Launch of Places We Play — Ireland’s Sporting Heritage October 2011

The real tennis court features in a book about sports venues in Ireland. The book, Places We Play — Ireland’s Sporting Heritage (Mike Cronin & Roisín Higgins), was launched at the tennis court on Tuesday 25th October — and the IRTA was present, with some pictures and other information on a noticeboard, as well as some rackets and balls, all of which attracted a good deal of attention.

Indeed, the lead author made some very positive comments about the court and the hopes for its return to play — significant particularly given that the next speaker was the Minister for Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan (formerly holder of Fine Gael briefs on the OPW, and on Sport, and clearly interested in sport generally — as well as the GAA).

The book’s launch was covered in the national press (emphasis added):

From the Irish Times article, October 26, 2011:

From Ireland’s only real tennis venue, sitting unused and unloved on Earlsfort Terrace, to the country lanes of Cork and Armagh where road bowling still thrives, this is a book that takes us around the highways and byways of Irish sport.

From the Irish Independent article, October 16, 2011:

It’s a history of Ireland's sporting venues which manages to become a de facto history of Irish sport in all its manifestations, bringing us from the Aviva, Croke Park and the National Stadium to the bowling roads of Cork and Armagh, Ireland's only real tennis court, hunting lodges, swimming baths and handball courts.

— Roland Budd