com will feature any sport and all age groups too, if you are Irish and competing in Europe – you are just as important as the Irish Senior soccer team or Munster Rugby, or the Olympic Athletes.EuropeanIrish.com wants to hear from you all - simply visit http://www.europeanirish.com/ News and add the News story.

or maybe you are based in Europe and run a club or a member of one which features a number of irish players, - if you have a news story add it.The Irish in Europe would love to read about it.

Bobsleigh

Did you know that Ireland has a women’s bobsleigh team?

Aoife Hoey does more than just competes in the Womens Bobsleigh European Cup.

It was held across different European courses in November

In Konigsee Germany, located along and bobsleigh world cups and Lake Konigsee, and near a national park – I has always been a crowd puller for the skiing championships.

Held on the 29th November the 2nd round of the European Championships(EC)

Aoife Hoey came 14th in Europe, ahead of Austria;s top 2 contestants, and top entries from Canada, Russia, Czech Republic, and France

4 days earlier, in Igls Austria, Aoife , with Jennifer Ann Corcoran were beaten to a bronze medal by 0.28 of a second.  Coming a terrific 5th place in this European Cup  was indeed an outstanding achievement -

Boxing: Events in the first 6 months with Irish Boxers in Europe – Italy, France, Greece, Russia

February

24th  to 2nd March         Olympic Qualifier               Italy Pescara

April

6th-13th           Olympic Qualifier                                  Greece

June

European Union Championships Poland

There will be plenty more European Boxing events with Irish Boxiers  this year - we will add them to the events as they arrive.

 - Find all Irish Sports associations including IABA (Boxing)  at:
http://www.europeanirish.com/sports_association.php

Basketball – who has made Ireland’s National Cup Finals

by Eurobasket News - Jan 14, 2008– The Tigers and Killester made it through to the National Cup Finals. They secured their respective victories in the National Basketball Arena yesterday to claim the Final spots. The Tigers overcame UCD Marian, while Dart Killester bumped Shamrock Rovers to advance. UCD/Marian are rare guests to this stage of the competition as they made it to the semis for the first time in over 20 years. The Tigers meanwhile defend their last season’s National Cup title.

http://www.eurobasket.com/irl/irl.asp

Basketball

The National Cup finals, all grades played, from weekend beginning Friday, January 25, is as follows:

Fri 25/01/2008
U-18 W
Team Montonette Hotel Cork v Maree; 18:30

Fri 25/01/2008
U-18 M
Maree v Ballincollig; 20:30

Sat 26/01/2008
SWC
Singletons SuperValu Donoughmore v Mustang St. Paul’s; 11:30

Sat 26/01/2008
SMC
UCD Marian v St. Vincent’s; 13:30

Sat 26/01/2008
U-20 W
Team Montonette Hotel Cork v Meteors; 17:30

Sat 26/01/2008
All Star Game; TBC

Sat 26/01/2008
U-20 M
An Cearnog Nua Moycullen v UCD Marian; 20:30

Sun 27/01/2008
WSL
Team Montonette Hotel Cork v Bausch & Lomb Waterford Wildcats; 13:00

Sun 27/01/2008
MSL
Abrakebabra Tigers v DART Killester; 15:15

Irish Basketball association website at :

Find all Irish Sports associations including Basketball Ireland at:
http://www.europeanirish.com/sports_association.php

Irish amateur boxers celebrated another outstanding year in 2007, winning a raft of medals in international competition against some of the best nations in the world.

Paddy Barnes, Katie Taylor, Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland, Roy Sheahan and the Irish schoolboy squad, who claimed an astonishing two gold, one silver and five bronze medals at the European schoolboy championships in Portsmouth, England, were just some of the names that grabbed the headlines.

Six gold medals were won in European competition, with Ireland dominating the European Union Championships courtesy of top of the podium finishes from Egan, Sutherland and Sheahan.

