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 Curling, golf, shinty, hurling — all Celtic sports. And don't forget Ba, the toughest, meanest sport in the world. In the capital of the Orkneys a town divided fights north/south to score a goal with the ball or 'ba. Over roofs, through homes, zigzagging up/down streets — it's no holds barred as each team is determined to win. Then when it's all over, for this game is played only on New Year's Day and these are Scots, both sides retire to the goal winner's home for more than a few drams.
Shown above: Ba in all it's fighting glory.
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Ah! Towards the end of the Masters at Augusta, it actually hurt to watch Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy choke. The pressure no doubt was too much for the young player from Holywood, N.I. For 2 days he led the prestigious golf tournament, the first major of the year, the harbinger of spring, and the one in which the winner gets the longed-for Green Jacket.
Regardless, McIlroy deserves recognition for what such a young man managed in 3 days of golf. He’s been compared to Tiger Woods; a comparison that has merit for Tiger too has been known to collapse towards the end of a pressure-filled tournament.
So watch this kid. He has the potential to be one heck of a golfer.
Rory’s a relatively unknown 21-year-old golfer, born May 4, 1989, who has represented his country both as an amateur and professional. At 17, he topped the World Amateur Golf Ranking and in 2009 became the youngest player ever to break the top 50 as a professional. He went on to reach the top 10, the youngest player since Sergio Garcia. Today he ranks 9th.
His first appearance at The Masters was in 2009 when he finished in 20th place but still 2 shots under par. His first PGA Tour win was in 2010 at the Quail Hollow Championship on May 2, where he shot a 62 in the final round, setting a new course record. That made him the only player since Tiger Woods to win a PGA Tour event before his 21st birthday. Last year he also was a representative of Europe in the Ryder Cup, winning a crucial half-point to help Europe win the Cup.
I’m an avid armchair golfer and if Rory McIlroy continues to be visible on the pro tour this year, I’ll let you know.
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Robert Dickie, a former British super featherweight and World Boxing Council international champion died last October from a heart attack at the age of 46.
Late last month a dinner was held in Llanelli to launch the Robert Dickie Trust, with monies raised being donated to local charities and other causes in the areas of Llanelli and Swansea.
A number of well known boxers attended the dinner, including former WEC welterweight contender Colin Jones and former WBO world cruiserweight champion Enzo Manccarinelli, who were joined by John Feeney and Steve Sims, two boxes who were beaten by Robert Dickie.
Over 550 attended the dinner.
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Soccer-mad Brazil owes a Scottish dye master for its passion for what the Brits refer to as football. Thomas Donohoe, from Busby in Renfrewshire, emigrated from Scotland to Rio de Janeiro in 1893 and took his love of soccer with him, according to an 1891 census.
In April 1894, he organized a five-aside game after ordering a ball and boots from Britain because he could find none in Brazil. That was a full 6 months earlier than the team put together in Sao Paulo by Charles Miller.
The 1891 census confirms the 31-year old Donohoe’s Scottish roots. The Scottish Football Museum has been presented with a copy of the relevant extract from the census.
(From BBC.co.uk)
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39-year old Irish champion golfer Padraig Harrington has a room of his own at the Stackstown Golf Club in Rathfanham, Dublin, the course where he started his career.
The room will display the trophies, jackets, scorecards, photographs and other souvenirs from his years on courses world-wide. There will be pieces of crystal and even a replica of the Claret Jug he was awarded after his win in the British Open in 2008. And there may be less memorable items, such as the card he failed to sign at the 2001 Benson and Hedges International. Golfers who fail to sign their scorecards are automatically disqualified.
The Stackstown Glub was founded by Gardai commissioner Edmund Garvey in the 1970s and 40 officers from the Gardai (Irish police) are members.
Not only was it the place where Harrington took his first stroke, it is also where he met his wife Caroline the day she joined the club at 16. He and she started collecting his memorabilia with over 200 pieces in their home as well as in his mother’s house.
Padraig Harrington is considered to be the greatest Irish golfer of all time.
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Look up International Tartan Index no. 2034. It’s the Maple Leaf Tartan, designed by Davod Weiser in 1964 in anticipation of Canada’s Centenary in 1967. And now it has been approved as an official symbol of Canada. To quote the Commercial Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Canada: “In creating the Maple Leaf Tartan fabric, David Weiser captured the natural phenomena of these leaves turning from summer into autumn. The green is the early colour of the foliage. Gold appears at the turn of autumn. Red shows up at the coming of the first frost. The two tones of brown find their way throughout the leaf creating a prolific profusion of colour.”
If you’d like a garment fashioned in the Maple Leaf Tartan, you might want to get hold of Veronica MacIsaac, Halifax’s designer working exclusively in tartan to order and whose fashions will be on display in New York City during Tartan Week.
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