Coursing enjoyed a renaissance under Desmond
After the lilting strains of ‘Limerick You’re A Lady’, for the connections of Pumpkin Hayes, winner of the Kitty Butler Stakes, after the comic verses of ‘Johnny Hughes Bar’ for Woodpark Rebel, owned by Johnny Quinn from Newmarket-on-Fergus, winner of the Champion Bitch Stakes; even after the lovely ‘Mount Massie, The Flower of Macroom’ for Oaks winner Sullane Sign and ‘Hard Times, Come Again No More’ for the O’Connor brothers Razor Ashmore, acclaimed winner of the Derby, there was still one more presentation to be made at the end of the formalities at the National Coursing Meeting in Clonmel recently.
The final cheer of the final day was reserved for the retiring Irish Coursing Club Chief Executive Jerry Desmond, and a well merited acclamation it was.
He’s not the most popular individual in some quarters, is Jerry Desmond. Coursing is a minority sport, one of many in Ireland, but it’s also one of the most controversial. To its most dedicated opponents it is a bloodsport, pure and simple – cruel, outdated. To its proponents, however, that’s too shallow an argument; to the many thousands who still take part in, support and follow coursing, the tie between human, hound and hare is something that runs deep in the blood.
The hunt, the chase, has been there almost since the beginning of mankind; they are maintaining a timeless tradition, one which has endured forever and – if they have their way – will endure forever.
Polar opposites, then, and for over 20 years, Jerry Desmond has been leading the fight on behalf of coursing. Poisoned chalice to be handed, some would say – not Jerry.
“I’ve been in this position since June 1986, making this my 22nd National meeting and overall I would have to say, it’s been a wonderful experience. Obviously there’s a lot of pressure and responsibility, given the microscope under which coursing has had to operate for most of those years. This meeting was particularly important, we had read of all the threats of protest and so on, so if it had flopped it would have been very serious. Thankfully that didn’t happen, it was a fantastic meeting.”
For over a decade, since the muzzling of dogs was introduced to coursing, the ‘anti’s’, as coursing people know those who oppose their sport, have left Clonmel alone. In the lead-up to this year’s festival, however, there were threats all through the previous week that they would be back on the third day – finals day – and would be back in force.
At 12.30, the appointed time, there wasn’t a protester in sight – “No-one,” said one of the many security personnel who keep order at the venue (not that there is ever any disorder). Their absence was a relief to all, but most especially to Jerry Desmond.
“Only two protesters turned up, I was told, but I’m not surprised to hear that; these people get publicity that’s far out of proportion to their numbers. When they were at their most violent we withstood it, weathered it, showed that coursing is a totally acceptable sport.
“When you can get over 10,000 people per day to come to Clonmel in the middle of a working week, that’s tremendous testament to its enduring popularity, and that’s without any hype or publicity in the media.
“And it’s a wonderful family sport – you see everyone here, kids, teenagers, all the ages. It’s like the GAA, it starts in the parish and progresses to the All-Ireland finals, which are here in Clonmel. Coursing is getting stronger and stronger in recent years,” he continued, “No thanks to me, let me add! But I’m delighted to see that. I think a lot of people find it hard to believe that everyone involved in coursing loves the hare” The obvious question then is, why do you hunt it? “The hare is an integral part of the sport, in fact I would go so far as to say the hare is the most important element. You listen up here today, the biggest day in Clonmel, several finals, so much riding on every course, yet the loudest cheer is always for the hare – when the hare looks to be in trouble yet gets away, that’s the loudest cheer.
“People have put in an enormous effort over the years to improve the sport. Muzzling was a worry, obviously, when it came in; if it didn’t work we were in trouble, but there was the other concern that the spectacle might be adversely affected. It hasn’t, thankfully — if anything I think it’s been improved and as a result there are now more working courses.”
A point made over and over again by coursing people, also by those involved in hunting, in shooting, in fishing, is that contrary to popular media depiction, they are wildlife lovers, country lovers.
“I see these people on television giving all their facts and figures about foxes and hares and salmon and grouse, about emissions and global warming,” said one prominent coursing trainer, who preferred to remain anonymous; “If they came out to the country I don’t think they’d know a fox from a badger, a rabbit from a hare, a duck from a pheasant.
“Who’s stocking the rivers only the fishermen? Who’s stocking the woods with pheasant only the gun clubs, and who’s keeping the hare numbers up? The coursing clubs, that’s who.”
Certainly, according to Jerry, coursing clubs are doing no harm to hare numbers. “Independent scientific studies on coursing carried out by Queen’s University in Belfast have been very positive; they have shown that coursing has no detrimental effect on the mortality rate of hares, in the country. They have also stated that muzzling and the improvement of hare husbandry by the coursing clubs has been a tremendous benefit to the hare. The census of hares carried out by the wildlife services, north and south, have shown that the hare population doubled between 2006 and 2007, and while I wouldn’t read too much into that alone — the hare population fluctuates anyway, can be cyclical — the overall news is definitely good.
“Hares are widespread, and are particularly numerous where there are coursing clubs, because they have a vested interest in conserving the hare population. The mainstay of that work are the farmers, they do tremendous work.”
As for the future of coursing, Jerry is optimistic. “Joe Fitzpatrick, Lord have mercy on him, my predecessor, left coursing better than he found it — I hope people will say the same about me. The sport is strong, it has the support of all Dáil parties with one exception (The Green Party). I think a lot of TD’s, once you get them to come to a meeting, see how it’s properly run and regulated, come to appreciate that it’s a genuine sport.
“Our own rules are very stringent, but our members realise themselves that it has to be like that, that we have to be strict, make sure we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot. I hope everything continues onwards and upwards; like the GAA again, all of it is voluntary; every club around the country is run by volunteers, and that too is its strength.
“Here in Clonmel, for the National Meeting, we have planning permission for improved facilities which we put on hold because of some re-zoning that went on in the road frontage. We had planned to have everything ready for this meeting, but by next year there will be big changes in the infrastructure of the course, the stands, the accommodation. But all that is totally incidental to how good the hare is – people are quite happy to stand out here, in the open, in any weather, as long as they see good hares. If the dogs are good, that’s a bonus, but the hare has to be good, that’s critical.”
As for Gerry Desmond himself? “I’ll continue to go coursing, maybe get involved with a few like-minded people in a syndicate. My home club is the Cork Coursing Club in Blarney, my Open club is Clogheen in Blarney – my father was a founder-member of that club. I was on the committee of Cork Coursing Club before I came to Clonmel, my grandparents were involved, so there’s a strong family tradition there.”
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