After comedian and former minor hurler Dara O'Briain emigrated to London, he was memorably asked by Des Cahill if he ever had to explain hurling to the people of England.
"No", came the response, "but I had to explain it to the people of Wicklow".
While that was (probably) a gag by O'Briain, the great game has travelled well over the last few years, as Quentin from Kent discovered in the oft-maligned but nonetheless absurdly popular genre known as the British Twitter Reaction To Hurling.
One man whose attention has been snaffled by the sport is French rugby legend, Serge Betsen. The erstwhile flanker was in Dublin this week to promote the Heineken Rugby Club, and sat down for a chat with Balls that veered from the Six Nations into a discussion about the National Sport.
Betsen lives in London nowadays, around the corner from a GAA club: St Gabriel's. Hurling, therefore, hasn't escaped his attention.
Yeah. It’s funny because where I live in London there is a hurling club next to my house, a five-minute walk. I’ve become fascinated with this; the fastest game in the world. I like that it gives players a lot of skills which you can apply to any other sport, and I like the physicality, speed and agility of the players. It is interesting to see how they apply that to other sports, too.
Unfortunately, don't hold your breath on ever seeing Serge Betsen: Junior Hurler. "Have I been tempted to play? Not yet!".
On a more familiar topic, Betsen is tipping Ireland to overcome Wales this weekend, anticipating the clash between defences.
They [Ireland] are doing really well everytime they play in Dublin, but you need to be careful of the Welsh team. They played very good rugby in Twickenham, and I hope they will come back again with a very strong team to face Ireland. I’m looking forward to seeing the battle in defence between my coach at Wasps who is someone really special to me [Shaun Edwards] and one of the best defence coaches we talk about, [Andy] Farrell.
Serge Betsen was in Dublin this morning as an ambassador for the Heineken® Rugby Club. Founded in 2016, Heineken® Rugby Club helps facilitate those special moments of camaraderie that rugby fans share, as well as with fans of rival teams. Join the conversation online @HEINEKEN_IE #HeinekenRugbyClub.
