Abroad

The insult Plastic Paddy has been reclaimed by the diaspora who are proud to be Irish

For many people camogie is more than a sport. Pick up a hurl and give it a go, says an Irishwoman in Birmingham

Annie Driver playing for John Mitchel's.

Annie Driver
Thu Oct 12 2023 - 06:01

My parents met in Birmingham in the late 1980s when the Irish were becoming popular once again.

I was born during the Celtic Tiger in 1996 just after Michael Flatley and his team of dancers became overnight sensations on the Eurovision Song Contest of 1994 and Jack Charlton led Ireland to their first World Cup competition.

In the aftermath of the horror of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings and the onslaught of discrimination the Irish faced thereafter, the Irish found they were celebrated in the 1990s as Irish culture, music, dance and sport were revived.

My dad comes from a small village, Carnew in Co Wicklow, and my mum’s parents are from Terenure in Dublin and College Street in Carlow.

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For as long as I can remember, we have got the boat from Holyhead over to Rosslare and spent our holidays in Ireland.

As a child my mother sent me to Irish dance lessons, but I didn’t last long due to my wide gait and poor posture. Soon after I was introduced to a local GAA team, St Brendan’s, and I quickly fell in love with Gaelic football, spending my weekends playing games at Páirc na hÉireann, near Bickenhill, Solihull, which is the principal Gaelic games sports facility in the West Midlands.

I learned the skills of hurling on an ad-hoc basis in Wexford from my uncle Michael on my mum’s side, an avid hurling man, as well as from my cousins in Birmingham who played outside in the garden.

My uncle Mick on my mum’s side is the chairperson of Warwickshire GAA and his dad Billy Collins won All-Ireland medals and led Warwickshire to three All-Ireland junior finals, so I have grown up immersed in Gaelic sport.

As I grew older, I joined Birmingham club John Mitchels as they had a ladies’ football team, and I was soon asked to take up camogie by a committed clubwoman from Armagh, Noelle Devlin. From here it became my favourite sport. Noelle would pick me up every weekend for matches, which at the time were often in London.

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Camogie has been played in Britain since 1904 and has a rich sporting tradition of camogs playing in All-Britain and All-Ireland championships. Originally established in London, the game has grown significantly and there are now teams in England, Scotland, and Wales. The emergence of new teams, namely Ceann Creige of Scotland, Roger Casements of Coventry and De Cymru of Wales, shows there is a real thirst for competition, and we have junior, intermediate and senior All-Britain championships.

My club John Mitchels was established in the early 1990s and over the years we have gone from strength to strength. In 2017 we won the All-Britain intermediate title.

In 2019, we regained the All-Britain title in a final in McGovern Park in Ruislip against Liverpool Wolfe Tones. We continued through to the All-Ireland series and played against Na Brídeoga of Mayo at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, in the junior B semi-final, which we lost narrowly by three points.

Recently, I have returned from the World Games, which was held at the Owenbeg Centre of Excellence, Derry. We entered two British panels and over the week we played against Australia, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Unfortunately, we lost in the shield-final by two points against Asia.

The second British panel placed third in the competition, epitomising the talent and skills here in Britain. Both teams had several home-grown English-born players.

Over the years I have experienced euphoric highs as well as devastating lows playing camogie; but the friendships and camaraderie I have experienced has been a real joy.

For many people camogie is more than a sport, it is an opportunity to meet new people and connect and, for many Irish girls who come over, it is often gives them a sense of community when they might otherwise feel homesick.

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John Mitchels now has a significant number of under-14 girls coming through the ranks and competes at the ABC tournament in London. They are the next generation of camogs who will continue to strengthen the game here in Birmingham.

I am very proud to be a home-grown player and often people are surprised that I have not played in Ireland at all.

At times having both a British and Irish dual identity can be a challenge due to the quasi postcolonial position of Ireland. I have been on the receiving end of the derogatory slur “Plastic Paddy”, which is often used to undermine people’s lived experiences and cultural identity. But equally, the insult has been reclaimed by the diaspora who are proud to be Irish outside of Ireland. Particularly among the Birmingham Irish.

Playing camogie allows me to connect with my heritage and culture and learn more about myself and others.

So, if you are curious, I encourage you to pick up a hurl and give it a go.

  • Annie Driver did an MA in Irish studies at the University of Liverpool. She lives in Hall Green in Birmingham and teaches English at St Paul’s School for Girls
  • If you live overseas and would like to share your experience with Irish Times Abroad, email abroad@irishtimes.com with a little information about you and what you do
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