The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Gaelic football makes its Celtic Festival debut
Detroit club downs Chicago squad at Henne Field; rugby continues to see success
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: July 17, 2008
The annual Rugby Night as part of Saline's Celtic Festival week has become a prized yearly tradition. And last Friday at Henne Field, the festival might have added a new one to go with it.
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On a pristine evening at Henne, Saline played host to the festival's first-ever Gaelic football match between the Detroit Wolfe Tones and visiting St. Brendan's Gaelic Football Club of Chicago. A crowd numbering in the hundreds saw a fast-paced, enjoyable match that ended with the Wolfe Tones edging St. Brendan's by a score of 2-12 (18) to 1-13 (16).
"For our first time, things went very well," said festival board member Tom Foley. "We had a nice pitch and good weather. We've had rugby for a while, wanted to expand and thought this would be a perfect opportunity for us."
Gaelic football originated in Ireland, with roots going back several centuries, and features skills common to several familiar games like soccer, basketball and even volleyball.
To advance from one end of the field to the other, players may carry the round ball for four steps before they must dribble it, "solo" it (meaning to drop the ball and kick it back into their hands), or pass it by means of striking it with a closed fist or kicking it.
Points are scored by kicking the ball into the soccer-like goal for three points or kicking or striking it between two uprights that rise above the goalposts for one point.
The Wolfe Tones took a lead into halftime after scoring an early goal and watching St. Brendan's struggle to get their legs after arriving at Henne late. But the de facto visitors would tie the game with fewer than 10 minutes to play before a pair of late points from the Wolfe Tones earned the win.
"We're very happy to be here," St. Brendan's coach told the Saline crowd at halftime. "It's always a pleasure when we get to come down and face Detroit."
While there was plenty of thrills to be had from the Gaelic football Friday night, Rugby Night delivered its usual action and excitement on Thursday at Henne.
The night started with a friendly match between current members of the Washtenaw County Rugby Football Club and a group of alumni who had come down for the event. It was followed with the traditional women's rugby match, held this year between Detroit RFC and a team representing Washtenaw and the University of Michigan's women's rugby club. The nightcap saw the Detroit RFC men once again take on the Flint Rogues.
The 2007 national champion Detroit RFC women won an easy victory, while the men earned a measure of revenge for their 2007 Rugby Night defeat at the hands of the Rogues with a hard-fought 19-12 win.
"We always have a good rivalry with Flint and it's great to come out here and play them again," said Detroit RFC "Man of the Match" Ross "Ricky" Bobby. "We played some solid defense in the second half and really played for each other."
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