Iraqi’s love of hurling inspired Stacks

Did you hear the one about Austin Stacks, an Iraqi and the South Kerry hurling championship?

It sounds like one of those wind-ups, but Iraq medical student Hayder Alhashim picked up his South Kerry hurling championship medal with Austin Stacks at the club’s social in The Meadowlands Hotel last Saturday.

Club hurling stalwart Ger Scollard takes up the story.

“He basically heard we played a game called hurling and called up to see what it was about. We got him training and eventually playing.”

Their first Iraqi hurler then?

“I hope so,” laughed Scollard. “He took to the game like a duck to water, though. It was his commitment that drove him.

“If we could get every other hurler in the county to show that kind of commitment we’d win a senior All-Ireland.”

The team gelled together, according to Scollard, as Hayder’s game improved and he became a source of pride to the management, developing into a fully fledged corner-forward. His efforts were also used to motivate others.

“For a fella who never picked up a hurley when he started you had no problem bringing him on in a match by the end,” said Scollard.

“You’d see him out every evening with a hurley and he was always asking for tips.

“He would have been close to starting by the end.

“It’s not like football, he would never have been exposed to any part of it. But he fell in love with the game and you’d see him out pucking the ball every evening and plaguing the lads to do extra training.

“It brought home to a lot of lads what can be achieved.

Hayder has since moved from IT Tralee to continue his studies in Dublin but returned to pick up his medal at the weekend to an adapted Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh phrase — ‘His mother and father from Iraq, neither one a hurling stronghold’.