Welcome to BADMINTON MUSEUM OF IRELAND.

Welcome to the latest uploads to the website.

The Gallery Item is a photograph of the Irish team that lost 4-5 to England in 1953. Ireland have never managed to beat England although there have been some 4-5 reverses. In this particular match one of the Irish defeats had a third set loss of 17-18. This photograph was belonging to Dorrie Donaldson and was donated to the Museum through Vivien Hood.

The historical item is an article from 1915 on John McCallum. Although the article indicates his rank as Captain and was later promoted to Major. He was familiarly known as “The wee Major. Although he is always associated with the game in Ulster it is interesting that he started his badminton in Dublin. This is an early article on McCallum in that a large amount of his Badminton activities took place later in his life. He was Honorary Secretary of Northern Branch for about 50 years. He attended the meeting that led to the formation of the International Badminton Federation in 1934. He was President of this Body in 1961-63. He was inducted into the I.B.F. Hall of fame in 1997. He initiated “The Strollers” whose aim was to develop Badminton around Ireland and abroad. He was regarded as generating strong interest in the game in Denmark. He played for Ireland on 8 occasions between 1912 and 1927.

We welcome any comments on the Museum project and are keen to extend the material held by the Museum to all parts of the island of Ireland

Dick O’Rafferty
Curator