John Fenton: ‘Hurling promotion invaluable’

Former Cork hurler John Fenton believes the Unesco decision to award hurling special cultural status will strengthen the game’s appeal, both at home and abroad.

Hurling and camogie, it was announced, have been added to a Unesco list designed to raise awareness of important cultures worldwide.

Fenton, who was part of the Irish delegation which travelled to Paris last month to make the pitch for hurling and camogie to be inscribed onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is hopeful this special recognition will help grow hurling where the game holds minority status in this country, at present.

“It is so important for us to promote hurling within our own country. There are great hurling men and women in Fermanagh, Donegal and Cavan, who are maybe not getting the recognition that people in Cork and Kilkenny are getting. This will be a great boost to them,” said Fenton. “We can also see from recent events the popularity of the game in places like Boston and Sydney. There are a lot of people, with no Irish roots, playing the game at home and abroad and they love it.

“The objective of this project was to strengthen the appeal of our games and that has been achieved.

The UNESCO description notes that hurling is “an intrinsic part of Irish culture and plays a central role in promoting health and wellbeing, inclusiveness and team spirit”.

Fenton reckons it was six or seven years ago when historian Daniel McCarthy, Director of UCD’s World Heritage Management and Conservation programme, addressed a hurling development committee and first floated the idea of the GAA chasing this award.

“I would do anything to promote hurling. This was an ideal opportunity to promote hurling, not just in Ireland but also worldwide. I thought it was a very worthwhile project to follow up and that is why I seconded the proposal when it came up at the committee,” Fenton explained.

The delegation which presented before Unesco ambassadors included GAA Director of Games, Pat Daly, Acting Camogie Association CEO Louise Conlon, historian Daniel McCarthy, Claire Cave and Aidan O’Sullivan, UCD Professors of Archaeology, Minister for Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, and Fenton.

“It is a great honour for camogie to receive this prestigious recognition which illustrates the integral role which hurling and camogie play in Irish life,” said Camogie president Kathleen Woods yesterday.