Hurling united U.S. troops on tour in Iraq

A stopover by U.S. soldiers at Shannon Airport on St. Patrick’s Day 2004 led to the fruition of a New Hampshire based hurling team made up of men who all served together in Iraq.

Fast-forward seven years to St. Patrick’s Day 2011. To celebrate the Irish holiday six of the New Hampshire based players from The Barley House Wolves team plan to hit around some sliotars (the leather ball used in the game of hurling) on the hot sand of the Kuwait desert where they are currently on a tour of duty.

 Two members of the team, Lt. Col. Raymond Valas, 37, and Sergeant 1st Class Eddie Clements, 31, spoke to the Irish Voice about their love for the ancient game and how they were first drawn to it.
 Clements, via email, spoke to the Irish Voice from his headquarters in Camp Buehring in Kuwait. Valas, from Canton, Massachusetts, is now based in Bow, New Hampshire.

Clements, who hails from Salem, New Hampshire, is part of Delta Company Task Force 3rd Battalion 197th Artillery.

Valas, married with three children, has been part of the National Guard for 15 years. He is currently stationed in Joint Forces Headquarters in Concord, New Hampshire.

Clements, who keeps in regular contact with his mom Nancy, dad, Ed, sister, Kim and brother, Mark, admits he is not sure if he has any Irish roots. However two of Valas’ great-grandmothers were emigrants from Ireland. 

So how did these two men come to love and play hurling, a traditional Irish game resembling hockey?
It all began while on route to the war in Iraq.

“We departed the States on St. Patrick's Day in 2004, and our plane stopped over in Shannon Airport for refueling on our way into Iraq. (A year later) we all saw a full year of combat, and despite 14 of our guys getting wounded, we all came home alive,” said Valas.

 In an effort to keep his comrades in contact after combat Valas and a few of the men decided on taking up the game of hurling.

“We decided on hurling since Ireland was our point of departure and return of the war,” said Valas.
“We also wanted something that was more than just a once a year reunion, and we didn’t want to have everyone just get together at a bar,” added Clements in his email.

“The fact that the origins of the sport from thousands of years ago lie in warrior roots resonated with us as soldiers and starting a hurling club with a bunch of guys who have never held a hurley, and in a state that has never had a game played is just unusual enough to make it attractive. So, we started recruiting from the guys that we went to Iraq with,” explained Valas.

 While stopped over in Shannon airport in Co. Clare for a few hours the soldiers caught a glimpse of a live hurling match on the television.

“That kind of planted the seed,” explains Clements who has been with the U.S. Army for 13 years and has served with the New Hampshire National Guard since 2001.

 “Plus with this new game everyone was on a level playing field, cause none of us had ever played before. No one was going to be more advanced than anyone else.”

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Nster.com