New exhibition recalls the days of indoor football
Long before soccer domes and sports centre, indoor football was one of the most popular pastimes in the late sixties all over the north east with competitions taking place in ballrooms, not sports halls.
This era is recalled in the exhibition on Drogheda’s famed Abbey Ballroom Indoor Football which opens in the County Museum, Jocelyn St, Dundalk on Thursday,
The exhibition has been organised by Drogheda Local Voices in collaboration with Drogheda Museum Millmount and County Museum Dundalk
It is hoped that former indoor football players from Drogheda, Dundalk and its environs will come together on the night and share their memories of the leagues.
The first big competition organised was on April 3rd, 1966 in the Adelphi Ballroom, Dundalk and was closely followed by the Abbey Ballroom, Drogheda with competitions starting there on the May 3rd, 1966. Competitions quickly sprang up in ballrooms all across the northeast with competitions being played out in Blackrock and Haggardstown, Co. Louth, Navan, Co. Meath, Castleblayney, Inniskeen and Rockcorry, Co. Monagahan and in Warrenpoint, Co. Down.
The competitions were unique in that they actively encouraged women to participate and lots of Gaelic footballers were able to play a sport closer to soccer than Gaelic and not get penalised under Rule 27. It seems that the indoor football craze all started in Dundalk, but it is still unclear where the idea for these competitions came from and why they fell out of fashion?
In order to complete the picture, the Drogheda Local Voices project hopes that those who took place in the competitions will come along to the exhibition opening and tell their stories.
For any more information on the exhibition or the project please contact County Museum Dundalk on 042-9392999 or by email info@ dundalkmuseum.ie.