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So… What’s the Craic?

An Post would be proud! This is the second delivery of The Craic with all the news from home, and enough education to make your Granny proud. Now make us proud too by passing this along to your Irish brethren, be they Irish or from Ireland. Who knew there’d be a difference? 🤷🏻‍♂️

News from Home

Farewell, Toto. For many Irish kids, the 1990 World Cup – Italia ‘90 – was a coming-of-age event, a realization of Ireland’s place in a big, bad world. Jack Charlton (Ireland’s favorite Englishman) made us dream for just a moment, but our nemesis that summer was Salvatore “Toto” Schillaci, the Italian whose goal knocked us out in the quarter-finals. The legendary striker has sadly passed away at 59. You broke our hearts, Toto, but you made our childhoods.

Dry In Air? Ireland’s Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, is famed for its cheap fares and lack of frills – you feel lucky to even get a seat – but it is also famous for having boozed-up passengers heading for sunnier climes. Boss Michael O’Leary has called for a two-drink limit on planes and airport bars. Maybe time to tone it down a bit lads.

If You Built It, They Would Have Come. Up North, the dream of Mbappé and Co. playing in Casement Park now seems over. Belfast needed a world-class stadium to be part of Euro 2028 (across Ireland and the UK), but a mixture of political in-fighting and lack of cash now means the North will likely miss out.

Titanic Shipyard Sinking. Belfast’s iconic Harland and Wolff Shipyard has gone into administration. The site where the Titanic was built (remember, it was an English lad who sank her) is scrambling to get a buyer to continue operations and save jobs.

Wow With Your Plough. All roads led to Co. Laois this week for the National Ploughing Championships. It’s like Comic-Con with tractors, sheep and Ireland’s Fittest Farmer™️. But while it sounds quaint, “The Ploughing” is actually Europe’s biggest outdoor event. Find out more about it here.

There’s No Profit in a Pint. Ireland isn’t alone in being a nation that likes to complain about prices, but Irish publicans (bar owners) have taken a stand against the island’s favorite grumble – the price of a pint. The poster campaign breaks down the overheads for each pint, showing how little profit publicans actually make. Will it stop us from moaning over a Guinness? Absolutely not.

The Weekly Curadh

As a wee country, we can struggle when it comes to playing ‘foreign’ sports (bless me father!) on the international stage, especially soccer, but Irish women have shown they can hang with the best of late. At the weekend, the Women’s Rugby Team hammered the mighty Australia 36-10 in a huge upset, which also raises Irish hopes for next year’s World Cup. And for good measure, our Irish Women scored their first-ever T20 cricket victory over England. Over to you now, fellas.x`

Cúpla focal

This week’s Irish colloquialism looks at the delicate art of the “shift”. Slang dictionaries will say it is akin to kissing, but it’s probably closer to the Americanism “making out”. That said, the term has shifted 😜 to being more ironic in its usage, almost teasing: “Did you get the shift last night?”, “Was he a good shift?”.  Just like other countries, shift can also be used as a command to move, albeit with some Irish flavor: “Shift yer arse off that feckin seat, will ya?” … And as you hopefully know, Shift is also the upcoming app for connecting Irish people everywhere, from the lads that brought you this newsletter. 

Blast from the Past

It’s been a long while since Father Ted first hit our screens. Just 25 episodes of the beloved sitcom were made, but it has that Seinfeld-esque status of never being off the telly. It’s also fecking hilarious, unashamedly silly, and has a cult following like no other Irish show. Last weekend, some of the cast reunited – Father Damien, Father Purcell, Father Stone (you only have to say that last name to an Irish person to raise a smile) – for Northern Ireland Comic Con, bringing back memories of a show that has never really gone away.

And One Last Thing….

We have always claimed to be a nation that punches above its weight, something best seen in literature & poetry (and the craic, am I right?). You’ll know titans like Wilde, Shaw and Joyce, but we wanted to highlight the best playwright you’ve (probably) never heard of, Seán O'Casey. A firebrand, O’Casey rocked the 20th-century literary establishment, modernizing theater by bringing stories of strong women (outrageous!), the working class, and black humor to the stage. O’Casey died sixty years ago this week - his New York Times obituary is here - but his influence is still felt in theaters around the world, even if the audience is not always aware of it.

And once you’ve let us know, go ahead and get your ma, your da, and your cousins to sign up too. Ah go on, go on, go on!

The Craic is brought to you by the lads from the Shift app. Shift is a social network for the Irish everywhere, launching in 2025: GetTheShift.app.