The American Invasion (called the Irish Invasion in America) was an 1888 sports tour of the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

by Irish athletes under the auspices of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

(GAA). It raised American awareness of the GAA but failed as a fundraising venture.

Planning

In endorsing the 1884 founding of the GAA, its patron

Michael Davitt Michael Davitt (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...

called for a modern revival of the ancient Tailteann Games. In January 1888 the annual

GAA Congress The GAA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the Gaelic Athletic Association ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ), commonly known by its acronymic, the ''GAA''. The GAA is the international governing body of Gaelic games such as football and hurl ...

was held in an atmosphere of optimism after the successful organisation of the 1887 All-Ireland Hurling and All-Ireland Football Championships and a détente between factions for and against the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

(IRB).Mandle 1987, p. 71 Congress agreed in principle to organise a tour of North America, hoping to publicise

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the ...

among the

Irish diaspora The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...

there and to raise funds for its Tailteann Games project. Details were arranged at April, May,Martin 2020 p. 21 and July meetings of the

GAA Central Council The structure of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is a voluntary, democratic association consisting of various boards, councils, and committees organised in a structured hierarchy. The individual club is the basic unit of the association, and ...

. A cost of £1,000 was estimated, with a projected £5,000 in receipts, which proved very overoptimistic. The tour was to include

exhibition match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es in

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

and challenge matches in

track and field athletics Track and field is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of ...

, a sport which the GAA organised until the 1922 foundation of the

National Athletic and Cycling Association The National Athletic and Cycling Association (NACA or N.A. and C.A.), from 1990 the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI or NACA(I)) was a federation of sports clubs in the island of Ireland practising athletics or bicycl ...

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

, now the most popular Gaelic game, was less important in the early GAA and not included in the tour. The tour was delayed by difficulty in raising the necessary £1,000, with patron

Thomas Croke Thomas William Croke D.D. (28 May 1824 – 22 July 1902) was the second Catholic Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand (1870–74) and later Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in Ireland. He was important in the Irish nationalist movement especially as a C ...

contributing only £5, and little raised by exhibition games in Dublin, Wexford, Dundalk, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Cork. Requesting a donation from each affiliated club was hampered by continued disaffiliations dating from the IRB split. Finally, Davitt personally guaranteed £450. The track and field athletes were selected from among the top finishers at the GAA national championships in Limerick on 5 August. Daniel Bulger of

Lansdowne Football Club Lansdowne Football Club, also sometimes referred to as Lansdowne Rugby Football Club, is a rugby union team based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1872 by Henry Dunlop as the ''Irish Champion Athletic Club''. Its senior team currently plays ...

won four events, but was ineligible for the tour because his club was affiliated to the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

rather than the GAA.

John Cullinan John Cullinan (1858? – 17 December 1920) was Irish Nationalist Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Tipperary South, 1900–18. John Cullinan (also spelt Cullinane) was a journalist. He was born at Bansha, son of Charles Cullin ...

, an official of the GAA and IRB, went ahead to America to prepare for the tour party, which set sail on 16 September from Queenstown (now

Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...

) on the

Guion Line The Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Company, known commonly as the Guion Line, was a British passenger service that operated the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route from 1866 to 1894. While incorporated in Great Britain, 52% of the company ...

's ''Wisconsin''. The team comprised 18 track and field athletes, 25 hurlers, and 10 officials including a doctor and a Catholic

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

. (Some of the party were in two categories, like

Maurice Davin Maurice Davin (29 June 1842 – 27 January 1927) was an Irish farmer who became co-founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He was also the first President of the GAA and the only man ever to serve two terms as president. Sports Davin was bo ...

's brother Pat; the total number is variously given as 51 or 53.) Patrick Prendergast Sutton travelled both as captain of one of the two hurling teams and as

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

of ''Sport''.

Progression

Many of the hurlers were seasick throughout the voyage.Martin 2020 p. 23 The tour included

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) Places ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario *Patterson Township, Ontario *Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ;United States of America * Patterson, Arkansas *Patterson, C ...

in New York;

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and Lowell in Massachusetts; Trenton and

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

in New Jersey;

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

; and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Arriving in each city, the party were greeted by

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

bands. The field athletes set records and the hurlers impressed the locals. A spectator was injured by a wayward

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

during the first practice session. Hurling matches were 13-a-side. All the hurleys the party had brought were soon broken and replacements were quickly made from local

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...

rather than the traditional

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

wood.Martin 2020 p. 24 At the

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

of the

National Association of Amateur Athletes of America National Association of Amateur Athletes of America (NAAA) (1879 to 1888) was formed in 1879. This was the organized body for the Amateur Athletes before the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) took over in 1888. NAAA History NAAA formation After t ...

