Paddies in November

The 'new look' Paddy Maguires in Subiaco is having us on the bill again for the month of November. Come on down and check out the craic.....

Shillelagh Law play The Eagles: Hotel California

Radio Freo 107.9

 Thanks To the staff at Radio Fremantle 107.9 for hosting us last night on the 9pm slot: Folking Around with Bill & Ray. Archived for one week here http://www.radiofremantle.com/archives.html and we kick in around 20 minutes into the 9pm slot and keep going throughout the show, the sound gets better as the show progresses, we had a few technical hiccups at the start.

One for the ladies and the dandy southside jackeeens

Shillelagh Law new spring/summer catalogue

The lads from The Law have a new look...

Shillelagh Law new spring/summer catalogue

The lads from The Law have a new look...

The worlds most modified gig stand

Mike, beer holder and now a personal air conditioning unit.....

Waterboys Transcription

A brief transcription of the instrumental sections from the Waterboys song "A Man Is In Love", for anyone looking to learn the tune in the middle.

Headlining Paddies for the month of October

Gig-cam

Twas a good crowd yesterday at Paddies, we tried out a few new songs, a few requests and Charlie tried a new slot in the show, the "Comedy Slot", which went down like a lead baloon. It was the joke about the courdroy pillows, and how they are making headlines.....Hilarious right? Well, the punters didnt think so, so we decided to retire that part of the act.

Pre gig at Paddies

Marie, Ger and Liam enjoying a pint whilst we wait for the Scotland v Argentina to finish

Packing up after the gig

Good fun all round, bit of a wierd gig, we had to sing happy birthday to Arthur Guinness at 17:59, which we heard about at 18:02 bu the grumpiest bar manager this side of Grumpsivlle, capitol of Grumpsilvania but other than that it was a good gig at Lakers, nice punters, appreciative crowd, a few dancers and a bouncer that stopped us going back in to get our gear, all in all a pretty normal night.

The Law hit up lakers for arthurs day giggery

The bard has his own fashion label

Ger Starr, singer, guitarist and now a fashion icon...

Liquid refreshment

The great bard of perth takes a break from his customary half time cider for a throat soothing honey and lemon tea.

Tools of the trade

Shillelagh Law are now on facebook

Follow us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002965745960

Paddys in Subi this Thursday

Be sure to check out the lads in Paddy Maguires this Thursday, they are rehearsing new tunes and everything!

Shillelagh Law (Dlí Sail-Éille)

At various times throughout history, Irish people have followed codes of conduct which governed their behaviour when fighting. In the Irish folk-song "Finnegans’ Wake", the "no-holds barred" rules governing the Faction Fight which takes place during Tim Finnegans wake, are referred to as "Shillelagh Law". This phrase always struck me as a perfect description for the fighting code which governed the way Irish martial artists used to fight in the 18th and 19th centuries. In my writings I refer to this code (and the fighting culture which it embodied) as either "the Shillelagh Code" or "Shillelagh Law". Briefly, the main tenants of this code were:

1.) It must be a fair fight; that is, the Factions must be evenly numbered.

Fighters must be even in weapons, numbers and ability. If it’s 5 to 3, a member of the 5 man Faction will join the opposite Faction, (making it 4 on 4) and fight his own friends to the best of his ability. Doing this upholds the Shillelagh code of honour, by making the fight fair.

2.) Dirty fighting among Factions is to be avoided.

If a stick-fighter gave a cheap shot to an opponent, or if two fighters attacked a single man, this was considered dirty fighting. If caught, a stick-fighter guilty of this could expect to receive a blow from the leader of his own Faction for disgracing and dishonouring his side. The idea was that Shillelagh-fighters cared about the thought of other Factions thinking that they needed to fight unfairly in order to win. Factions with a reputation for dirty fighting were considered unskilled at fighting and cowardly and hence had to resort to cheating to win.

3.) Women could participate in the fighting, but under no circumstances were women to be hit deliberately by men.

Women could throw stones enmasse at enemy Factions and then, usually carrying stones in a sock or purse, strike enemy Faction members on the head by swinging the sock or purse. Men could try and avoid the blows, but they could not parry them or strike back. Sometimes men would wield long Cleithí or Wattle sticks at fairs, and knock down men, women and children in long sweeping motions. But people were not hurt in these actions; they were knocked down either in good-natured fun, or to help clear an area for other Faction members involved in a fight. For example, if an enemy Faction group was retreating, creating a mass of fallen people in their path, hindered their escape. Striking people in the legs in this manner was not considered a breach of Shillelagh Law.

4.) Other than these basic rules, anything goes.

There were many other rules which governed the rituals of Irish Faction Fighting, but these four rules governed how Irish martial artists actually fought.

2002 John W. Hurley  

Where are the lads playing at the moment

We are currently playing Thursday and Sunday nights in Paddy Maguires pub in Subiaco and are enjoying mighty craic from the locals. Sundays we start at 5pm and play a grand selection of old and new folk music, and on Thursdays we play a more of a contemporary acoustic set starting at 730pm. Come on down and enjoy a drink or two in good company, and if you want to get up and join us for a song or bring an instrument along and fall in for a few tunes then you are more than welcome.