An Irishman has taken a road trip across the USA to meet fans of Irish sports such as hurling and camogie and hear their stories.
Dublin man David Wogan has lived in North America since 2011 and over the years has spent time in Boston, Toronto and Los Angeles.
He discovered hurling in primary school when he was 6 years old and has been obsessed with it ever since.
Wogan now runs the YouTube page ‘Play Hurling’ and is in the beginning stages of starting a hurling club in LA.
His wife is from North Carolina and during a trip to see her family at Christmas he came up with the idea for a hurling road trip.
He said: “We spent four days driving from LA to North Carolina to stay with her parents. Then, we drove back West after the new year.
“After building the club finder on my website, I was very aware there would be hurling clubs all along our journey. I wanted to create some sort of video to highlight those clubs from coast to coast in the US, so I wrote out a brief video idea and asked people’s opinion on Reddit.
“People suggested to do bios on clubs across the country, and I thought this was an amazing idea! So, I started reaching out to clubs and the rest is history.
“My original intention was to create a 3-5 minute video just as snippets to show the passion of the community, but with each interview incredible stories began to unfold and I knew I had something that the world needed to see.”
Wogan says that he would love to see hurling grow in popularity in North America, and thinks it would be a perfect new sport for many American athletes.
He said: “I strongly believe that hurling has an untapped potential worldwide, especially in the USA where people are eager to discover a new sporting experience.
“I’ve taken on a mission to help increase the number of people playing hurling in North America, and I’m not resting until hurling has gained substantial traction here.”
It is a labour of love for Wogan who juggles his full time marketing job with his sporting passion which includes running a website, Facebook page and of course setting up his club.
He said: “I’ve been running playhurling.com for about 2 years as a way to promote the sport on a local level.
“My goal with the website is to connect people interested in playing and learning the sport and to demonstrate that there is a club closer than you think. That’s why I created a North American club finder where you can search for a club based on your zip / postal code.”
Take a look at the video below.
For more information visit the Play Hurling Facebook page
