The Irish standard., 1901-06-01
Athletic Champion of Erin, Whose Fame
Has Come Down Through
Long Centuries.
The Celts of! Today at Home and Abroad
are Leaders in Every Kind
of Manly Sport.

although fortunately, perhaps, for the
self esteem Of his latest emulators, the
exact records Of this antique celebrity
remain in oblivion.
On the authority of the Leabhar ma
b Uidhre, Cuchullain was six feet tall
and every inch a warrior. He had
long, fair, yellow hair, and yellow
eyes that sparkled with godlike bril-
liancy. When not engaged in the
chase he dressed in long, glossy, flow
ing robes, ornamented with noble
brooches or deilge Of gold. His gaunt-
lets were dazzling bright and his shirt
of striped silk, caught at the waist by
a golden girdle. OF his prowess in
Vulnerable instances are cited, but they
are not entirely Of the superhuman or
der like those of the Iliad and Odys-
sey. The tale Of the ''Tain Bo Chu-
ailgne," included in the "Book Of
Leinster," contains his greatest ex-
ploits. He could outrun the deer, and
in an angry tit could shiver his chariot
to pieces; and could jump SO high that
he would sink to his ankles in the
hard ground when he descended. Yet
he was extremely modest withal; and
during his long life Of 127 years was
never heard to brag or boast in the
presence Of woman-a trait glaringly
wanting in a majority of our modern
champions.
The Tailtan games developed sew
eral other noted heroes-including
Coll MacMoirne, Oisin, Diarmuid and
Conn Of the Hundred Battles"-and
were celebrated with all the po1np and
panoply Of u national festival, the first
week in August, each year, down to
the reign Of the last monarch Of Ire
land, Roderic O'Conor, A. d. 1893.
However, the manhood and chivalry
which for centuries had graced the
mimic warfare of the Tailtan amphi-
theater were soon after persistently oc-
cupied in more fateful areas, emphasiz-
ing the prowess Of their athletic days
with grim impartiality of the sea-
Drowned hides of the Danes, the
naughty crests of the Normans and
Plantagenets, the merciless partisans
of Elizabeth and close cropped skulls
of the Roundheads; each eagerly sue
ceeding the other in the forlorn hope
Of subjugating or annihilating the un-
flinching sons Of Erin. This destruct-
i've warfare, which ravaged the coun-
try from the eleventh to the eighteenth
century, precluded all possibility Of a
revival Of athletics during that turbu.
lent period.
Meanwhile the sports and pastimes
introduced so prominently by the
Celts were copied by the English un.
der the personal patronage Of some of
the kings, especially Edward II. and
Henry VIII, and the fairs and other
established festivals assumed addi.
tional social Importance through the
introduction Of athletic competitions.
There is evidence, too, that the latter
much-married monarch was something
of an athlete himself. Indeed, in q
standard English work devoted to
manly exercises plates are still extant
showing the royal Henry in the act of
throwing the hammer for the delecta-
tion Of the assembled beauties Of his
court.
In the early part of the nineteenth
century, however, Ireland felt slight
renaissance in the athletic line, but
the famine Of 1S47 checked it for a
while only to reappear again with re-
newed vigor in the early fifties. Moth
ing very startling was accomplished in
the way of revival until 1873, when the
Irish Champion Club was formed and
held inaugural games at Dublin. At
this initial meet were introduced to
the public the brothers, Maurice mad
Thomas DAWN, the latter being the
first man in the British Isles to clear
SIX feet In a running high jump, and
the former maker of several records
with the 16-pound hammer and the &C.
pound weight, which he holds up to
date. The pair continued in active
competition until the debut of the