This article is from page 3 of the 2014-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
IT MAY be more than 50 years since Whitegate GAA last club ruled the Clare hurling roost, but the club now sits on the most impressive pedestal in the county following the construction of a massive replica of the Iron Throne from ‘Game of Thrones’, made entirely from hurleys.
The project was the brainchild of Mountshannon sculptural chairmaker Paul Berg, who completed the massive structure with the help of local people at the recent Iniscealtra Festival of Art. The throne is more then seven foot tall and, according to Paul, is strong enough to seat seven senior hurlers at one time.
“We decided to put the word out to the local community and to the Whitegate GAA club and, within a week, Whitegate delivered 150 hurling sticks, most of them signed, and a lot of them battered and cracked from the players. Once we got those we knew we were in business,” he said yesterday.
“We then received a further donation from Mountshannon and Lakyle National School and people were just arriving up to the house with hurleys every day. We made a box frame for the throne and then we organised a community workshop during the festival to build the thrown itself.”
The throne was made by Paul with the help of Nard Slabbers, Bernd Schneppe and a further 10 volunteers from the local community.
The throne has now been donated to Whitegate GAA club for use during big matches and community events.
“They are now storing the throne in the clubhouse, since Whitegate gave the majority of the sticks. We’ll take it out and tour around a little bit. When the matches take place we can have it beside the pitch so that people can pose and take photos on it,” continued Paul.
“It is a big structure though and people can certainly sit on it. Just today we had seven hurlers sitting on it at the same time. So it is a big structure.”
For more on the Throne of GAAmes visit www.facebook.com/hurleysculpture.