Read more

http://www.iaba.ie/boxing/Main/News_2007_Review.htm

Find all IABA Irish Sports associations including badminton Ireland at:
http://www.europeanirish.com/sports_association.php

Ireland’s Pat Burke is victorious with Khimky –  in Top European basketball

by Eurobasket News - Jan 16, 2008

 Pat Burke (208-C-73, college: Auburn) nailed 4 points and made 4 rebounds for Khimky in Group D of Uleb Cup that thumped Anwil Wloclawek 90:63 at home to remain on top in Group D. Anwil got to a better start as Dunn and Gerrod Henderson combined for 10 points to give the visitors a 10:2 lead. Daniel Ewing replied with consecutive points for Khimky to cut the deficit but Polish team secured a 26:22 advantage after the first frame.

More:

http://www.eurobasket.com/irl/irl.asp

Badminton:  there are Irish competing in Poland, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands (twice), Austria and Germany over the next 6 weeks 

Come out wherever you are based and support Irish sports stars playing near you.

January           

17-20 Polish International Junior Championships     

Glubcyze  Poland

24-27 Swedish International Stockholm       

Taby Sweden

February:

08-10    International Spanish Junior 2008

Spain

12-17   European Mens & Womens Team Championships 2008       

Almere Netherlands

20-23   Austrian International            

Vienna  Austria

26-02   Yonex German Open 2008    

Rhein-Ruhr Halle/ Mulheim, Germany

27-02   Dutch Junior International 2008        

Haarlem Netherlands

Details at

http://www.internationalbadminton.org

Badminton: Scott Evans based in chance to play 2 of the world’s top players. 

Scott Evans is ’s number 1 Men’s singles badminton player and is currently ranked inside the elite Men’s world top 50. 

Scott is looking forward towards representing atthe Bejing Olympics in 2008 and is currently situated well inside the qualifying mark. The final list will be announced in May 2008 

Scott has represented at all levels and his biggest achivement to date was playing in the Denmark Super Series 2007 when he took his place amongst the worlds top 32 shuttlers after beating three players inside the worlds top 25 along the way. A first for an Irish Badminton Player…. Scott was also the beaten finalist in the Croatian Open 2007 

Scott’s is currently living and training in under the watchfull eye of former Danish great Jim Laugesen.   

……this week to take part in the opening Super Series events of the year. Scott plays the winner of the Pablo Abian and Yu Hsin Hsieh match in the qualifiers on the 15th January. A game against world number 5 Peter Gade of in the first round proper awaits the winner of this qualifying section. The following week in Korea Scott has an opening qualifying game against Bobby Milroy of  and should he win that he will have a tough match against Yi Lu of all on the 22nd January. The winner of this qualifying section will play Hong Chen of , the world number 10, in the first round proper. 

Best of luck to Scott in both tournaments and as always you can follow his daily progress on his blog and website at www.scottevansirl.com where Scott will be giving his thoughts and views on all his matches. Pop into his forum and leave a good luck message or join the site to get news of upcoming live online chats with Scott. 

Read recent article on Scott at http://www.badzine.info/content/view/780/3/ 

MORE on Irish in badminton : 

Find all Irish Sports asociations including badminton Ireland at:
http://www.europeanirish.com/sports_association.php

Athletics Vienna Indoor International   Austria   2008-01-29 
Athletics - Indoor Meeting Bratislava  Slovakia  2008-01-31
Athletics: Budapest Indoor Meeting  Hungary  2008-02-02
European Clubs Cross Country Albufeira  Portugal  2008-02-03

http://www.europeanirish.com/events.php

Login / Join to search by Country, and Event type - Sport

Athletics: Belfast International Cross Country
 Last week at the cross country international Dave Webb and Lee Carey were 5th and 6th, men’s 9k,
In the women’s 5.k, Deirdre Byrne won bronze,Vicky Gill 4th, Linda Byrne Milton 5th,  Filicity Milton 8th.
Men’s 7.4 Veterans’ race was won by Dave Morwood, Gary Crossan 2nd both over 35s, with 3rd place Robert Quinn also winning the over 40 race.
9th place Dominic Bonner won the over 45s race. Matt Shields 12th won the over 50s.
U17 girls was won by Ciara Mageean – of City of Lisburn AC.
 Full results at : http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=3144

Athletics: Young Irish win Gold at the Celtic Nations  Cross Country Edinburgh
Ciara Mageean and Shane Quinn win gold at U17 in EdinburghIreland also won Gold in the Celtic Nations team events in the Women’s u23 team 6.7k, and the Women’s U20 team 6.7k,
There were 4 teams – Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ulster – which is another Irish team really.

