Latest news with #TheRenaissance
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Students from Wexford and Kilkenny schools to feature in new RTÉ documentary
Over five years in the making, the series is a landmark documentary production, exploring the evolution of Gaelic football from its inception to the modern day, and the invaluable contribution which the sport has made to Irish life. Filmed in cinema-quality 4K, the series also features the final television interviews conducted with GAA stalwarts Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Kerry's Seán Murphy and Mick O'Dwyer, Dublin's Jimmy Gray and Mayo's John O'Mahony and Dr. Mick Loftus. Chronicling how the game has changed through more than a century of rebellion and revolution, bitter rivalries, triumphs, upsets and comebacks, the series is both a celebration and exploration of a unique arm of Irish life. Its unique story is told through the testimonies of players, managers and expert commentators, captivating archive and stunning visuals. Hell for Leather: The Story of Gaelic Football tells the story of a game born out of necessity, dreamt up by a nation in search of a social identity and something that could challenge the pre-eminence of foreign games. Gaelic football later took root in the northern counties and became a truly all-island sport - a game of and for the Irish people. A sport with a presence in just about every village in Ireland, Gaelic football has a hugely important legacy, and this is the story of that legacy. The entire series consists of over 80 interviews conducted with, among others, Michael Murphy, David Clifford, Jack McCaffery, Juliet Murphy, Shane Walsh, Brian Fenton, Mick O'Connell, Cora Staunton, Joe Brolly, Tony Hanahoe, Colm Cooper and Briege Corkery. It also features contributions from managers past and present - Jim McGuinness, Padraic Joyce, Seán Boylan and Kevin McStay. Meanwhile, school children from Catherine McAuley Junior School, New Ross Educate Together and Marymount NS The Rower feature in the series, with players from Rathgarogue Cushinstown GAA also included. Produced by Crossing the Line Productions, one of the producers, Siobhán Ward is a native of The Rower in south Kilkenny, and is proud to have worked on the series from her hometown, and to see the local areas and participants also included in the production. The first episode, The Renaissance, will see Brian Fenton fighting back tears as he details his love of the game, while David Clifford's magical feet are revealed in slow motion and Shane Walsh kicks the paint off the gable wall at his family home. The series debut takes the viewers from these modern magicians on a journey back in time, to the rough and tumble origins of Gaelic Football. Through rebellion and civil war, it exploded like a prairie fire to become the most played game in Ireland.
The Herald Scotland
29-04-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
The Open packs them in but sometimes less can be more
The reason for this weary pessimism is that I've not played a heck of a lot this year. It's tricky, therefore, to gauge what kind of state my game will be in and, until I muddle through the first couple of holes, I'll not know whether the round will be a complete farce or just a mere fiasco. To help us negotiate the links, the good folk at The Renaissance provide each group with a forecaddie. Given I'll likely plonk my ball nowhere near the strategic position he takes up down the fairway, we'll probably end up communicating with each other from afar with some kind of elaborate maritime flag semaphore. Having that extra pair of eyes watching affairs unravel is always handy, of course. I don't know about you but when I look up, causing an awful shot, I'll always look down again in muttering, cursing disgust at the exact moment I should actually be looking up and watching my ball if I ever want to see the ruddy thing again. Our forecaddie will be kept busy. It's going to be busy, meanwhile, over the water at Royal Portrush when the Open returns to Northern Ireland in July. Last week, the R&A announced that the total attendance for the 153rd championship will be a whopping 278,000, some 40,000 more than the last time it was held at Portrush in 2019 and the second highest in Open history behind the 290,000 souls who shoehorned themselves into St Andrews in 2022. The queue for a pint at the town's well-kent Harbour Bar will probably stretch back to the Stena Line ferry terminal in Belfast. With Rory McIlroy returning home as Masters champion and a career grand slam winner – and who knows what else he's plonked on to his mantelpiece come July – the stampede through the gates will be like something you'd see on a nature documentary about the great migration of the Wildebeest. In the eyes of the R&A, big is, indeed, beautiful. Martin Slumbers, the former chief executive of the St Andrews-based governing body, was always a fan of the phrase, 'big-time sport needs a big-time crowd.' Now, I appreciate that vast ticket sales, and the revenue it all generates, does wonders for the R&A's terrific golf-related initiatives around the world but I always thought the relentless focus on said sales in recent years was a trifle tawdry. Look at Augusta and the spectator experience at the Masters? Less is more. A hierarchy has since developed in terms of Open venues as the organisers look more favourably at hosts that can easily accommodate the 200,000-plus mark. This emphasis on how many folk they can cram in gently dunts certain esteemed courses into the margins. That's a pity for some truly outstanding venues. The fact the Open is back at Portrush for a second time in just six years – it had been 68 years since the previous visit there – speaks volumes for the R&A's mantra of size matters. Muirfield, widely regarded as the finest, purest links in the world and a host of 16 Opens, hasn't staged the championship since 2013. In that time, of course, there was the small matter of a stooshie surrounding the Honourable Company's now defunct all-male membership policy. We all know, meanwhile, about the various issues with Turnberry. Putting all the off-course stuff to one side – and it's not easy to put Trump to one side for a start - it would still be a mighty shame if the iconic majesty of the Ailsa Course never held another Open. Royal Lytham, on the other hand, hasn't hosted an Open since Ernie Els pounced on Adam Scott's excruciating collapse to pinch the Claret Jug in 2012. Encased by the railway line and residential housing, the treasured Lancashire venue is now viewed as being a bit tight for the all-singing, all-dancing Open circus. The magnificence of the links, the cherished history and the robust nature of the golfing test, though, should take precedence over logistical challenges with infrastructure or reduced attendances. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking in this highly commercial age? Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the great Bobby Jones's first Open win in the first Open to be held at Lytham in 1926. Golf loves such commemorative nods to a storied past. But next season's Open is going to that other northwest powerhouse of Royal Birkdale. Lytham will, at least, host the Women's Open in 2026. Your correspondent will be a wizened auld you-know-what by the time the Open returns there, if it ever does. In the public ticket ballot for this year's showpiece, all the briefs were just about sold out in the time it took you to gasp the word 'ballot'. Big-time crowds, indeed. Portrush, then, will pack them in. It will pack the coffers too. But a big part of an Open is showcasing the very best links courses these isles offer, not just the ones that make the most money.
