Ian was always one of the biggest supporters of Irish Ultimate in the early days. Coming over from the UK, bringing various teams to play in the ’96 – 2000 Dublin Open tournaments. He was a member of the first Irish Open Ultimate team, and even survived that experience to ultimately go on to be a member of the Gold medal World Beach winning team of 20111. But far better to hear it in his words…

Background, what did you play before ultimate? (In Kilkenny?)

Like most kids in Kilkenny, I played any and every sport that came along. Sadly I was never going to win any All Ireland hurling medals, so that and rugby (where I was just way too small) fell by the wayside. Most of my friends played a lot of soccer and at school I played in the basketball team.

Why did you start, and what made you keep playing?

I’d heard of Ultimate, as I’d seen the Channel 4 show about the 1994 Worlds in Colchester, so I knew it existed. I was at University in Manchester and playing in a basketball street league, when one of my flatmates mentioned that he was going to meet a family friend at frisbee practice. I was getting disillusioned with the basketball league, where cheating, aggression and posturing were taking over and detracting from the sport itself, so I was eager to try something new.

I went to an indoor practice, and while I couldn’t throw so well, the movement on the field seemed similar to other sports I’d played so I really enjoyed it. I really was hooked from that first session. What kept me playing though, was really the people.

The wild geese, you went over to the UK, and have been there 20 years? a while now, do you think you will come back, pro’s and cons of living in England?

Yes, I left Ireland to go to the University of Manchester in 1995. I was always an aviation geek, so to study aero engineering at that time, I had to go to the UK.

I never say never, but I don’t see myself coming back to Ireland. My family and career are here and I’m fortunate to have many great friend here too. I live a pretty charmed life in London.

Dublin Tournament, 96 – 2000, you were one of the most ever present players, and yet also looking in from the out side. What was your impression of the event, and Irish ultimate over those years?

Dublin 96 was my first ever outdoor tournament! I’d been to one indoor tournament (in Bradford, I think) and you were over, recruiting teams to go to Dublin. It was during the Easter holidays so I was home in Ireland and had convinced my Manchester team (the amazing “Fingers 6”), to come over.

I never made it to the Sunday of the tournament however, due to some slight over-indulgence on the Saturday night. I kept coming back as I loved the tournament and was keen to see ultimate developing in Ireland. The tournament grew each year, attracting more teams and more Irish players too. As I recall, there weren’t many Irish players in those early days, but something had started, that was clear to see.

Home nations Ultimate tournament, you took part in this, impressions? Don’t you think we should run one again?

I loved this idea. It seemed to run well as part of the Dublin tournament, with clubs playing on the Saturday, then players divided into their “nations” on the sunday. I’m not sure but this may have been before there was even an official Ireland team playing internationally. As for running it again, I be in favour, but its a pretty full calendar for international players, so I don’t know how they would feel.

Irish National Team, 2000. How would you describe the campaign, and again what was your impression of the state of Irish ultimate.

This is still a real highlight for me. I was living in London and couldn’t attend any pre-tournament practices (were there any?)

Ahem, yes!

I honestly had no idea of what to expect, but was very excited to be playing for Ireland. My brother, Brendan and I drove from London to Heilbronn, and it was lucky we did. Midway through the week-long tournament, Brendan had to be hospitalised and have his appendix removed. I was able to drive to the hospital between games, to keep him company as he had to endure a very boring few days in his hospital ward.

Ireland had a Open and a Mixed team entered, and we in the Open team were the pick-ups, ex-pats, waifs and strays. I recall we had a few Brits (of Irish extraction) and even a German playing for us. Everyone was friendly though, and the atmosphere was good.

Our first game was against Japan, and as we lined up one of my teammates commented on how “these outdoor pitches are much bigger than indoor ones”. I quickly determined that this, the opening game of the World Championships was his first game on grass. I told him that the stall was to 10, and not to 8 as it was in indoors and pulled the disc.

Personally, I had hoped to win a couple of games, and we did get a win over South Africa. We should have beaten the Russians too, but it was not to be. I think we finished 16th out of 18? So Ireland was off the mark, and not coming last.

Looking back now, I don’t think I realised how big a deal it was to be there. But Irish Ultimate was still very much in its infancy, and some of the players at that tournament went on to play a big part in the growth of the sport in Ireland.

2000 – 2015, what were your ultimate playing highlights in the UK? Did you play for GB masters too?

In 1999 I started flying for a living, which meant missing practices and working odd hours. So Ultimate had to become recreational, rather than something I was actively training hard for and pushing for the top. Around this time I joined a great team called Fever, and we still competed as well as we could, consistently in the top 12 in the UK. I moved to London in 2000, and played in the summer leagues and tagging along to training with Hammerage in Regents Park. The social scene here was pretty epic, and some of the parties were outrageous. I have to admit, I loved every second of that side of our sport.

The guys from Fever introduced me to playing more tournaments in continental Europe. They had been going to Toms Tourney in Brugges, and that had shown them the quality of tournaments on the continent. The rise of cheap flights from EasyJet and Ryanair made a trip to a tournament in Frankfurt not much more expensive than a trip to Leeds for one.

Tournaments on the continent seemed to give you a bit more for your Euro than in the UK, and everyone was extremely welcoming of teams that had taken the effort to travel. This was also about the time I discovered my favourite way to play ultimate, on the beach.

Copa Pescadisco, Porron Open, Yes-but-Nau, Paganello, and of course the legendary BDP all had me hooked. Some of my best New Years Eve’s were at the Indoor beach tournament in Berlin. More and more Irish players started coming to these tournaments too, and I played in a lot of unofficial Ireland vs Denmark matches in Mallorca.