U17 Girls, Ciara Mageean from Ulster team won Gold, Ireland’s Shannon Ryan being the best of the Irish coming in 6th.
In the Boys U17, Shane Quinn from ferrybank crossed the line ahead of the field – to claim Ireland team’s only individual Gold.

In the men’s 4, Gary Murray was best if the Irish in 7th.
Fionnula Britton was best of the women in 11th, but strong finishes by Irish U20 and U23 runners claimed Ireland gold in each team event.
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=3179

Athletics:
Top European Hurdlers Callenge O’Rourke At The Odyssey Arena
European Hurdles medallists Jenny Kallur (Sweden) and Christina Vukicevic (Norway) will race against current Irish World Indoors Champion Derval O’Rourke.
in the Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Championships on 26th and 27th January at the Odyssey Arena Belfast. The event is organised and promoted by Athletics Northern Ireland and the Athletic Association of Ireland and in conjunction with Belfast City Council and Sport NI as funding partners.

24-year old Jenny Kallur’s the twin sister, Susanna is the current European hurdles champion and 2007 world ranked number 2. Jenny took the silver medal behind winner Susannah in the 60m hurdles event at the Madrid European Indoor Championships in 2005.

The Swede’s current indoor time should provide ideal competition for O’Rourke who beat Kallur when taking the European Outdoor silver medal in 2006 in a new Irish record of 12.72 seconds. Also taking the start line will be Kallur’s training partner Christina Vukicevic. The 20 year old Norwegian is the World Outdoor junior silver medallist from Beijing in 2006.
More at
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=3202#more-3202

2008 Athletics events across the Continent with Irish participation have been added today.

The Brand new website is going live his week.

we are currently tranfering the data from the existing site to the new one.

There are many  athletics events this year, chances than no matter what part of Europe you are based - Irish athletes will be competing nearby sometime this year.
These include events in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Russia, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and Belgium.
You can even start planning for 2009, with events in Russia, Italy, Lithuania, Serbia, Finland, Germany and Ireland all added already.

currently can be seen at

http://www.europeanirish.com/new/events.php

A recent topic posed the question of Irish identity. I don’t recall the precise wording so for fear of annoying The Mammiban I won’t use an exact quotation but it was something like ‘What does it mean to be Irish?’ It’s not something I think about much. I have regular almost daily contact with old pals in Dublin & neither do they. None of us ever thought of ourselves as football shirts. Lately though it’s become a matter of some urgency. Lately I find I’m the subject of the Hurling Test. The Hurling Test? Norman Tebbit, a non-descript Goebbals lookalike who paraded thuggery like a pet poodle, came up with the concept ‘The Cricket Test’. This was an on-the-spot identity test; who you cheered for in cricket in England determined your identity. It was of course a cheap shot, worthy of Rule 26 at it’s best but when the muck flies some of it always sticks. Lately I’m under scrutiny as to how Irish I am.Mostly it’s about music. Maybe it should be called the Christy Moore Test; if you love Christy you’re Irish & if you don’t you’re a .. a .. a what? I was trying to colour some music & pipes & whistles were the only option. Hi-tec promises much & delivers little .. a case of anything gores & nothing works. Biz as usual. The pipes, the uilleann pipes are not a unique concept in structure but they are a one-off miracle in tone & dynamics. You can’t sample the pipes. Well you can but it sounds like someone set fire to the petshop. So I took a look at ITM in Nederland. For those of you who don’t know ITM is Irish Traditional Music. No ‘Inc.’ Not yet.

The results were startling. It seems ITM is very popular in Nederland. Besides the usual theme pubs, Scarcity O’Pahtayties & such like, many people actually play Irish music. Sorry .. I meant many play ITM. So what, I asked myself, is ITM. There are of course language & cultural anomalies. Or at least you’d think there would be but there is’nt. ITM is a kind of full-blast O’Disneyland version of Darby O’Gill & Deh Littil Peepil. Enter Christy Moore & Co.

