Football in Beara did not begin in 1927, but this was the first year that teams from the peninsula affiliated to the Cork County Board. For years before this games between the local teams consisted of a series of hard-fought challenges. The honor of the district was always at stake. There was a sense of shame attached to a defeat, and often a very cool reception awaited the returning vanquished. The early football was 21-a-side. The games were physically rough. Hob-nailed boots ripped many a shin-bone, and fights among players and supporters were frequent. Followers at times were armed with ash-plants for the "fray". Two questions were generally asked by the old people at home when the players returned; (a) Who won the match/game ?; (b) Who won the fight ? One particularly rugged game played a few years later caused a poetic spectator to write to the local newspaper in the following terms:- "The ref he blew the whistle and finished up the game, and of the 30 players, 29 were lame" !! Mort O'Shea of Adrigole used cycle from there all the way to Cork City, and then cycle back again after the match, sometimes to find the Parish Priest outside the door watching in case he wouldn't be back in time for school. Another Adrigole man travelled to the City to play for one of the teams there. The following day, being "broke" (financially ---- as money was very scarce at the time), he chanced his luck for a lift back on the train from the City to West Cork. When the money collector arrived, our man let on to be sound asleep. The ticket collector was about to wake him up when a friend of his came to his aid saying "Yerra, let the poor old devil sleep away there for awhile. He must be dog-tired". The ticket collector passed on, saying he'd return after a while. Our man knew he'd be nabbed if he stayed there much longer, so, when the train arrived in Drimoleague, he jumped out quickly and headed for the road walking. Just outside Drimoleague he came across a stray donkey/ass which he duly "commandeered" and rode all the way back to Adrigole. Just before the Beara G.A.A. Clubs affiliated to the Cork Co. Board in 1927, the Urhan junior team (then unofficial Beara champions) beat the County Senior football Champions, Macroom, in a challenge game in Bantry. Commenting on the game in the "Macroom Notes" in the West Cork newspaper "The Southern Star" the following week, the Macroom correspondent said that Macroon were beaten "by the representatives of that remote land" (Beara). That was what was thought of Beara at the time, because there was little contact between it and the rest of the county. Haven't times changed !! ---- Riobard. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for home users. SPAMfighter has removed 1713 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len