Horses, hurling and a big Bavarian band - memories of the Fair Green in Kilkenny

Recently John Brennan hopped on his bicycle and headed up to the Fair Green.

“Approaching from the Gaol Road, I could see machines working on the surface of the Green,” he said. “I then went up the Middle Road, past the dressing-rooms and turned right where, alongside two big excavators and a tractor, was a mountain of the finest topsoil you’d see in the country.

“On my way home I was thinking of the great times we had on the Green - big days like the fair, St Mary’s hurling tournaments, the circus, sports days, the Beer Festival and many days watching Freebooters. But I’ll start with my earliest memories.

“Bound to the north by Kickham Street, south by Gaol Road, the east by Parnell Street and west by Stephen Street and overshadowed by St Mary’s Cathedral, the Fair Green was our Theatre of Dreams, Croke Park and Dalymount all rolled into one. Across the Gaol Road were the handball alleys and pitch & putt in an area known as The Closh.

THE FAIR DAY
“The Fair Day was a day like no other. I remember my mother bringing me down to school at the Presentation Convent on James’ Street. We would have to cross from Walkin Street to Parnell Street - on a fair day there would be animals everywhere.

“The Fair Day was a day for buying and selling of livestock in the Green and was held about once a month. The horse sales were conducted on the right hand side, looking up the pitch from the Gaol Road. The buyers would examine the horse and gallop it up and down the pitch. The sale would be done by slapping both palms together, before it was off to Brennan’s and Woodcock’s to seal the deal!

“The sheep pens were on the left side between the fire station and the Middle Road (the Corporation workshops are on this site now).

“The cattle sales were on the top left, where the small all-weather pitch is located, with a loading ramp where the Freebooters dressing-rooms are now.

“By the end of the day, when all the sales were complete, all the streets in the area would be cleaned and washed down with the Corporation water truck.

HURLING ON THE GREEN
“My earliest memories of hurling in the Fair Green involved the seven-a-side tournaments which were held in the summer.

“They were organised by the St Mary’s GAA club, who were a good under-age side at the time. They won the under-16 Roinn A title in 1957-58 as well as Northern minor titles in the 1940s. In 1976-77 they also won the under-16 football final. The club dressing-rooms were in Walkin Street, where Fuzion and Cois Nore are today.

“The seven-a-side tournaments were very popular in the city and county - Bennettsbridge were the top team and had lots of success. In the 1950s and ’60s St Mary’s, who wore red and white, had great coaches and selectors in Andy O’Brien, Willie Culleton, Ray Cody, Mick Tyrrell, Paddy Hennessy and Mick Devane, to name but a few.

“Mick Devane would not allow any player to rise the ball - he would tell you to ‘pull on it’. That was Mick’s favourite catchphrase.

“The club finally folded in the 1970s, despite the best efforts of Paddy Hennessy. A number of players joined James Stephens and won senior county championship medals in the decade.
“Before St Mary’s in the Fair Green we had St Rioch’s - they won Northern Junior hurling titles in 1934 and 1945 and a Northern minor final in 1930-31.

Up the Rioch’s!

“As kids growing up we could be heard shouting ‘Up the Rioch’s’ (pronounced Rox-is). During the Emergency I heard it said that the Fair Green was used for the storage of turf for locals in the area. St Mary’s hurling club committee did major work on the pitch, excavating and levelling it before erecting goalposts at either end.

“In the late 1960s a combination of St Mary’s and St Rioch’s took part in the local junior championship, playing for one year. The late Martin Murray was chairman while Kevin Hennessy was secretary.

“In the 1960s we also played rounders on the Fair Green. On long summer nights, when the games were over, we would go over to the back of Parnell’s Houses for water or down to Nancy Culleton’s for 7-Up and chester cake.”

THE CIRCUS
News that the circus was coming would be heralded by posters appearing in the windows of the local shops. That would be followed by the loud banging of two circus workers driving down steel stakes into the ground to support the tent.

On the way to school in the morning, the circus party would arrive. By lunch-time the tent would be up, with the first show on that afternoon. There would be another show at 7pm before it would move on to another town.
A number of circuses would come every year, namely Tom Duffy & Sons, Fossett’s and sometimes Perks FunFair. Two of the biggest to come to the Green were Chipperfields and Bertram Mills - these two circus tents would take up almost three-quarters of the soccer pitch.

The whole left side of the Green was taken up with trucks, caravans, generators and a zoo of animals. These big circuses would stay for a week or so. Circuses still come to Kilkenny, but Cillín Hill is now their home.

SPORTS DAY
The sports day in the Fair Green was the brainchild of Fr Rioch from the Capuchin Friary. All the usual events took place, from long jump and high jump to 60 yard dashes and novelty competitions like a slow bicycle race and tug ‘o’ war.
The prizes were along the lines of pairs of short pants, stockings, shirts and holy pictures. There were no losers - everyone got a prize.

Fr Rioch would get a lot of help from people like Mick Tyrrell, Andy O’Brien, Joe Stapleton, Ray Cody and Mick Devane. It was a great family day out.

THE KILKENNY BEER FESTIVAL
The Kilkenny Beer Festival was first held in St James’s Park in 1964. It was a big tourist attraction and became an annual event.

The big top in James’s Park was home to nightly performances from a Bavarian band from Germany. The Park became known as Festival Park for the entirety of the event, while the Fair Green was a camping site.
In the 1970s the Festival moved lock, stock and barrel to the Fair Green. The big tent was on the hurling/soccer pitch while the funfair and circus tents were on what is now the Corporation yard. Jim Cantwell’s big band provided the music for the festival, which ran for a few more years.

FREEBOOTERS
Long before Freebooters moved to the Fair Green, soccer was played there by Shamrock Rovers and Home Farm.
Back in the 1960s it would not have been unusual to see a game of 15-a-side being played on one half of the pitch as all the young lads from the surrounding areas would flock to the Green for a game.

Freebooters were founded in 1950 and played in the local league. In 1972 the team, managed by Shamie Maher, reached the McCalmont Cup final, losing to Callan United. Nine of that team were from the Fair Green area.

Freebooters moved on to the Fair Green in the 1970s and, up to the present day, have had tremendous success. They have won leagues and Cups - including this season’s McCalmont Cup - as well as three Leinster Junior Cups. The club has also had great success with their schoolboys’ and schoolgirls’ teams, all of whom will be back on the new pitch for the new season.

SPORTING STARS
A number of people who have had success representing Kilkenny and Ireland were born or lived around the Fair Green. Among them are senior

All-Ireland hurling winners Michael Walsh (Walkin Street and formerly Fatima Place), Ned Byrne and PJ Garvan (James’s Green), Jim Langton (Dominic Street) and Martin Treacy (Parnell Street and formerly Bennettsbridge).
In soccer, the area had junior internationals in Michael Brennan and Michael Walsh (Walkin Street), Graham Doyle (Gaol Road), Jimmy Donnelly jnr and Milo Breen (The Kilns).

Ned Byrne and Willie Duggan (James’s Green) represented Ireland in rugby, while Paddy Reilly (Walkin Street) was a senior All-Ireland handball winner.