Welcome to BADMINTON MUSEUM OF IRELAND.

The purpose of the Badminton Museum of Ireland is to preserve the great heritage of Irish Badminton and to make the general badminton public aware of it.

We are indebted to Badminton England for the image in the Gallery Section. The shuttle is unique to the game of Badminton and I thought it appropriate to show one of the earlier versions. The development of the shuttle over the years is an interesting topic in itself and may be featured later. One must wonder at what restrictions the shuttle shown would have on the subtleties of the game

The Press report in the historical section is interesting in a number of aspects. Firstly the breadth of coverage must make modern Press Officers quite envious. The Provincial Towns Cup competition was a very popular and it can be assumed that it was overtaken by inter-county competitions subsequently. It is interesting to note the towns that were at the top in that period. I also noted with interest the fact that clubs who won the Irish Junior Cup were debarred from Junior competition and the effect this had on clubs in later seasons. Up to comparatively recently this was the case for individual winners in the Irish Junior Championships. To some extent winners regarded their success as a mixed blessing in that they very often struggled to enjoy Senior Badminton.

As usual I welcome suggestions and criticisms through the website and am particularly interested in hearing from those who have memorabilia that they would like to have preserved for the enjoyment of other lovers of the game.

Dick O’Rafferty
Curator