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.

The Gallery Item is this issue is an action photograph of the great Irish player, Frank Devlin. There were very few action photographs taken in the 1920s so the Museum is very pleased to upload this one. The comments with the photograph are interesting. I assume this was a singles match as there seems to be some object on the doubles sideline.

The Historical Item displays the Report of the Leinster Branch Secretary for the 1960/61 season. It is a very succinct report but there are some interesting points highlighted. It is clear that at that time the Badminton playing public had a keen interest in attending exhibition matches given by world class players. These exhibitions featured regularly on the Calendars at that time. The Jack Morton Circus was also a great attraction and promoted the game in a most enjoyable way. Concern about improving the standard was also obvious with the commencement of a Player Development Programme under International player Frank Peard. Funding was a problem at that time and perhaps the current executive are happier than their predecessors of 50 years ago. Although it says that the holding of the Irish Close Championships was a success, this schedule was abandoned almost immediately if my memory serves me right. Chick Doyle's success well merits comment.

I welcome all expressions of interest in the Museum project and will respond to all comments or queries through the website.

Dick O’Rafferty
Curator