Skittle league still in limbo
Sport is thriving in its traditional south Wexford base
THE POPULAR annual South-East skittle league is currently in limbo as lockdown continues, with only partial restrictions lifted.
Two dates have now passed to get the games started. The first would have been the annual general meeting which is held every year during the month of April.
This year’s event was eagerly awaited as it marked the tenth year of the founding of the new skittle league association. The event is always a lively affair where representatives from all the teams promptly attend.
A new committee is elected or some of the present members are re-elected. The year passed is reflected upon, and any problems or issues that have arisen are discussed and dealt with.
New rules or amendments to existing rules are voted upon. The agenda for the coming year is set which includes the start of the games.
The skittle league faces the same fate as all other sports in these uncertain times. The first of the games would have started in the first few days of May, but our health and wellbeing is the priority on every person’s list and it is deemed far more important to stay at home and stay safe.
With further restrictions to be lifted later in the year, it is hopeful that it might be possible to hold a smaller version of the league while keeping with the guidelines of social distancing.
Skittles have a long tradition in south Wexford, having previously been played on the crossroads. For generations the parish field days were always eagerly awaited, and the skittles competition was one of the main attractions as teams from different parishes took on one another with keen anticipation and a hunger for a win.
Some great teams would emerge from different areas from time to time. The 1980s saw some capable winning teams from Carrig-on-Bannow, Rathangan, St. Leonards, and Ballycullane.
While skittle games may look the same, the rules may vary from place to place. The Rathangan area can trace their rules back over one hundred years when the poet and songwriter, P.J. McCall, came across a game of skittles being played on the cross of Red Moor.
He marked out a round ring by using the wheel of his donkey cart and then instructed how the game should be played.
The present association was formed in 2010 when the first meeting was held in McDonagh’s of Goff’s Bridge.
A number of former players from the 1980s attended the meeting which included the late Frank Jordan, a name the Rathangan team adopted after their team-mate passed away in 2014.
A second meeting in Ballycullane got the games started, and eight teams took part that year. The Rathangan team which went by the name Temple Bar were the inaugural champions, with St. Leonards runners-up.
These two teams have shared the success since the first final. To date St. Leonards hold five titles and the Rathangan team have four.
As the number of teams joining the league increased, it was decided to introduce a Junior grade in 2012. The interest in the game of skittles grew each year, and the association decided to create a new game known as skittler of the year for both the Senior and Junior grades.
This is a singles event where the league game has four players with the option of the addition of two substitutes. The winners in both Senior and Junior each year are awarded skittler of the year.
Since the introduction of this game in 2014, Mick Carty - a player on the Rathangan team now known as Frank Jordan’s - has won the Senior title every year.
Mick is regarded as the Ronnie O’Sullivan of skittles down in these parts and, as a 14-year-old, he was a player on the Crow Hill team from Rathangan which won numerous competitions during the 1980s. He won his first individual skittle title in St. Leonards hall at the age of 14.
An All-Ireland tournament was held in Fethard-on-Sea in 1982, but local skittles died away for a while after the mid-eighties.
A Ballycullane team entered the All-Ireland games during 1988 and brought the tournament to their home village. That was the start of some glory days for this team and their players, as they won seven national titles between 1992 and 2001.
Mick Walsh from Curraghmore, who organised the Fethard All-Ireland and was a player on all the winning teams, is still one of the foremost players on the present St. Leonards team.
Mick also holds an individual All-Ireland title which he won in 1978. Mick’s two sons, Patrick and Michael, also won individual All-Ireland titles.
Another St. Leonards player, John Mackey, who has nine All-Ireland walking titles to his credit, played on the triumphant Ballycullane team from 1995 to 2000.
Today the old game of skittles is alive and well in south Wexford. It is played by all ages, both men and women.
It is now well organised, and teams from Cassagh, Gusserane, Ballycullane, Wellingtonbridge, Carrig-on-Bannow, Rathangan, Taghmon and Barntown take part each year. It’s a great outdoors competitive game, played for the summer months each year.
You don’t have to be a Ronnie Delany or a Tadhg Furlong to be involved in skittles. The Junior grade will get you started in this skilful game, but when you reach the Senior grade you know you are up against the cream of the crop in south Wexford.
If the competition does not get started this year, then hopefully 2021 will go ahead with great rivalry and sport as always.