Tailteann Games

The tradition & historical record

The Tailteann Games or Aonach Tailteann was an Irish sporting and cultural festival held in the Irish Free State in 1924, 1928, and 1932. It was intended as a modern revival of the Tailteann Games held from legendary times until the Norman invasion of Ireland; as such it drew inspiration from the Modern Olympics revival of the Ancient Olympics. Croke Park, the Dublin headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association, was the venue for the opening ceremony and many of the sports events, which were open to people of Irish birth or ancestry. The Tailteann Games were held shortly after the Summer Olympics, such that athletes participating in Paris 1924 and Amsterdam 1928 came to compete. Participants came from England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, the USA, the Union of South Africa and Australia as well as Ireland. Chess competitions were held in conjunction with the Irish Chess Union as part of the Tailteann Games. There were also artistic competitions and industrial displays. The games became regarded as a Cumann na nGaedheal project, and when that party lost power to Fianna Fáil after the 1932 election there was no financial backing for further games. ¹

This revival "meeting of the Irish race" was announced by Éamon de Valera in Dáil Éireann in 1921. The 1922 Irish Race Convention supported the plan for an "Irish Race Olympic". Initially (as of April 1922) the plan was to be a national event with an expectation of nine counties to participate. It would also include an opera performance in the Irish language. The first Games were scheduled to be held from 6 to 13 August 1922. In order to join the teams representing Ireland, individuals were required to have two Irish grandparents (one paternal and one maternal). A report to revive the games was debated in the Dáil in June 1922. Modern sports such as motorcycling and shooting were to be included, along with a parade of massed choirs. The possibility of out-doing the Olympic Games was mentioned: "We have got representations from America to the effect that it would be advisable to depart from the idea of confining the Tailteann games to the Irish race and seeing that they predated the Greek Olympic by a thousand years we should be justified in entering upon a more varied programme." The first games were held in August 1922, with JJ Walsh, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, as chair and Catherine Gifford Wilson, BA as secretary to the organisation. In July 1922, there was a main fire in the O'Connell Street, a main street in Dublin burning down 25 of its main buildings and main hotels; also to be used for the Games. A few days later it was reported the government invested 10,000 pounds sterling in the Games and 30.000 visitors were expected. However, due to the Anglo-Irish War and the Irish Civil War the Games were not held until 1924. The meeting was launched to celebrate the independence of Ireland. The Hogan Stand was built and opened for the 1924 games. ¹

Commemorative medals were struck for all three games, in gold, silver, silver gilt, and bronze. They depict Tailtiu, the patron deity of the ancient Tailteann Games, with inscription "An Bhainrioghan Tailte" ("Queen Tailte"). ¹

The 1924 Tailteann Games were held in Dublin, Ireland in August 1924 after the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. To increase the quality of the competition, some Olympic stars without Irish heritage were invited to compete as guests. The games opened with the "Tailteann choir" singing the "Tailteann ode", with words by Oliver St. John Gogarty and music by Louis O'Brien. The ode won Gogarty a bronze medal in the literature section of the 1924 Olympic art competition. The Irish flag was carried by Tom Kiely, winner of the 1904 Olympic all-around (decathlon) title. The dissident Irish republican movement which had lost the Irish Civil War urged a boycott of the games "falsely described as Aonach Tailteann", because it rejected the legitimacy of the Irish Free State government which sponsored the games. Rugby union was excluded from the program because the Irish Rugby Football Union was seen as "undemocratic and almost un-Irish". ¹

Billiards events were held in the Catholic Club in O'Connell Street. ¹

Run in conjunction with the Irish Chess Union, there were three competitions, the overall competition was won by the reigning Irish Champion Philip Baker, the Major Competition was won by Lord Dunsany, with Aaron Sayers as runner-up. Dublin Chess Club provided its premises in Regent House, Trinity College Dublin as well as equipment for use for the Competitions. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tailteann Games (Irish Free State)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Tailteann Games is sporting and cultural festival, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²