Maude Nificentfren has been #watching a murdoch mysteries episode which features catholic religious (christian brothers??) playing handball. (it’s a canadian show)
this made me curious — my older brother went to a christian brothers college (melbourne australia) in the 1960s, and he was, for a while, obsessed with the game
it’s a fairly fundamental game requiring only a ball, a wall, and some players. no surprise it was popular and hardly an exclusively irish thing.
however, wikipedia tells me the christian brothers are credited with introducing it to successive generations of australian catholics thru their school network, and this thesis i stumbled across suggests it was instrumental in promoting irish identity in various colonies.
i’m a mix of surprise and amusement — i always thought it was a christian brothers obsession because “the devil makes mischief for idle hands”
we know it has been an irish thing for a while, cos the 1527 Statute of Galway, forbade playing ball games against town walls. 😆
From ‘Irish Exile’ to ‘Australian pagan’:
the Christian Brothers, Irish handball, and identity in early twentieth-century Australia
Wonderdog 🏳️🌈
Cara Bruar