I did have some really great recording sessions with a Dutchman who played whistles, accordian & bodhran. His bodhran playing was nothing short of astonishing. I started calling him Ginger Baker. For those of you who don’t know, Ginger Baker was known way back in the 1960’s to bang the odd drum with an ensemble called The Cream. My Dutch bodhran player quickly got over the shock of being likened to a ‘pop group’. Most bodhran players would improve their sound no end if they played the bodhran with a knife. Or a hammer-action drill. Or a bottle of nitric acid. Or suspend disbelief a while, pretend it’s a pittza & eat the bodhran. Anything but play it. This guy was something else entirely. He played with fierce drive & impeccable rhythm. This guys playing was the dogs ballocks. His whistle playing was every bit as good only he did’nt always think so. I wondered why this could be. I found out soon enough. We had a few goofy takes but I just sampled & dropped it back in again. It works. Simple? No. After 10 beers all playing had to stop. This was not because we were unable to play any more. Au contraire, the kitchen was just warming up. The crockery was just starting to rattle but it all stopped dead on it’s arse. I may have heard some mutterings about protestant work-ethos but in all god’s teeth I was too busy looking for the bottle-opener.

It seems the ITM is now an off-shoot of The Legion of Mary. Remember them? The forerunners of The Mammiban .. If you’re not old enough to remember them just think Joni Mitchell. Who? Joni Mitchell [nee Anderson] wrote & continues to write incredibly great songs & music but in the 70’s she was the icon of the Irish Professional Virgins, all sensitive winsome souls who had all had encounters with their very own Uncle Ernie. Maybe this is where Irish Identity begins to make some sense of a sort. Irish women were all had by Uncle Ernie [or Seamas or Conor] whereas Irish men were the exclusive-abuse franchise of our educators, Brothers & Fathers alike. It’s only fair to say all this was before the rise of The Kerry Babies, Ireland’s first go at post-natal contraception. You never heard of The Kerry Babies either?? It’s very simple [again]; you are a sexually active teenage girl in Iteland with no rights to control your own fertility so you get pregnabt, give birth & then throw your new-born off the nearest cliff. See? Simple! Never mind; let’s get on with the gig. Where were we? Oh yeah, pipes & whistles …

I looked about for a piper. I took a name on good advice. The name even had a website!! I looked. It looked good too. They even have c.d. sales. Annaman scian! It looked good ’til I looked at the c.d. samples. It was all Mudder Reilly’s Drainpipes, Johnsons Motorcar, Finnigans Elephant & McBrides Railins .. same old same old ..

All well & good. It takes all sorts. The website had all the usual awful personae pics of people who feel the need to wear hats to play. They should change their heads! But needs must & the divil drives so I drove on. I sent a mail. I got a mail back, a glowing positive mail. I thought. So I sent some mp3 of work-in-progress. In return I got nothing. Cuiness [pro: kew-ness]. Nothing. So I wrote more. You get the ‘come on’, what do you do? Join the Legion of Mary. Alas I am a dozy jackeen for I persisted. Finally I got a vitriolic reply, a nasty piece of pidgin-intelligentia drivil, objecting to my inference of plastic paddy syndrome. Plastic Paddy Syndrome. Never heard of that either? Well now … sez he ….

You think you’re Irish? No you’re not. You are a value-added-acquisition [Celtic]. I found this out by the slow road. My bodhran player brought along a dvd on one session. For those of you who think you know; a session is where/when everyone gets drunk & sings about having no pahtayties. For those of you who do know; a session is where you play & record music. After the obligatory Legion of Mary no-music-after-10-pints edict was reached we watched the dvd. It was The Best Celtic Music From Ireland. ?? It was produced under the moniker Gael Force. Unless my memory fails me Gael Force was the music of Jack MacAuley, except of course Jack played in a ‘pop group’, called Them, whose ranks also included another grumpy Irishman named George Ivan Morrison. This Gael Force was another parcel of spuds. No sign of Sean O’Riada. Of course Sean O’Riada is dead but his music is also dead now, except for when it’s ponced off by the chancers & culture vultures. Still think you’re Irish? This abomination of a dvd featured Mary Black doing her best Shirley Bassey & Christy [praise & blessings be upon him] Moore doing his gold-plated-shovel bits. Still think you’re Irish? Tick the right boxes & you are. The only thing that shone on the entire presentation was Sharon Shannon. Her band rocked & rolled & defied gravity in places. Stunning stuff. That’s Irish; break the rules, push the limits, make wonderstuff straight from the kitchen. Do miracles with a little. I believe the Dutch is ‘We row with the spoons we have’.

