Post by earl on Jul 4, 2008 15:07:42 GMT
He's a schoolteacher who has played, refereed and administered the traditional Irish sports of hurling and Gaelic football. Now John O'Flynn can add author and historian to his resume with The History of The Gaelic Athletic Association in Canada.
The product of two years of research is packed with historical anecdotes and names of players past and present "to acknowledge the fact these people enjoyed what they did, they were prepared to sacrifice whatever time was needed for the games to be played," O'Flynn said. "When this country is celebrating its 241st birthday, that there would be some literature and some memory of the Irish communities."
Hurling, Europe's oldest field game, was exported to Newfoundland with its primarily Irish immigrants and played in St. John's for the first time in 1788. In 1800, hurling was played on a frozen pond near Halifax in what may have been the first game of hockey. Some 45 years later hurling was banned from the streets of Quebec City.
O'Flynn points out that Johnny Canuck was a nickname for the Irish by French-Canadians at the time--it sounds oddly like Connacht, the western province of Ireland.
Before it was a football and basketball powerhouse, Vancouver College was steeped in the Gaelic games, thanks to the four founding Christian brothers in 1922. The Sons of Erin Gaelic Football Club at St. Patrick's Parish made 12th and Main a hotbed in the 1960s.
Frank Evers, a star of County Galway's Gaelic football teams of the 1950s and 1960s, came to live in West Vancouver. His trophies and medals reside at the hall of fame in Dublin. He refereed a 2005 tournament in White Rock.
Toronto celebrated St. Patrick's Day in 1990 and 1991 with exhibitions featuring the best teams from Ireland. O'Flynn hopes Vancouver gets a taste of the best someday.
"It's been nearly 20 years since they brought the teams," he said. "Maybe B.C. Place with that [proposed] retractable roof could be the ticket that could spur the GAA to show off its games of hurling and football with the all-stars."
For now, locals will have to settle for the Vancouver Irish Sports and Social Club-hosted July 12-13 tournament at Brockton Oval. Men's and women's teams from Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver will compete at the storied Stanley Park ground
The product of two years of research is packed with historical anecdotes and names of players past and present "to acknowledge the fact these people enjoyed what they did, they were prepared to sacrifice whatever time was needed for the games to be played," O'Flynn said. "When this country is celebrating its 241st birthday, that there would be some literature and some memory of the Irish communities."
Hurling, Europe's oldest field game, was exported to Newfoundland with its primarily Irish immigrants and played in St. John's for the first time in 1788. In 1800, hurling was played on a frozen pond near Halifax in what may have been the first game of hockey. Some 45 years later hurling was banned from the streets of Quebec City.
O'Flynn points out that Johnny Canuck was a nickname for the Irish by French-Canadians at the time--it sounds oddly like Connacht, the western province of Ireland.
Before it was a football and basketball powerhouse, Vancouver College was steeped in the Gaelic games, thanks to the four founding Christian brothers in 1922. The Sons of Erin Gaelic Football Club at St. Patrick's Parish made 12th and Main a hotbed in the 1960s.
Frank Evers, a star of County Galway's Gaelic football teams of the 1950s and 1960s, came to live in West Vancouver. His trophies and medals reside at the hall of fame in Dublin. He refereed a 2005 tournament in White Rock.
Toronto celebrated St. Patrick's Day in 1990 and 1991 with exhibitions featuring the best teams from Ireland. O'Flynn hopes Vancouver gets a taste of the best someday.
"It's been nearly 20 years since they brought the teams," he said. "Maybe B.C. Place with that [proposed] retractable roof could be the ticket that could spur the GAA to show off its games of hurling and football with the all-stars."
For now, locals will have to settle for the Vancouver Irish Sports and Social Club-hosted July 12-13 tournament at Brockton Oval. Men's and women's teams from Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver will compete at the storied Stanley Park ground