Westmeath Hurling team- subs smoking fags in the dugout

room_149

Hi
Strange one for you now, but can any of you confirm a (possibly tall) tale ive just been told regarding the westmeath hurlers.
Is it true some of their subs were shown smoking fags and eating chips during a championship game on the Sunday Game back in the 1980s?!
I'm originally from the lake county, in my early 30s, a keen hurling fan and ex player but don't remember ever seeing anything about this!
Thanks

Royal Legend

A tall tale I would assume, its unlikely they were ever on the Sunday game as regards Hurling, not to minf football in the 80's

WumBuster

Wouldnt see something like that nowadays except maybe Junior club matches. I also read a story somewhere about certain Offaly hurlers smoking at half time during an All ireland final back in the 90's

Nonoperational

You wouldn't see that at a junior game.

WumBuster

Nonoperational wrote: »

You wouldn't see that at a junior game.

Well maybe not the chips but Ive seen fellas(players and mentors) smoking on the sideline at Junior matches in my own county

KevIRL

Royal Legend wrote: »

A tall tale I would assume, its unlikely they were ever on the Sunday game as regards Hurling, not to minf football in the 80's

Westmeath were pretty succesful hurling wise in the 80's. They played in division 1 in 86 and got an all-star in that year as well

Royal Legend

KevIRL wrote: »

Westmeath were pretty succesful hurling wise in the 80's. They played in division 1 in 86 and got an all-star in that year as well

I was joking, I was well aware of Westmeath hurling in the 80's, the Grevilles, Kilcoynes, Cosgrove, Meath were fairly handy at the time as well with The Fergusons, Frank Lynch, Frank McCann, Paddy Kelly, Ben Tansey. There was always a strong pocket of hurling around the meath/westmeath border and they used to play each other sometimes in club tournaments.

Fireball07

In the 80s? It's not impossible tbqh



Shur everyone knows Offaly won an All-Ireland with Johnny Pilkington going for a fag at half-time.

bmwguy

Its possible in the 80s alright sure didnt Willie Duggan that played no 8 for Irish rugby team (probably our best number 8 ever) have a smoke before every game and sometimes run into the dressing room at half time to have a sneaky smoke. These were the days teams stayed out at half time. Could be a tall tale as well but I've heard it often enough

WumBuster

Fireball07 wrote: »

In the 80s? It's not impossible tbqh



Shur everyone knows Offaly won an All-Ireland with Johnny Pilkington going for a fag at half-time.

And John Troy. Thats why Offaly didnt start hurling til the last 5 mins of the game, the 2 boys took half an hour to recover from their half time fag

DoctaDee

100 % true .. Westmeath v Kilkenny 1989 .. It was halftime one of the subs sitting on top of the dugout having a ciggie

WhatNowForUs?

I thought it was the Sligo footballers. Did the Westmeath hurdles not win D1 at one stage in the 80's

room_149

Would you know of anywhere I might find the footage for this?
There's nothing doing on Youtube & I've stopped listening to Off the Ball since the lads left

RikkFlair

I remember watching that on the Sunday Game as a kid and me and my brother roaring laughing. He defo wasn't eating chips though!

Mountainlad

Fireball07 wrote: »

In the 80s? It's not impossible tbqh



Shur everyone knows Offaly won an All-Ireland with Johnny Pilkington going for a fag at half-time.

"I'll never let hurling stop me from enjoying life." Top man!

buck65

I remember that too. 2 lads having a puff sitting on the dugout. Cool.

Pudders

In the mid 1970s I was in the Kilkenny dug out as a kid for a Kilkenny Wexford league match in Wexford. The KK panel had togged out everyone so there were over 10 subs - probably 15. 4 lads played cards throughout the match! And another couple were smoking fags once the 2nd half started and knew they weren't going on. Father Tommy didn't bat an eyelid!

megadodge

DoctaDee wrote: »

100 % true .. Westmeath v Kilkenny 1989 .. It was halftime one of the subs sitting on top of the dugout having a ciggie

I remember it well. You're 100% correct. He was up on top of the dugout smoking and as far as I remember he also had no boots on, just in his socks.

No chips though.

THEBOSS46

I remember the Galway Hurling subs smoking on the sideline in the early nineties at the League final against Tipp at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. One of them was an All Ireland winner. Must be something in the Maroon Jersey.

chinguetti

Remember that too so its true.

There's also the one from the Dublin v Longford or Louth in the Leinster Championship match on the Sunday Game in the 90s I think where the announcer told the non Dublin supporters that the exits were now open.

room_149

Thanks for all the posts- would be great If anyone had some old VHS footage of it to stick up on youtube.

mickmackey1

yep I remember it also, might still be lying about in some dusty corner of RTE, wouldn't mind seeing it again for a laugh.

come to think of it, they should be digitising all the old footage and make it generally available...

hould on hey

I Am a former smoker And I Can tell The person that started this thread that its lies all lies And don't believe anybody that tells you they saw somebody smoking in a dugout its all lies The smoke you thought you saw was actually steam riseing from our sacret gaa water after it was applied To a very hot injury :-)

lukin

megadodge wrote: »

I remember it well. You're 100% correct. He was up on top of the dugout smoking and as far as I remember he also had no boots on, just in his socks.

No chips though.

Yep, I remember it well. Everyone was talking about it in school the next day.

on_the_nickel

This thread is the only hit on Google for "Westmeath sub smoking". Glad I'm not alone in remembering it! Anyone got footage?

Strange the way the mind works, I can't remember the date of my wedding anniversary, but I'm pretty sure the fella had a blonde mullet and was sitting on top of the dugout swinging his legs like a kid!