Ireland's National Sports Intersect With the Very Essence of Irish Culture
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IRELAND'S PROFESSIONAL AMATEURS:
A Sports Season at its Purest
By Andy Mendlowitz
iUniverse, Inc.
ISBN: 9 780595 456840
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Reviewed by Catholine Butler
When American sportswriter Andy Mendlowitz took a summer vacation to Ireland, his itinerary included visiting medieval castles and drinking dark beer. Arriving in Dublin, he noticed many people roaming the streets in anticipation of a big game, many fans wearing yellow jerseys with black stripes. As a sportswriter, his interest was piqued and he asked what football team was playing, they answered, hurling.
Hurling?? The only hurling he had ever heard of was the American version. The one that took place around 3 AM on your knees after a night of drinking. Curious to find out more about this game of hurling, he attended an All-Ireland hurling elimination game between County Wexford and County Clare at Portlaoise.
Mendlowitz couldn't believe the lightening-quick action and awesome skill of the players in balancing a peach-size ball on the flat end of their sticks, then passing or shooting it with a pinpoint strike. The game seemed shockingly dangerous and even more so since the players didn't wear any protective equipment.
He was even more astounded when told these players don't get paid but rather do it for the love of the game. And also to hear that the Gaelic football and hurling players are amateurs that train like professionals, who can play in front of 80,000 fans one day and the next day return to their jobs as plumbers, salesmen, police officers or to whatever other job that they made their living at. He couldn't imagine Barry Bonds waking up after a World Series game to sell insurance.
The other surprising fact..the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) also lacks free agency or trades - you simply play for your hometown team, even if you move away.
After his holiday in Ireland, Mendlowitz returned back to Virginia and his job as a sportswriter, but discovered that what had been his passion - writing - had become just a job.
He found himself comparing American pro athletes who wanted a cheque with the Irish players, who wanted a jersey and he was impressed with the pure pride that the Irish players carried with them.
Still amazed by the GAA concept of sports and burnt-out at his work, he finally packed it in and moved to Ireland for eight months with an aim of getting excited again by understanding what drove these athletes.
Andy Mendlowitz spent the next eight months visiting counties from North to South and East to West, meeting players and coaches and interesting characters along the way and finding out that the GAA was more than sports and, in fact, intersected with the language and culture of Ireland.
Ireland's Professional Amateurs is more than sports statistics but is also a travelog of the various parts of Ireland that Mendlowitz visited. And while he feels that many readers will be fans and players of the GAA, he has organized the book for others who just want to know more about Irish sports by giving a brief history and explanation of the rules and history of Gaelic football and hurling in a very down-to-earth and interesting fashion.
For the die hard GAA fans, Ireland's Professional Amateurs will provide some interesting reading, since the book is broken up into counties and takes the reader from the start of the GAA season to the All-Ireland finals. Mendlowitz interviewed many of the well-known household names of players from the various counties, along with coaches and GAA personnel whose names will also be easily recognized.
Pictured on the cover of Ireland's Professional Amateurs are: Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin and Cork's Seán Óg Ó hAilpín during the 2004 All-Ireland final.
Andy Mendlowitz wrote for the Daily News-Record in Harrisburgh, Virginia, for five and a half years. In that span, he won four Virginia Press Association awards. Before then, he was a stringer for The Washington Post and penned over 250 articles while attending the University of Maryland. He now lives in New Jersey.
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