http://www.thestar.com/News/article/192938
Sticking to tradition TheStar.com - News - Sticking to tradition
Irish martial art has a storied past and a modern-day practioner in
Milton
March 17, 2007
As nasty a business as Irish stick fighting can be, one of its foremost
practitioners refuses to make it his business.
After all, the art of beating the bejesus out of opponents with nothing
more than a stick has been a Doyle family tradition.
"I was taught by my dad," says Glen Doyle. "He was taught by my
granddad. He was taught by my great granddad."
And the rules of this brand of stick fighting long prohibited anyone but
a Doyle from learning the method. But having no children himself, Doyle
beseeched his father, dying of cancer in 1998: "Dad, if I cross the
street and get hit and die, this style is done."
Reluctantly, the elder Doyle agreed to allow the way of the stick to go
beyond the family.
Glen Doyle, 41, could profit from his job as a martial arts instructor,
but won't let himself. So, while he teaches martial arts at his Milton
school The Cead Bua Fighting Faction – which has clients ranging from
NHL players to figure skater Elvis Stojko – about a dozen or so students
pay $10 each for a Saturday session of stick fighting.
"And then I just take that money and donate it to a local charity here
in Milton," he says.
"It's sacred to me. I don't want to make any money off it because it
just cheapens the memory.
"I donate the money, get the style out there and let people know, the
Irish weren't always about drinking and falling down," he laughs.
"There was always a lot of fighting involved."
Wherever there was an insult, there was a stick to back it up.
The charm of the stick, often called a shillelagh, is its incredible
functionality. At times, the Irish were banned from carrying weapons.
So when they left the house, they brought along their walking sticks,
fishing poles, dance props, what-have-you. Everything would seem
top-o'-the-mornin' until ... WHACK!
Along came a man named Doyle, who, according to family history, hired
himself out to settle disputes between factions or guard illegal
distilleries. Having applied boxing techniques to the use of a
two-handed stick, Doyle was a renowned thumper.
Rince an Bhata Uisce Bheatha, as the Doyle art was nicknamed in Celtic
(it literally means Whisky Stick Dance) was later passed down to Edward
Doyle, who settled in Newfoundland around 1867.
He instilled son Christopher with a sense of stick. And Christopher
passed it to Gregory.
One day, Gregory Doyle presented his 7-year-old son Glen with a length
of wood, called a blackthorn – its name derived from the prickly tree
that provided it.
Gregory after all, had already paved the way by teaching Glen to box at
the age of 4.
"Okay, so all the stuff I taught you ... " his father began. "Now, do it
with this."
As so often happens when propositions are made at the end of a stick,
Glen Doyle accepted the challenge.
"It wasn't like I said, `Hey, I'm interested in that,'" he recalls,
laughing. "No, I had to learn it."
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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