Isn’t it awful funny how we miss so much as we go about our daily business in the world?
Like for example, who knew that there is a national organisation called ‘The Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland’ and that it has members right across the country that gather in fields to peg horseshoes. (The word peg here means to throw, as in “I’ll peg you out the door you little………”)
I didn’t know for one and as it turns out there was an awful lot more I didn’t know about this ancient sport until last Friday evening in Knockananna when I was given a crash course by some of the local masters of the game.
Meggars or horseshoe pitching is exactly that, the pitching of horseshoes by teams of six players. One half of the team stands at one spike (an iron bar hammered into the ground) while the remaining half stand at the second spike, which is exactly 33 feet away in a straight line.
There is a wonderful history of horseshoe pitching in Knockananna and indeed in Carlow. In Knockananna it was Patsy Tracey who first introduced the natives to the game in 1979.
That team included men such as Christy Dalton and James Whelan from the back of the hill.
Earlier in 1973 a group of workers in the Sugar Factory started the Midlands Horseshoe League and today almost every county in Leinster is represented.
Out of that organisation came The Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland, which is now the governing body, and every year there are all-Ireland championships in the RDS.
Down through the years I remember huge tournaments on the crossroads in Knockananna on land where there now stands a row of thatched cottages.
Row upon row of men all armed to the teeth with horseshoes pegged back and forth until late into the evening before retiring to one of the pubs for porter and craic.
Amazingly, despite being surrounded by the game, I never played it, being too fond of mischief and girls to take to the spike. But my older brother Raymond pegged the shoes and, as the lad says, he was ‘handy.’ So it was decided that if I was to peg against anyone for the first time, who better than the brother.
Milo gave me a 60-second lesson and explanation of the rules. He showed me how to hold the horseshoe and explained that I must never leave the spike during a game or I would be banished from society and forced to live celibate in a cave or something equally serious. (There were a lot of instructions and I can’t remember them all perfectly).
Prior to throw-off Raymond engaged in some less than sporting behaviour when he laid into me with a well-timed shoulder but I wasn’t bothered. When I took hold of those cold, steel horseshoes I could feel a magical bond, a powerful force rising as though I had finally found my calling.
It’s a brilliant game. It can be played by anyone with arms and if it sounds like it’s a game of just flinging dangerous objects at people then nothing could be further from the truth.
The three players at one spike are pegging towards their three comrades at the other spike and all through a game you are being advised and cajoled.
Calls like “you have one foot on one and four inches on another” would be an example of how your team mates would describe the position of your opponent’s shoes if he has thrown first. That information should (depending on your skill) guide you to how close to the spike you need to throw. Other sayings are “you’re saving” or alternatively “you’re not saving” and these mean that you either are or are not getting closer to the spike and saving a point.
“The cock is up” is another interesting phrase which I had the pleasure of calling aloud several times the other evening and that means that the knobby bit of the horseshoe is sticking up and is to be avoided at all costs lest your own shoe ricochet off and become embedded in the shin of an innocent bystander.
The aim of the game is to peg as close as possible to the spike with your two shoes. A meggar is when you ring the spike with a shoe.
There is also a round, according to Milo, where you peg simply for meggars and you have something like 86 throws. This seems like a lot of throws but when Milo is giving you instructions you don’t question him. In many ways he is a lot like Mr Miyagi from Karate Kid but without the chopsticks.
Initially I was paired with my good old buddy Ammo, real name Andrew Hughes. It was only fitting that it should be Ammo as we have shared a lot of experiences down through the years and I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else at the opposite spike than the bauld Ammo when it came to playing Milo ‘the merciless’ Canna and Raymond ‘Ruthless’ Lawrence.
Myself and Ammo stormed out of the blocks into an early 8-1 lead. We were proving unstoppable and not even further sneaky shoulders from the brother could knock me out of my stride.
But then the brother found his distance and all those years of pegging shoes started to pay off. Almost every shoe from him was touching the spike and Milo the Merciless was the same.
They reeled us in and claimed the first set of three with worrying ease. Realising that it was Ammo who was pulling me down I disregarded the aforementioned 33-year friendship and ditched him for my father who had arrived late.
Thomas ‘the Terrifying’ Lawrence is renowned in horseshoe pitching circles for having a rather unorthodox pegging move and I was sure he would help me to get back into the game. Sadly however, I’m afraid the devastating duo proceeded to kick our asses.
Nowadays despite the best efforts of the Horseshoe Pitchers the game has lost some of its once huge following but I don’t think there is a more entertaining game that allows for conversation and craic than this one.
It is a game of huge skill and tactics and shrewdness but it is also a great social event. It is a game where nobody gets winded, few get injured and almost everyone will laugh at some stage.
It is a game where all the worries of the world can be left behind because between spike and spike trouble has no place. Also where else can you shout “the cock is up” at random intervals and not look like a weirdo.
Knockananna play their games in the Kildare and District League and they are always looking for new members and teams so instead of settling for an hour of some mundane soap opera on the telly why don’t you consider pegging a few horseshoes. You can contact Mick Bolger, secretary of the Kildare and District League on 087 2870050 or Milo Canna (treasurer) on 086 3516046.