Happy New Year 2009 and to celebrate it,  social night for camogiers this Friday (9th January) from 19h00 in the Hairy Canary, rue Archimede.  All welcome !

Hope you are looking forward to getting back into shape in the next few months.

Word has it that this year we will be travelling to London (April) going for the gold this time, Luxembourg,  Zurich and Ireland.

Watch this space for further updates.

“Race Night at the Old Oak – Wednesday 25 June 2008″

Arriving at the Oak, I was welcomed by Laura from Jameson at the door, with a Jameson & Ginger.  Was I getting the VIB treatment?  I politely declined – I knew this could be a long night.  Moving on into the bar I wondered at first was I in the right place.   It seemed brighter, airier and there was a buzz in the air.  A huge screen displayed the 8 races to take place -  Old MacDonald Stakes (runners:  Woof Woof, Quack Quack, Oink Oink …), Pasta Plate (runners:  Lasagne, Cannelloni, Linguine …) Panto Stakes, Fruitbowl Platter, Vile Vilains - get the picture?    Beside it, looking every bit the hostess for the night (even before donning the Cheltenham style hat), was Martina.   Rosettes hung from the rafters and signs indicated betting station and pay out station whereupon I found my three team mates and event organisers, Shauna, Aine, and Rachel, red caps perched on their heads, busying around with lap tops, betting forms, calculators and a bell.

For those VIBs – Very Important Betters, tables – with bright green tablecloths, a scattering of confetti, strawberries and wait for it…. champagne cooling in the ice bucket!  - waited to be filled.  

Deirdre, recovered from her ankle injury, was running around selling raffle tickets – my first gamble of the night.   It all looked very promising that is until I realised the running around also had to do with the remote control having gone missing!   Was there to be no races then?  What about the bets already placed?   The girls were cool under pressure – they had thought of a plan B - bet on the Euro Semi Final instead.   Or maybe that was Plan C?    Rachel saved the day by dashing home and returning a short time later with her dvd player complete with remote which worked like a dream.    

So the races could begin.       Did I mention a buzz in the air?   I should have said a rustle/rattle – of notes and money exchanging hands at the stations.   There were queues to place bets, everyone holding on to their betting slips for dear life until the race was over whereupon the lucky winners were back up at the station claiming their stakes or - in my case - tearing it to shreds as yet again I had backed another loser.  Ah well, the beer was flowing and there was always the next race.  

Half way thru’, the 4-legged races gave way to 2-legged ones as 4 hurlers squared up to 4 footballers to see which team would down a pint the fastest.  Not to be outdone the ladies of the club got involved and the camogiers faced the ladies football.  The hurlers/camogiers won in both events – who says we never win? Of course I had backed the winners this time round but I had underestimated their speed and skill at downing pints (the guys) and a small beer (the girls).    But the raffle was yet to come and my luck was in – a bottle of Jameson came my way.   Prizes of complimentary dinners, champagne, lap top bags, whiskey were dished out.

So the last bet was placed, the last race run, the last pay out.    It was over.   Tables were cleared, lap tops shut down, money was counted.  So was it a success – absolutely.

And were there any bit spenders that night?  Who are the real gamblers?  Only the girls know that.  Your secret is safe … not! “

signed:  Anonymous Gambler

Hello All!

Race Night at the Old Oak Pub promises to be a fantastic night of fun and frolics!

Here’s your chance to show your true support for the club and all you need to do is to show up, place a few bets, collect the winnings, and odds are, you’ll have fun!

Form guides on all the races will be available from 18.30. So the sooner you get there the more time you’ll have to read up on the odds! Races will start from 19.30 onwards. (At least 6 races to punt on.)

For those of you used to the finer things in life why not treat yourself and some friends to a really special night and book one of the very limited VIB (Very Important Better) boxes. For a mere 48 Euro (tables of 6 max) you’ll receive a prime spot to watch the races (and manly challenge! More on this later), dedicated bar service (no queuing), personal book maker-ette who will come to your table to take your bets & pay your winnings as well as a welcome drink when you arrive. Book at mullanshauna@hotmail.com

Hope to see you all there!

