September Sports Month - Hockey on campus in the early 20th Century

September Sports month continues this week with a look at hockey as played on campus at UCG/NUIG. Looking back at the student annuals (available in our Archives and Special Collections Reading Room) which were published published in the early 20^th century, the sports reports are a great resource for sporting history on campus. Hockey is one sport had the near unique distinction of fielding a mixed-sex team for the first time in 1912-1913. The team is pictured below and the report states:

"This year has been an important one in our Hockey Annals, for it marks the formation of a College Mixed Hockey Club, and this, we are glad to say, has turned out a decided success in every way. The team that we are able to put into the field is one that can be trusted to give a good account of itself on all occasions, and we expect it do great things in the future."

In the same notes, particular mention is made to some of the female players, "'Miss Prendergast and Miss Paul', who were selected to play for the Ladies Connacht team in a tournament held in Dublin recently." While success of both men's and women's teams were well documented in this year and noted to be among the most successful sports teams on campus, their fortunes would quickly wane as the reports for the following year of 1914 would show a club being potentially disbanded:

"When we think of the important position that the College Hockey Club once occupied amongst the hockey clubs of Connacht and the West, we must all feel regret that it holds that position no longer."

Various reasons were mentioned such as a lack of schools in the West having hockey teams that supplied willing players upon reaching College. Another was a lack of a dedicated ground of their own and also interestingly is the rather cryptic reason of "the college at present being in transition, a fact which is affecting all other games, including hockey." Things did improve over the coming years with the reports recording rising numbers and greater victories for the teams of the college hockey club.

Culture Night 2015 at the Hardiman Library!

‘Yeats and the West’ explores his life, work, legacy, and deep connections to the west of Ireland and wider western worlds. Through images, words, film, and sound, with touchscreens and rich display cases sourced from NUI Galway and archives around the world, featuring rare material from Yeats, J.M. Synge, and Lady Gregory, and original artwork from Jack B. Yeats, Gerard Dillon, and Fergus Bourke, ‘Yeats & the West’ tells anew an old story: a story of going west to find those places, real and imaginative, that change our sense of where and who we are.

This Culture Night, Friday 18^th September, join the exhibition curators, Adrian Paterson and Barry Houlihan, and special guests, for a series of talks and guided tours of the ‘Yeats and the West’ exhibition and discover, in this anniversary year of Yeats2015, what the west meant to Yeats and what this might mean to us.

Tours and talks begin at 5pm, Hardiman Foyer, and continue on the hour until 8pm.

September Sports Month - Camogie Success and Silverware at UCG: Ashbourne Cup, 1916

Our September Sports Series continues with a piece ahead of yet another All-Ireland Final appearance this coming weekend. This occasion features the camogie players of Galway and their hope for All-Ireland glory in Croke Park when they face Cork.

The archives of NUI Galway shed light on the long tradition of camogie on campus. These extracts highlight some of the winning teams who brought silverware back to campus at UCG in the early 20^th Century.

Our September Sports Series continues with a piece ahead of yet another All-Ireland Final appearance this coming weekend. This occasion features the camogie players of Galway and their hope for All-Ireland glory in Croke Park when they face Cork.The archives of the Hardiman Library at NUI Galway shed light on the long tradition of camogie on campus.

These extracts highlight some of the winning teams who brought silverware back to campus in the early twentieth century   in the form of the Ashbourne Cup in 1916. The college annual recounts how:

"This year has been a phenomenal one in College athletics, for we have at last secured a cup through the agency of the lady students. The result, of course, was to be expected from the energy and enthusiasm with which we worked through the year under the able captaincy of Miss O'Dowd. The practices were regular, our able trainers Messrs. F. O'Doherty and P. Fahy, being of great assistance to us."

The victory was secured by Galway in a win over Dublin. "Friday was the day of the 'grand finale' . . . As on the previous day, there was no score on either side up to half-time. However, in the second half all anxiety on our side was removed when Miss Stella Cloherty scored a goal, thereby declaring Galway the winners of the cup!"

UCG Ashbourne Cup winners 1916

Camogie Notes 1916

Camogie Notes, 1920

UCG Camogie Team 1922-23

September Sports Month - Hurling on campus from the archives

The month of September will be a special 'Sports from the Archives' month, where we will post a series of pieces featuring features and images from past victories and interesting stories from the sporting annals of the University. From hurling, camogie, soccer, Gaelic football, rugby, hockey, tennis and more, the series will-tie in with upcoming events such as the senior and minor All-Ireland Finals featuring Galway teams going for glory, the Galway camogie team playing in the All-Ireland final; the Rugby World Cup (Dare we to dream?!) with the team including a current NUIG student in the squad.

This first post will focus on G.A.A as this weekend all attention in the West will be on Croke Park. The hurler of Galway will face Kilkenny in the Hurling Final and our neighbours of Mayo will face Dublin in an all-Ireland Semi-final. As we look back into the archives it can be seen that hurling too time to embed and develop among the student population on campus but took home the honours of the FitzGibbon Cup for the first time in 1919. Sadly no photograph of this team is printed but the match notes record "This year marked the turning-point of hurling at UCG. It was the first time for the past few years that Galway turned out a FitzGibbon team, and we are glad to say, won the cup. Martin Fahy was a capable captain…" The competition was played in Galway and UCG beat UCC in the first game by 11pts to 4pts. In the next round Galway beat UCD 25 pts to 23 pts. Following the third round of games, all honours were even as Galway suffered a loss to UCD of 3 pts. With all teams even on points controversy would arise as the Cork team refused to hand over the cup, believing as holders from the previous year, they should retain it. UCG had superior scoring difference in the tournament and after much debate took the cup back to campus of Galway.

Following this win, as the notes from the student annual of 1922-23, UCG did not field a team for a number of years. 

Hurling Notes, 1922-23

The hurling notes from an earlier student annual of 1916 show a further account of hurling on campus from the author under a pseudonym of 'Camán'. Typical of the time it is written in, the notes are strong in their sentiment of cultural nationalism and puts the GAA and hurling as a point of necessary revival. As well as sporting records, these accounts are interesting historical accounts of politics and society in the West.

As the time draws near to this Sunday when the Galway team will take to the field of Croke Park in the hope of bringing the Liam McCarthy Cup back to the West, it is good opportunity to look back on past sporting achievements on campus and we will bring you more updates throughout September.