Hurleys to rise as tourists are urged to pitch in at parish Gathering

A rural parish is planning to give foreigners some stick — and a few sliotars — as part of a novel community celebration to mark The Gathering.

The Inniscarra Gathering Committee in Co Cork said whether you’re from Ballyanly or Bali, Donoughmore or Dubai, Matehy or Malawi, you’ll get a chance to try your hand at hurling and Gaelic football — two sports at the heart of almost every parish in the country — as part of their weekend event later this month.

They said they hope the “discover the extraordinary among the ordinary”-themed event will give The Gathering a new twist.

Inniscarra Gathering Committee member Liz Bond said: “Communities throughout the country have been coming up with ideas to capitalise on The Gathering, aimed at attracting people of Irish descent from across the globe. But we think we’ve come up with a very imaginative initiative.

“Instead of focussing solely on our diaspora, we have organised an event to showcase the best of rural Irish life to people from outside Ireland who are either living here, or who are visiting.”

The event, which will take place at the vast community sports complex in Ballyanly, near Blarney, from Jun 28-30, will be geared mostly towards the local community.

However, Ms Bond said there will be a special focus on their foreign visitors. “Many foreigners who have come to live and work here have seen hurling and football, but may have never had the chance to try them.”

As well as personal coaching in hurling and football skills, visitors will also get a chance to try tug-of-war, road bowling, and fly-fish casting — all against the backdrop of a country market.

“They will be taught the skills of our national games as they join locals celebrating a range of workshops, matches, and challenges on the day,” said Ms Bond.

She said organisers have promoted the event to the large multi-national workforce in several of Co Cork’s large pharmaceutical and tech employers, where in some cases, the workforce is up to 70% non-Irish.

Irish tourism company Paddywagon has also added the event to its itinerary and plans to bus tourists to it.

The weekend celebrations begin on the Friday night with a bonfire, followed on Saturday by a range of events, including an historical bus tour to the four corners of the parish at 10.30am, culminating with the launch of the Dead Pubs Society that evening. Following the closure of eight pubs in the area in recent years, a traditional rural pub will be recreated in the community centre for a set-dancing workshop and céilí later.

- www.inniscarra.org