Seattle Gaels Welcome Participants
at Vancouver Gaelic Games Day
By RONAN DEANE
VANCOUVER - John Hendry Park at Trout Lake was the setting on June 16 where approximately 80 players (ladies and men) from both the Seattle Gaels (30) and Vancouver Harps (50) descended to play in a very successful Gaelic games day and fundraising event for the Vancouver Harps Club.
The format for the day was individual points scoring based on results in games played in three sports (hurling, ladies and men's Gaelic football). All registered players names went into a hat, from which teams were selected. The teams played and individuals "scored" points based on results and performance. Once a game was done, names went back in the hat for selection into new teams. And so on.
The format worked great, and five ladies football, four men's, and two hurling matches were played over the course of the day. If that wasn't good enough, the ladies of the ISSC had prepared lunchbags to feed the masses. Everyone appreciated the effort and the lunchbags were emptied in every case.
The winners in each code were as follows, Jackie Carr [Seattle] (ladies football), Kevin Murray [Vancouver] (men's football), and Denis O'Sullivan [Vancouver] (hurling). There were several runners-up and all were rewarded with excellent prizes (kudos again to the ISSC Board for their work in securing the prizes).
The barbeque and celebrations at Scribes Hall that night rivalled anything you would expect at a tournament, with set-dancing, folk-singing, and even some rounds for the whole bar (by some unwilling Harps, ignorant of Scribes protocol with respect to bell ringing).
An excellent ethos of cooperation has re-developed between the Seattle Gaels and Vancouver Harps, and the success of this event was founded on that. In July, Vancouver will travel to Seattle to play on full-size fields in their summer tournie, and Seattle will be back this side of the border again to play hurling and football in August.
Already the Harps men and women have played more Gaelic football (and hurling and Aussie Rules) than they did in the whole of 2006. The ISSC Board for 2007 has been working incredibly well, and their efforts are reaping untold rewards.
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