I thought the English were the New Irish. Essentially stupid. They, the English, qualify in all the right catagories .. liars as leaders, export the poor, feed the rich, the De Valera Constitution [round up the usual suspects][& shoot them], the Cosgrave dynasty, Garret FitzBallocks, the small farmers & the eternal no pahtayties mentality. The English show no signs of improvement; Soviet Britain is as it does, Blairznev foxtrot-oscars only to be replaced by Broondropov. Plus ca merde plus ca meme merde. Just look at the football team [though on recent shows there maybe Ireland is the New England]. Same old same old. But Dutch ITM [patent pending] shows all the signs of overtaking all possible forecasts. You want to be Irish? Go Dutch. Get a whistle or a bodhran or a fiddle & play Flahertys Jax or Me Mudder Have No Boat It Have Sunk & you’ll do fine. Play your cards right & they’ll give you honorary wooded shoes. If you want to be really rilly rilly good grab a set of pipes & a stupid hat, spend 8 hours a day meditating on your analysis of the infinite .. blaziz jayziz you’re Irish!!!

I’m not. I was only born there. I only lived there. I realise that does’nt qualify me as Irish. I don’t like Christy Moore? .. c’mon! I’m just a weirdo from Finglas. Finglas used to be in Dublin. Dublin Ireland not Idaho. Same difference. Phil Lynott was a nigger in Dublin. Me too. Just a nigger of a different colour.

You be Irish. I’ve had enough of the disease.

Just get your pipes & your hippy hat & blow rasberries. No-one will notice.

Austin Coll

Zwolle

Dec 21

The first ever survey about Irish people in Europe is being conducted.

If You are Irish and are based in or moving to Continental Europe -

This short survey is for you!

Please forward this email to every Irish person you know living in Europe. 
It is really important for the Irish in Europe.
Please answer just a few short questions in 90 seconds or less Click the Link and answer the questions, thanks.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=c_2bbUKK6N36zUdjY5Fx1FKA_3d_3d

What are the best and hardest things about living in Europe ?
Why might you stay, why might you return?

This survey is specifically about you - Irish people living in Continental Europe.

If you know of any Irish person living anywhere in Continental Europe , please send this survey to him or her today.
If you know many Irish People living in Europe, please send this to them all. This very important survey about you and for you,  and is finishing this week. If you are Irish in Europe - now you can get your say. Click Here to take survey - Have You taken the survey yet? 

Thanks in Advance
Siasy Collins

The Hague, Netherlands, 8th December 2007

Killurin 3-13   1-10 County Europe
“Killurin, winners of the Leinster Special Junior Club Hurling Championship defeated a brave ‘County Europe’  in the Historic Away Leinster Final  held in The Hague, The Netherlands on Saturday December 8th” reports Siasy Collins, Editor of EuropeanIrish.com.

There was no shortage of skill and clash of the ash on display, as Killurin and Europe played out a keenly contested close first half. Just a single point separated the sides at half time.
Played over the full hour, Europe team which although fit, had not played together as a competitive team before, and is used to playing the European Championship over shorter 2 20-minute halves.
The more experience of the Killurin club side from Offaly began to tell late in the second half. Having whipped to a 3 point lead 1-13 to 1-10 with a few minutes left in the match, they finished the stronger with 2 dynamite late goals, to an overall win 3-13 to Europe’s 1-10. Maastricht based Hurling referee was Tony Bass.

 “As the winners of the 2007 European Hurling Championship, Den Haag GAA Club of The Netherlands, one of the longest established and most successful GAA clubs on mainland Europe, were awarded the honour of hosting Killurin and Europe in this first ever match by a mainland Europe Hurling team in the Leinster Championship series.”, says Marie Sheehan, Den Haag GAA Club PRO. “County Europe team comprised hurlers from clubs in Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, Zurich and host club Den Haag.”

“European County Board (ECB) currently encompasses 27 clubs in 13 countries speaking 11 different languages with over 600 male and 170 female adult players, which is an increase of 28% on two years ago! The largest clubs in Europe being Paris, Luxembourg, Munich & The Hague but all still have less than 100 members each. “ stated Eileen Jennings, Chairperson of the ECB.

