The first Puc……….     

In the early winter months of 2008 the Vancouver Harps Hurling Club transformed from an idea to reality. A young, but experienced James Davoren took it upon himself to start the first ever Hurling Team in Vancouver, The Vancouver Harps Hurling Team. Training for hurling began in late spring and continued throughout the summer.

The first ever game played by the Harps Hurlers was played on foreign soil in the US of A against an established club, Seattle Gaels. The game was played in a highly competitive but friendly manner. After a tough first half the Harps Hurlers responded in the second half with a powerful display of hurling with some great scores and finished the first game in our short history on a winning note.

To build upon this success training was increased to twice a week, the main challenges facing the team were the recruitment of new members and the acquisition of hurling equipment. However through perseverance and a great effort by everyone involved we got stronger and became a team with an excellent blend of youth, experience, beginners, ladies and gents. The next game up and biggest of the year, and the first ever played on home soil was at the Vancouver Gaelic weekend which took place in the stunning surrounds of Stanley Park Vancouver. For this game Seattle Gaels came to Vancouver to play an excellent game of hurling in front of a large Irish and Canadian crowd. To the amusement of everyone the police even stopped to take a look!! Once again Vancouver triumphed and maintained our 100% record to the season; it was also here that James Davoren received the MVP award for the year for all his sterling work, especially with the beginners.

The year finally wound down with what was perhaps the most enjoyable outing of the year, we once again returned to the US of A to play Seattle Gaels and Portland in our best performances of the year. We edged out Seattle in a very competitive game and eased past a new but creditable Portland team.

The Harps Hurlers rely heavily on the Vancouver Harps and Celts footballing squads to recruit our members with 90% of our players playing both codes. It makes for a very enjoyable squad to be part of and we are always looking for new members, weather they have never seen a Hurley before or grew up with one in their hands!