Saw a post in the USA section on this, thought I'd raise it here, see if anyone had any insight. Up until 2006, New York fielded a team in the Ulster hurling championship. That year, they beat Derry to reach the final, but couldn't travel back due to the immigration status of some of the players, so the final was played in Boston that year, Antrim won by 9 points. After that, as far as I know, New York no longer competed in the championship.

Does anyone know why that is? Was it due to the travel expense? Did the fact that the Ulster final had to be played in Boston that year, because NYC couldn't travel, contribute to a re-think of their inclusion in the Ulster SHC? In fairness, I imagine it was expensive for Antrim and Derry to travel. New York still play in the Connacht football championship, it would be good to have a NYC (or some American) team back in the championship in some form.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 12/04/2015 19:31:20    1713405

Numbers in New York could not sustain a county hurling team , the football team find it hard enough,emmigration from Ireland is mainly to Australia, England & Canada with American visas difficult to obtain , there are a nice few illegal Irish in past 3/4 years but nothing like previous years.
Warickshire IE Birmingham would be the strongest overseas team after London, then perhaps an Australian team from New South Wales IE Sydney.

hurler32 (Limerick) - Posts: 867 - 12/04/2015 20:46:05    1713437

That would be grossly unfair; given the state of Ulster hurling New York would only win it every year.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9697 - 12/04/2015 21:10:27    1713453

Speak for yourself Ulsterman. Derry are improving year after year at the min

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 13/04/2015 08:35:14    1713515

Fair play to ya, Marlon, you always seem to have an interest in developing hurling nationally &, in this case, internationally!

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 13/04/2015 13:39:05    1713720

Derry and Antrim are both in 2A next year.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7822 - 13/04/2015 14:51:05    1713757

Down seems to have gone backwards since their Ring Cup win in 2013.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 13/04/2015 18:27:08    1713853

keeper7
County: Longford
Fair play to ya, Marlon, you always seem to have an interest in developing hurling nationally &, in this case, internationally!

Cheers Keeper, as far as I'm concerned the sky's the limit! With the growth of hurling in the US, and the potential for it to grow more, it seems sensible to have a US team in the championship.
Although in fairness, when it comes to the Ulster SHC, it would probably make more sense to include Tyrone in the championship (as far as I know, they're not in it this year). Definitely seem to be a team on the rise, Lory Meaghar champions in 2012, Nicky Rackard CHampions in 2014, Division 3A champions in 2015, thats some progress. Should they have been promoted to the Christy Ring? They at least should be in the Ulster SHC.

Maybe it would be an idea to have a US team involved at the Lory Meaghar or Nicky Rackard level, perhaps have a play-off tournament in the US to decide which team competes. Probably logistically difficult, but something to chew on.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 13/04/2015 20:37:49    1713902

Ulsterman - "That would be grossly unfair; given the state of Ulster hurling New York would only win it every year."

Don't let the facts get in the way of another dig.

Glensboy (Antrim) - Posts: 286 - 14/04/2015 09:28:34    1713966

In fairness New York have 9 Hurling clubs which is alot more than most counties...I think they should enter the Meagher/Rackard and see how it goes again

shea (Kerry) - Posts: 409 - 14/04/2015 09:53:55    1713976

Here's something I wondered and maybe some enlightened poster can fill me in - why NY? Why not California, Massachusetts or Illinois? Its just thinking moreso on the football front where their Senior club has been won for the last 3 years by Ulster Club, SF and actually if you look through the last 20 odd years it has been shared by clubs from SF, Chicago and Boston. Should there now be an All-American State competition run-off before the AI series to determine which State (County) gets to be the American representatives or is there a specific reason why it's always NY who play in the AI series? There aren't that many potential State teams so it wouldn't take long to run off the qualifiers in the run up before the Connacht (Football) or Ulster (Hurling) Championships start. Might also further the games over there.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 14/04/2015 11:16:26    1714004

Actually just looking through the NA Senior Hurling titles and for the last 40 years they have pretty much been shared between the same 3 states as the Football with not a NY team to be seen anywhere.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 14/04/2015 11:31:36    1714013

Offside_Rule - Actually just looking through the NA Senior Hurling titles and for the last 40 years they have pretty much been shared between the same 3 states as the Football with not a NY team to be seen anywhere.

I think that's because they have always been two separate county boards. New York teams don't compete in the North American Championships.

I've also thought that there should be a North American County Championship between the differerent divisions early on in the season. It could also be held as a 'pre qualifier' to see who is represented in the Connacht Championsip. Would give more competitive games for teams like New York who always seem to suffer from lack of competitive games before the championship. Could definitely further the development of games over there.

You could have New York, Boston (North-East), Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto (Ontario) compete for the senior championship (football).
Then Philadelphia, South West, Mid Atlantic, South East, West Canada, etc for the Intermediate championship.

Only problem would be travel and what dates to be played. Would imagine it would have to be played over a long weekend (bank holiday) and there aren't many options available early on in the year Stateside.

HandballRef (Donegal) - Posts: 520 - 14/04/2015 12:19:54    1714034

I think that's because they have always been two separate county boards. New York teams don't compete in the North American Championships.

Cheers Handballref - didn't realise the NY teams didn't compete in the NA Championships - did think it was a bit strange that they didn't feature as winners (or beaten finalists) in the records.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 14/04/2015 12:33:18    1714041