The most famous Louth man in America talks GAA, a legend’s hurley is missing and a chance to watch GAA anywhere in the world.
Tommy Smyth talks GAA
Our good friends over at LiveGaelic.com snared an interview with the most famous football/soccer commentator stateside, our very own Tommy Smyth, to ask him about his lifelong love affair with the GAA.
The man known his eclectic language and strong opinions on shows such as Press Pass has been involved in New York GAA for almost 50 years and played at senior level for the New York Louth team from the time he arrived in the 960s until the 1990s. Some man.
Over the course of the interview Tommy is his usual mix of the personal (expressing his love for the great Michael O’Muircheartaigh) and the bizarre (he was grand marshall of the 2008 St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, which attracted 3 million people. By his reckoning ‘when Obama was sworn in he had two and half million! I had the Offaly man by over half a million!’).
Tommy is also passionate the GAA needs to grow and he believes it should have been introduced to Notre Dame back in the day. Whether it would ever have beaten gridiron I don’t know but it a hell of an idea.
And in good news for any slightly depressed Cork fans out there, he’s tipping them to win Sam this year.
You can read the full interview here and thanks to Donal and the lads at LiveGaelic for letting us have a quote or two.
Hurley burley
Only last week we were speaking in glowing terms about Waterford hurler Tony Browne and the great achievement it was for him to reach the age of 40 and still be playing at the very highest level of the game. We thought he was universally loved but it seems someone fancied a piece of the legend last week in Cusack Park and took his hurl after the game with Westmeath.
As he had used the same hurley for a while, he is anxious to get it back.
He told the Westmeath Topic, in quotes carried by Hogan Stand: “I have been using it for a good few years now. It has my name, Tony Browne, on it and it has a black strap with no band on it.
“I would be very grateful if the hurl could be returned. I will give a signed Waterford jersey and a hurl to whoever can return my hurl.”
Westmeath GAA are looking for anyone who has it to drop it back to Cusack Park…
Ever wanted to watch GAA is South Korea or Spain?
Brady Family Ham, the sponsors of Kildare GAA, have teamed up with Supervalu to jet you and a friend to, well, anywhere in the world really, so long as there is a GAA team there.
The idea is to allow those whose family members or friends have left here a chance to go and see their son or daughter or mate in action, from Sydney to London.
You can check out the Brady Family Ham Facebook page for more details…
