Gazette Life

Ready, steady, party!
When I was a kid my Irish uncle decided to join the kick-around me and some friends were enjoying. Yelling for the ball out on the wing, he received a pass, tapped the ball up into his hands and proceeded to run at goal, bouncing the ball off his foot and the floor before hammering it past the stunned goalie and wheeling away to celebrate. We were all so surprised and impressed by his skills that no one could utter the word “Handball”. Instead we all ended up having what was almost certainly the first Gaelic football match in our Nottinghamshire village. The Irish do things a little differently, but the way they do them is so infectious that it’s hard not to join in, and you’ll see a great example of that on St. Patrick’s Day this month, when two, snake-free Atlantic islands that share a religion, lilting accents and a love of spuds, donkeys and street parties join together to celebrate.

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