Daily Record
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Xander Schauffele reveals how Scottish Open snoozes can help him slay 'scary' Rory McIlroy at Portrush
The American defends the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush this summer and The Renaissance will again be key to his preparations Xander Schauffele says Scottish Open sleeps can energise him to slay terrifying and Tiger-like Rory McIlroy. The current Champion Golfer will face a home tidal wave as the Grand Slam-winning home hero attempts to rip the trophy off him at Royal Portrush. Schauffele won the Claret Jug last summer and cited his week at The Renaissance as key to the Troon triumph. The 2022 Scottish Open winner is set for a July return to East Lothian and says it'll be vital again to prepare for an epic battle with Scary McIlroy, who will be backed by 278,000 passionate fans in his own backyard the following week. Schauffele said: 'Playing in the Scottish Open is a must for someone like me. Just getting enough good nights of sleep, getting on the time zone, learning what it's like to actually play in wind again. 'Every Open is unique. Every venue is unique. I was just told we have record attendance [at Portrush], for obvious reasons. One of their own just won the Grand Slam, so everyone wants to get a piece of him. 'It's incredible for the game of golf. There's no other way to put it, to be honest. 'Just any time he's on-site. No-one is going to be like Tiger [Woods], but I'd call Rory and the likes of Scottie [Scheffler] a close second if you just look at how many people following them, how many people talk about them, anything to get eyeballs on our game is a good thing. 'And him winning the Masters, a generational talent to do what he did, is obviously an incredible achievement. Scary for guys like us. If that was something that was holding him back and now he feels free, that could be a pretty scary thing. 'If he's firing on all cylinders, I've played against him when he's done it and it's not fun for me. It's fun for everyone else to watch, but it's definitely a thing that's hard to beat. 'Would I be surprised if he started rattling some off? No. Am I going to be there to try and stop him? Absolutely. I've never defended successfully any tournament that I've won in the past. If I could do it at a major, especially The Open, it would be really incredible. 'If I can use it [attention on Rory] to my advantage to sort of cruise along and fly under the radar, that's exactly what I'll do.' Schauffele is halfway to his own Grand Slam with The Open success coming on the back of a USPGA Championship victory at Valhalla. He said: 'It's something that's been written down a long time ago and something I think every golfer should try and achieve. 'There's a reason there's only been six of them to ever do it, but until last year, it felt like it was impossible almost. After a year like last year, it definitely lets a young pro like myself dream a little bit more again. 'It's something I definitely look forward to challenging myself to accomplish in my career.' Naturally, Schauffele's Troon memories are vivid, yet not all wildly pleasant as he smiled: 'I remember a lot of the shots. I was playing really well and that front nine into the right-to-left wind coming off the ocean there, you're just kind of holding on and surviving. 11 is terrifying. 'You always have like a 15-minute wait on that tee with the train coming by, people sitting there staring at you. It's raining. You're just looking at gorse everywhere. 12, again, straight into the teeth, gorse bushes right, left. 'Luckily, Troon is a nice place to go to 18 where you can hit an iron off the tee. You can favour that right side, take a little bit of stress off you. 'I'm from San Diego where it blows a blistering 3 miles an hour. When I think of Open Championship golf, I don't think of it being sunny. I think of people wearing beanies hunkering down, trying everything they can with their caddie to overcome that war that you're at with the golf course. 'It's such a validating and rewarding feeling to do it. I've got no problem if it's bad weather.' Schauffele will take the Jug back to the R&A at Portrush, but he's barely seen it since winning it with his dad having hold of it. Tequila has still been consumed out of it, though, as he said: 'It's in good hands in the care of my parents as of right now. I don't drink too much. My dad definitely consumes a lot more wine than I do. He's got some good friends to enjoy it with. I hate to say it, but I've had wine, of course, and then I've had tequila out of it as well.'
