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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780595456840
ISBN number: 0595456847
Label: iUniverse, Ltd.
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Ltd.
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 210
Printing Date: November 12, 2007
Publishing house: iUniverse, Ltd.
Release Date: November 12, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 758849
Studio: iUniverse, Ltd.
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Product Description:
When American sportswriter Andy Mendlowitz took a summer vacation to Ireland, his itinerary included visiting medieval castles and drinking dark beer. He soon discovered a world where big-time sports aren’t yet a business, but still a game. Ireland’s rough-and-tumble pastimes of hurling and Gaelic football attract crowds of up to 80,000 fans a contest. The high-profile players, though, are amateurs. They train as professionals but must work fulltime jobs to pay the bills. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) also lacks free agency or trades—you simply play for your hometown team, even if you move away.
Amazed by this concept, and burned out at work, Mendlowitz quit his job and moved to Ireland for eight months His aim was to get excited again by understanding what drives these athletes. Along the way, he met interesting characters and learned how the sports intersect with the ancient Irish language, burgeoning economy and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
From big cities like Belfast, Dublin and Cork to tiny rural parishes, Mendlowitz paints a vivid picture of Ireland and the joy of competing.
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Rated by buyers -
This was a great book that is not so much about sports, but of a country's passion for their culture and the sports that are part of their culture. Made me want to take in a hurling match or a Gaelic football tilt. You will enjoy the read.
Rated by buyers 
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good book. the author takes in the romantic side of the GAA but also sees the faults and future hurdles that the GAA will face in coming years. worth a read.
Rated by buyers -
Reviewed by Richard Blake for Reader Views (2/08)
To get background information and interviews for his "Ireland's Professional Amateurs," award-winning journalist, Andy Mendlowitz toured Ireland for eight months to observe and record the story of a sport season at it its purest.
This is a behind-the-scenes story of The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), of Gaelic Football, a combination of the elements of soccer and rugby, and the game Hurling. Hurling is an Irish sport played with a stick similar to ice hockey. Andy described the game this way: Gaelic football was physical and with the players not wearing pads, trouble followed. Hard shoulder-to-shoulder contact led to violent collisions. Heads banged and bodies got slammed to the ground.
These games often attract crowds as large as 80,000. The athletes train as professionals but maintain full-time jobs outside of the sports arena to pay support their families. According to Andy, GAA both created and reflected community. GAA fans had two loyalties-- to the club team and to the inter-county squad. Mendlowitz provides several enlightening references within the various chapters of the financial underwriting of the GAA organization and their investments.
From the early playoffs in February through April to the finals in September and October, Andy followed the teams from Clare, Mayo, Leitrim, Kerry, and Galway Counties to Derry in Northern Ireland and the cities of Cork and Dublin.
I personally enjoyed Andy's word pictures and colorful detailed descriptions of the Irish countryside as he traveled from the rural parishes to the large cities of Belfast, Dublin, and Cork. I was fascinated as he gave me a new appreciation of Ireland's culture, folklore, superstitions, history, and economics. He also gave me a new understanding of the difficulties being faced in Northern Ireland.
To provide the background information Mendlowitz wanted for his story he stayed with players and their families. He became involved in their personal lives and identified with the loyalty they feel for their teammates, their fans, and their country.
Mendlowitz writes in a fast-moving, journalistic style that reveals his own passion for sports, his fascination with the sports, the games themselves, with the individual team members, their coaches, and their fans. His love for travel, new adventures in learning and a love for life all come through in "Ireland's Professional Amateurs." This is sports writing at its finest.
Rated by buyers -
What John Grisham does for American football in Italy in They Play for Pizza, Andy Mendlowitz does for Ireland's national sports, except that Andy's Ireland's Professional Amateurs is non-fiction.
This book is an account of the author's eight months in Ireland following the Gaelic football and hurling seasons. He traveled to a dozen cities, lived in players' family's homes, shared successes and losses, and soaked up the nationalistic feelings the games brought to the teammates, their county and the many enjoying enduring fans.
Irelans's Professional Amateurs is more than a sports book - it is also a travel log of Ireland's rich culture, and a history book of the great country.
Andy tells a story of the pride and joy of the fans in watching the distinctively special Irish sports and how it transcends the sports playing field to the pride in their local county and their Gaelic background.
The players are all amateurs practicing hard and heavy after work so they could win the Sunday game for their county. And then they are back at work on Tuesday at their jobs as teachers, accountants, lawyers, civil servants and factory workers. No time to recover from their injuries which seem more plentiful than they should be for an amateur sport, to back to their planning and practices for the subsequent weekend's game.
The book is written in a fast paced journalistic style that grabs your attention from the very first page to the last. It draws out individual stories of many players and the pride and sacrifices they make to play the game.
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