Bloody Sunday commemorations up in the air

The Tipperary Bloody Sunday Commemoration Committee will re-assess their programme of events to mark the centenary of Bloody Sunday following the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Already a number of events have gone by the wayside and it is likely that others will follow as the lockdown continues for the forseable future. However, there is a determination on the part of the committee, led by former Tipperary senior football Manager Seamus McCarthy, to reschedule as many of the events as possible.

The news comes following an announcement by the AFL of the Australians intention to pull out of the International Rules Series, which was to be one of the games featured on the November 21 calendar of events in Croke Park - this was the day that Tipperary and Dublin were to play a football game to mark the Bloody Sunday centenary. It is likely that this game will still go ahead but there will be clarification in the days/weeks to come as to the revised programme - Croke Park has not yet commented on the postponed International Rules Series, the first game of which was due to take place on November 15 with Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork being suggested as a possible venue for the game.

“We haven't heard anything from Croke Park at this stage about the International series being postponed, but I would suspect that we will have a revised agenda for that day from Headquarters as the weeks go by.

“Our own programme of events has been severely disrupted but we are determined to try and reschedule them whenever time permits. These are extraordinary times and we just have to be patient and wait and see what will emerge over the next few weeks. The lectures, talks and wreath laying ceremonies will happen, we hope, but we just don't have any concerete information at this stage on revised dates,” Seamus McCarthy told The Tipperary Star.