A Skort in a Storm 🏑🚺

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on this fine Friday, delivering news of Irish hijinks at home and abroad. If you enjoy this weekly newsletter, show us a bitta love by asking your friends and acquaintances to sign up here. Oh, and did you know about The Craic’s podcast where Shift founders Patrick & Paul have a chat and a pint? Check out the latest episode here.

News from Home

Skorting the Law. Alongside popes and pointing to the strange yellow object that has taken up permanent residence in Irish skies, the topic du jour of late in Eire is “skorts.” It all stems from a debate over what girls and women should be allowed to wear while playing camogie (the female version of hurling). Some want to wear shorts, whereas the authorities are yapping about traditions and want to keep the skorts (basically a type of skirt). Players have been protesting in an effort to change the rules but have been met by bureaucratic handwringing from the Camogie Association. The Craic’s position is simple: let them wear whatever they want.

Maids of Honor. Plenty of us have been in that awkward position before tying the knot, having to explain to one friend that they won’t be ‘in’ the wedding. Not so for County Down woman Kathryn McGowan, who said “I do” this week with no fewer than 95 (NINETY-FIVE!) bridesmaids. By contrast, the groom “only” had eight groomsmen. Let’s hope the photographer had a very wide lens.

Lions Pride. 15 Irish rugby players received one of the highest honors in their sport yesterday, getting called up to the British & Irish Lions squad for the summer’s tour to Australia. It’s a (Ron Burgundy voice) big deal to get the call, and the 15 Irish will form the heart of a squad also made up of 13 Englishmen, 8 Scots, and 2 Welshmen. National rivalries are set aside for one of the best spectacles in sports.

Papal Visit? You’ll have seen the white smoke signaling that there’s a new pope, a first American pope, no less. Yet, it seems that Pope Leo XIV is pals with plenty of Irish lads in the Vatican, and they have been whispering that the new chief will make an Irish visit sooner rather than later.

The Irish Influence

Are you a gamer? If so, our Irish Influence this week needs no introduction. If, like the boys and girls who make The Craic, you don’t know your Marios from your Warios, you’ll wonder who the feck we are talking about. Sean “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin is one of the biggest YouTubers in gaming, with over 30 million subscribers and an army of adoring fans. He is, though, a lot more than that. Like Mr Beast, he has outgrown the platform, starring in movies, as a playable character in several video games, making documentaries, and launching several business ventures. Yet, what we love about McLoughlin is that he uses his voice for good. His charity streams and other philanthropic ventures have raised tens of millions of dollars for good causes. His last big charity stream raised $25 million alone. Fair play, Mr Jacksepticeye.

Cúpla Focal

Bainis {Bah-Nish} – Wedding. The late spring brings the Irish wedding season (95 bridesmaids optional), and nobody does wedding craic quite like the Irish. The word Bainis actually refers more to the wedding party - the shindig - than the union of two people (pósadh - marriage), but sure that’s what it’s all about.

Blast from the Past

We came across a wee gem highlighted in the RTE archives this week: A 24-year-old Christie Moore making one of his earliest televised performances. If you’re a fan of Christie (and everyone with an ounce of Irish blood should be), you’ll note in the performance of Avondale below that this is such a departure from the Moore we know and love today. Oh, and since we are talking Christie, we’ve also found a raucous Christie-Moore-esque song from the 2 Johnnies: a bunch of lads having the absolute craic in a pub. Click here for that – you won’t regret it.

And One Last Thing….

What’s in a name? If you are familiar with the quotidian thrusts of Northern Ireland politics, you’ll know that naming things – a street, a building, a rock – tends to cause controversy. Some of it is rightly sensitive, such as naming things after people linked to the IRA or Loyalist paramilitaries, whereas other times, it feels a bit petty – some people lose their shit at the idea of dual (Irish and English) street signs, for instance. Anyway, we had to go through the whole rigmarole of renaming the national soccer stadium, which was known as Windsor Park for the best part of a century. Eventually, they came up with the corporate-friendly Clearer Twist National Stadium. Now, with apologies to the good folks at Clearer Twist (a drinks product), there’s finally something all of NI agree on – that name is just awful.

Yay! You made it all the way to the end! If you liked this bit of craic, remember to pass it on to your mates. They can sign up here: https://www.thecraic.us/

The Craic is brought to you by the lads from Shift. Shift is the directory of all things Irish, and the first-of-its-kind IRL social, dating, and everything else network - the Shift App is arriving late Summer!