Killurin from Offaly were crowned Leinster Special Junior Club Hurling Champions when they defeated Park Ratheniska from Laois on November 18th. On December 8th they added the first Away Leinster Special Junior Club Title to their honours.

www.EuropeanIrish.com

The Hague, Netherlands, 8th December 2007

Killurin 3-13   1-10 County Europe
“Killurin, winners of the Home Leinster Special Junior Club Hurling Championship defeated a brave  “County Europe”  in the Historic Away Leinster Final held in The Hague, The Netherlands on Saturday December 8th” reports Siasy Collins, Editor of EuropeanIrish.com - the resource for Irish people living in Contiental Europe.

Hurling is one of Ireland’s two national sports, and is currently also played in Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) clubs across Continental Europe – in Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, Zurich, Den Haag, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Groningen,  Munich, Dusseldorf, Budapest, Vienna, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Knn Croatia and Llati Finland. Gaelic Football, Ireland’s other National Sport is also played in Sweden, Czech Republic and Portugal.

Played at lightening speed, hurling is similar to hockey, played on a sports field, and the players can pickup the ‘sliotar’ (ball) and strike it long distances with the hurley. With ‘H’ shaped goals, 3 points are awarded for a Goal under the crossbar, and 1 point for a score over the crossbar and between the posts. The match is played with 15 players per side, a standard club match lasting 60 minutes, played in 2 halves.

“As the winners of the 2007 European Hurling Championship, Den Haag GAA Club of The Netherlands, one of the longest established and most successful GAA clubs on mainland Europe, were awarded the honour of hosting Killurin and Europe in this first ever match by a mainland Europe Hurling team in the Leinster Championship series (Leinster is an Irish Province)”, says Marie Sheehan, Den Haag GAA Club PRO. “County Europe team comprised hurlers from clubs in Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, Zurich and host club Den Haag.”

There was no shortage of skill and clash of the ash on display, as Killurin and Europe played out a keenly contested close first half.
Just a single point separated the sides at half time.
Played over the full hour, Europe team which although fit, had not played together as a competitive team before, and is used to playing the European Championship over shorter 2 20-minute halves.
The more experience of the Killurin club side from Offaly began to tell late in the second half. Having whipped to a 3 point lead 1-13 to 1-10 with a few minutes left in the match, they finished the stronger with 2 dynamite late goals, to an overall win 3-13 to Europe’s 1-10. Maastricht based Hurling referee was Tony Bass.

“European County Board (ECB) currently encompasses 27 clubs in 13 countries speaking 11 different languages with over 600 male and 170 female adult players, which is an increase of 28% on two years ago! The largest clubs in Europe being Paris, Luxembourg, Munich & The Hague but all still have less than 100 members each.”  stated Eileen Jennings, Chairperson of the ECB.

Killurin from Offaly were crowned Leinster Special Junior Club Hurling Champions when they defeated Park Ratheniska from Laois on November 18th. On December 8th they added the first Away Leinster Special Junior Club Title to their honours.

www.EuropeanIrish.com

It was early November & I was barely a week in Nederland when I saw something that gave me a fright. Passing a window in downtown Zwolle I saw a poster of St. Patrick. It had to be him; long white hair & beard & a little smile. It could have been Karl Marx were it not for the pointy hat. Or was it? I wondered. It’s a sight no Irish exile can not notice but when you reach what insurance companies call ‘a certain age’ things take on deeper meanings. Maybe it was Brian Boru. Near my childhood home, in the Phibsboro area of Dublin, there was a pub called The Brian Boru. On the front of this pub there was a very large painting of Brain Boru. It looked just like the poster in Zwolle, except in the Dublin version he was surrounded by a forest of up-raised swords & pikes & other implements of destruction. Even as a child this fascinated me. We were told Brian Boru was some kind of holy warrior who drove the Danes out of Ireland & was slain by a dirty low-down Dane as he prayed in his tent. What he was doing in a tent was also a subject of curiosity, as tents were the domain of tinkers, beatniks & communists. What Brian Boru was doing on the front of a pub was even more mysterious, because we were all on the pledge, sworn to forsake the demon drink though none of us were old enough to know the taste of it, except when Ma wanted to smoke out the