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
