Credit to Paul Byrne for alerting us to this video about an Argentine hurling club preparing to visit Ireland for an international hurling festival taking place in Galway from 18th to 21st September.
Brought to Argentina by emigrants of the famine, hurling became quite popular in Buenos Aires but went into decline after World War II. Now, however, the sport is experiencing a revival. [Translations below via AP Archive]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcaYqP8mcc
Translations:
0:45 (Eduardo Punter, Coach, Buenos Aires Hurling Club): "My great-grandfather, Miguel Punter, an Argentine was one of the pioneers of this sport and of this Hurling club. He was part of a national team that was put together in 1922 to compete against the Irish, which was played here. He was a goalkeeper and well Argentina won, so now we have the situation that a rematch will take place. Really for me it is personally something that really touches me because after so much time to return and be connected to the sport that my grandfather played really it moves me very much."
2:10 (Dan Scally, player): "This is my grandfather, this is his brother."
"Yes I have a lot of the old lady (his mother) in me, but I also have a lot of Irish in me"
2:40 (Scally): "What they are doing is the Irish diaspora, as they even describe it on the website of the event, so it's all about that the descendants return, get to know the culture, they feel what this is, what is Ireland. So what they offer to us is the chance to travel, they even give us the flights and accommodation and then from our side what we have to do is put together a team that has a decent standard."
4:00 (Punter): "It has the name that it has (the club), hurling because when it was founded the only sport that was played here was hurling. But then on account of the war it became impossible to import in the sticks (hurleys) and from there it ended, they began to compete in rugby and in hockey. So imagine that, to return to compete after 90 years against Ireland in hurling is something that we thought we would never see in the history of the club."
5:00 (Dicky McAllister, Former Club President): "Well hurling is going to, as they say there (Gaelic), (tiocfaidh ar laith) , this means in Irish, that our day will come. I believe our day has now arrived and we will triumph."