(NAAA) in the

Manhattan Athletic Club The Manhattan Athletic Club was an athletic club in Manhattan, New York City. The club was founded on November 7, 1877, and legally incorporated on April 1, 1878. Its emblem was a "cherry diamond". It established an athletic cinder ash track at ...

on 13 October,

James Mitchel James Sarsfield "Jim" Mitchel (born Mitchell; January 30, 1864 – July 3, 1921) was an Irish-born American field athlete who competed in the 1904 Olympics. He was one a group of Irish-American athletes known as the "Irish Whales." Biogr ...

came first in the 56 pound weight and second in both the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and hammer throw; other GAA athletes came first in the

440-yard dash The 440-yard dash, or quarter-mile race, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. In many countries, athletes compete in the 440 yard dash (402.336 m) – which corresponds to a quarter mile. Many athletic tracks are 440 yards ...

(Timothy Jerome O'Mahony, the "

Rosscarbery Rosscarbery () is a village and census town in County Cork, Ireland. The village is on a shallow estuary, which opens onto Rosscarbery Bay. Rosscarbery is in the Cork South-West (Dáil Éireann) constituency, which has three seats. History The ...

Steam Engine") and

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

(Tim M. O'Connor); second in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

(William McCarthy, beaten by

Thomas Conneff Thomas Conneff (ca. 1866–1910) was an amateur Irish runner who held the amateur record for the fastest mile (4:) from 1895 to 1911. Thomas "Tommy" Conneff was born in Kilmurray, Clane Co. Kildare on the 10th of December 1867 to James and Marcel ...

, who had emigrated the previous year); and third in the 120-yard hurdles (Denis Power), half-mile run (Billy Phibbs) and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

(Daniel Shanahan). Among the other GAA athletes were John Mooney (sprints); Patrick Keohan, Pat Looney, and Jack Connery (jumps); and William Real and John C. Daly (throws). Several factors reduced both the number of meetings (to 15 hurling and 9 athletics matches) and attendances at them: bad weather; the

U.S. presidential election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not direc ...

campaign, which preoccupied the GAA's

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

sympathisers; and a dispute between the older NAAA and the larger

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU). The GAA tried to be neutral between the AAU and the NAAA, leading the AAU to boycott it. Heavy snow cancelled the two-week Canadian leg of the tour. Local journalist Patrick Ford was called upon to pay the party's hotel bill in New York City. Although the final meeting at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

attracted a crowd of several thousand, the local organisers charged the Irish party $75 to cover an alleged shortfall in expenses. When S.S. ''City of Rome'' left New York on 31 October, many of the players opted not to sail back to Ireland. Mandle says 28 of the 45 athletes returned; Pat Davin said only 23 of the total party of 53 returned. Others returned only to settle their affairs before emigrating back to America. Michael Cusack privately accused Davitt of "traitorously" encouraging his "pets" to emigrate.

Legacy

The tour was a financial disaster. As regards increasing awareness of Gaelic games in the United States, the tour had some success; which later benefited Gaelic football there despite its not having been part of the tour. The 1888 All-Ireland Hurling and All-Ireland Football Championships were abandoned because of the disruption of the tour.Mandle 1987, p. 72 Maurice Davin resigned as GAA President at the 1889 Congress, as the IRB faction used the failure of the tour to take control of the GAA executive. In 1893 Davitt's

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

declaration stated that he was still owed £450 by the GAA, which disowned the tour and its associated debt.Mandle 1987, p. 98 Among those who stayed in America was James Mitchel, who won a bronze medal for the U.S. in the 1904 Olympic 56-lb weight throw. Pat Davin's diary of the tour was published as part of his 1938 memoir; the diary manuscript was sold for €5,500 at auction in 2016.

Sources

* *

Planning

Progression

Legacy

Sources

Citations

Further reading