2nd Leg of European Camogie Tournament

Saturday 17 May 2008

Den Haag (The Hague), Netherlands

Location:     Westlandse Rugby Club Haaglanden, Beresteinlaan 52a, Den Haag

All recovered from the fun and games of the weekend?   No-one down with colds?  

For those of you who weren’t there, I’ll just briefly fill you in.  We played two 7-aside games, both against Luxembourg, the first one 15 minutes a side, the second one 10 minutes a side.  We had a panel of 10 girls and Rachel, who has an ankle injury, came along to support.  Aine Magee had just arrived in from Sudan, via Ireland, and made a big difference in the midfield despite the jet lag – thanks Aine for coming over. Rebecca was the only girl down from Zurich and in order to balance out the teams, she and Michaela from The Hague teamed up with Luxembourg who only had a panel of 8 girls.   It rained almost the whole day, the pitch was water logged in places and the ball kept getting stuck in puddles.  We had a break of about 2 hours between the matches.   Those who hadn’t brought spare socks were literally able to wring the water out of their socks before putting them back on for the second game – not a pleasant experience.   So lessons learned – always bring spare socks, spare everything!     No major injuries to report apart from the usual bumps and bruises, one which saw Aine (Murphy) who was in goals, having to come off after a belt to the hand and Laura being floored by an opposing player but luckily at the end of the game.  Both girls are fully recovered.   Conan was unable to make it – Conan, we missed you - but luckily Conor agreed to take over and managed the team from the sideline – thanks Conor.

Unfortunately we were beaten in both matches – I won’t tell you the score as it would give the wrong impression of the games.  Suffice to say Luxembourg won well in both matches;  Luxembourg’s All Star Couny Cork player was very high performing again burying goals despite the midfielders’, defenders’ and goalie’s best efforts to close her down.   But Belgium did not show themselves up and played their best ever yet.   There were good puck outs, good defending, running, passing and a lot of team work and team spirit.  So no-one should be disappointed and everyone is hopefully keen to keep on getting in as much practice as possible and building up the skills before our next tournament on home ground on 5th July!

Margaret François

Team Captain

19 May 2008

(Participating Players: 

Aine Magee, Aine Murphy, Barbara Wynne, Becky Mattes, Catherine Feore, Deirdre O’Brien, Jane Brennan, Laura Whiskerd, Margaret François, Shauna Mullan)

7-a-side Camogie Tournament Report

Date:           Saturday 29 March 2008

Host Club:   Tara Camogie Club,

Location:     Tir Chonaill Park, Greenford, London 

The format included Cup and Plate competitions at both Junior and Senior grades.

There were 6 teams in the Junior Competition broken down into two groups.

Europe won both of their Group A matches:

1st round, Europe v  Fort Camanach (Edinburgh).  Result:  Europe 3-0          Fort Camanach 1-2 

2nd round, Europe v Greenisle (London club):        Result:  Europe 1-1          Greenisle 1

and were beaten by just two points in the final against group B winners, host club Tara.

Final:  winners Group A v winners Group B

Europe v Tara :  Result:  Europe 2-0   Tara 2-2

Europe was delighted to receive very nice runner-up medals - a great boost to confidence, as everyone remembers being hammered in Mayo.   

The team line out was as below:

Goalie :                              Margaret François

Backs:          Angelika Landholt                  Shauna Mullan

Midfield:       Aine O’Regan                         Laura Whiskerd 

Forwards :   Rebecca Muëller                     Becky Mattes/Catherine Feore

Matches started about 11.30 am and finished about 5.30 pm.  Weather conditions were atrocious and got considerably worse as the day went on.  Needless to say the pitch was in a very sorry state and normally this tournament would have been cancelled except for all the teams travelling to it (from Ireland, Scotland and ourselves).

Many thanks goes to Tara Camogie Club, Greenford, London for inviting us to their tournament and for a very well organised day despite bad weather conditions.  Many thanks also to all the girls on the Europe team who travelled from Ireland, Switzerland and Brussels to take part in the tournament, to Becky for booking hotels and driving to Maastricht to collect team kit and to Laura for transporting it to and from London (it only took about a week to get the gear – we flew through Terminal 5!!)

Margaret François

Belgium GAA

Camogie Rep