Norma Madden was interviewed by Evelyn O’Rourke for the Today with Claire Byrne show last week, in a slot devoted to how much people are missing their favourite sport or hobby due to the current public health restrictions. You can listen to her interview here – in the “Frustrated Sports Fan” segment, starting at 8 minutes and 20 seconds into the segment.
Norma did bridge proud with her passionate explanation of how addictive the game is, and how much we are all missing the social aspect of it. Online is fine, but it is just not the same. Let’s hope her estimate that we won’t get to return to the real table until 2022 proves on the pessimistic side; some of the more optimistic among us (notably Eimir in the CBAI office!) have our fingers crossed for autumn 2021 if the vaccination programme proceeds as planned. We are beginning to get a number of enquiries on when re-opening may be possible. Not yet, and not for a while, is the short answer, but we will of course keep all CBAI clubs up to date as the public health guidelines continue to evolve.