Sunday, April 19, 2009




Sponsorship


Many thanks to Naas Credit Union on their recent sponsorship. Chairman Tim Gorman received the cheque from Séan Murray of Naas Credit Union.

Celebrations for Eddie

Congratulations to Eddie “Ned” Hubbard on his nomination for Ballymore Person of the Year 2009. Eddie was nominated for his outstanding work throughout the years at Juvenile and Senior level. He has been a dedicated and instrumental committee member serving at various levels within the club and is currently County Board delegate for the club. His outstanding contribution to Tug O’ War was also mentioned which has a CV I doubt anyone else in the sport would have. Eddie, congrats - you truly deserved your nomination. Also congrats to Eddie’s wife and sidekick Nuala who too, can take credit for the nomination as she has been a rock of support to Eddie and serves on the GAA committee herself; sure where would Becks be without Posh!!

Congratulations to the Ladies team for their nomination following last year’s impressive championship victory. Let’s hope the Girls are equally successful this year.

Condolences

Condolences to the McCarville family on the loss of Pauline’s mother Bridie Maddigan, may she rest in peace. Also deepest sympathy’s to the family of Jim Browne who passed away recently. It was great to see a large turnout at the funeral to offer sympathy and support to the family.

Membership

Membership fees are still due, €40 for adults and €50 for insurance for those wishing to play. The club wish those wanting to become members or play for the senior teams pay these fees as soon as possible.

Upcoming Events

The following events are coming up over the next few months and club appreciate all support!

Race Night- The race night is on in Paddy Murphy’s on the 27th Feb, starting at 9 o clock. A good night is guaranteed!!!

Auction- The club are holding a monster auction on the 19th of April in the National School. Details will be forthcoming so feel free to start looking through the attics and garages for anything that is not needed and in good condition; it’s all appreciated.

Murphy Cup- ‘The Murphy Cup’ is scheduled for Friday the 24th of April up in the pitch and will feature Wicklow against Roscommon

Golf Classic- This year the golf classic takes place in Baltinglass on the 29th of May from 12-5pm, dinner is included.

GAA Fixtures

Keogh Cup
Sat 21st Feb VS Johnstownbridge @ 2pm in Johnstownbridge
Sat 28th Feb VS Grange (In BME)
Sat 7th March VS Ballykelly (In BME)

Walkers

A quick reminder to the walkers to feel free to drop a few euros into the box just off the track beside the dressing room, its signposted……. Thank you!!!



Birthdays

Happy birthday Pat Murphy and Jacinta O’ Rourke who recently celebrated “special birthdays”. Pat is maturing along nicely while ‘Cinta is looking better every year!

Player Profile

This month we turn to the youthful side of the senior team and who better to interview than Shane Kavanagh.

Fav Position: Full forward
Best Match ever played in: Connacht final with St. Jarleths
Best BME player ever: Jarleth Gilroy
Favourite Manager: Paul Carroll or Mick Hyland
One player you would like on BME team: Séan Cavanagh (Tyrone)
Fav Meal before a match: Chicken and pesto pasta
If you couldn’t play GAA you would play: Pitch and Putt
Vinny Out of 10 as a manager and why: 8, I deducted 2 because he gives out to much….
Fav Film: The Lion King
Best player on the women’s team: Women play football??
Rate the Kavanagh’s in order: Me, James, Eoin, Murt
If you could be anyone for a day: David Beckham
If you could go on a date with anyone: Martha from Home and Away
What would you like to see in your lifetime: Professional GAA
Laziest trainer on the team: Brian Moore
Who spends the most getting ready after training: Steven Dwyer, fixing his hair
What really annoys you: Hospital passes
Pre-match ritual: Listen to Redemption by Arcade Fire
Biggest Fear: Fear itself
Biggest moaner on the pitch: Steven Dwyer or Eoin Kavanagh



The Final Tragedy of The House of Atreus
(continued from last month)

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Illium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. (The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe).

By promising his soul to Mephistopheles (Satan) in return for wealth, fame and glory, Faustus demanded the presence and favours of Helen, renowned as the most beautiful woman who had ever lived. He never got that kiss.
It was likewise with Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, who, by favouring the Goddess Aphrodite, was granted Helen, at that time wife of Menelaus. That act was the first cause of the ten year long Trojan War, related in poem by Homer, and was to be the first scene of the final act in the curse of the House of Atreus.
The allied forces of King Agamemnon and Menelaus, along with the other city states gathered at Aulis on the island of Euboea on the east coast of Greece awaiting a fair wind to sail north for Troy and release Helen from her supposed captivity. No winds rose to fill the sails, nor would any, a soothsayer told Agamemnon, until he sacrificed his first-born, Iphigenia, to the gods.
Under the pretence that she was to marry Achilles, the shy, gentle, happy girl came to Aulis to learn her true fate. Her mother, Clythemnestra, protested vehemently to her vagrant husband Agamemnon, but in vain; and Iphigenia responded: ‘Unto me, almighty Hellas looks; I only can bestow boone upon her sailing galleys (for) Phyrigia’s overthrow (and) safety for her daughters from Barbarians…and…when the penalty is paid for Paris’ outrage and Helen’s shame, my name shall be blessing-crowned.’ She then moved of her own accord to the sacrificial altar. That day the ships sailed and the long siege of Troy got under way.
In the intervening years, Aegisthus was ever mindful of the atrocity committed by Atreus (father of Agamemnon), when he served the boiled body of Aegisthus’ brother to their father, Thyestes, a crime that remained unavenged.
Clytemnestra, distressed at Iphigenia’s terrible death, found common cause in grief with Aegisthus against Agamemnon, and becoming lovers, they began to plot the downfall of the king. To keep their affair hidden and their intentions safe from interference, Clytemnestra, in an utterly selfish act, sent her daughter Electra to the care of a peasant farmer, a eunuch and exiled her son Orestes as a shepherd to far away Phocis and awaited news of her husband’s return or his death at war.
After a long wind-swept journey, Agamemnon sailed home, glorious in victory. He was greeted by the people as hero of the Achaen army, and was deceitfully embraced by Clytemnestra as her long-loved, but lost husband. Seamlessly, she drew him to her, and in preparation for a celebratory banquet, inveigled him to bathe and wash away the stains of war, and after, they would be truly united. She robed him in garments which so constrained him that he had little chance of defence as she stabbed him to death, aided by Aegisthus. That was the 13th day of Gamelion (January), a full Moon, in later Roman times, the Ides.
It was close on seven years since her father’s death, and in the loneliness of her cabin, Electra bewailed the vacuous state of her life, and in that solitude, the absence of her brother, Orestes. Her mind was in constant turmoil, a tempest in full fury; haunted too in her loneliness and broken-hearted by the sheer cruelty of her sister Iphigenia’s sacrificial death. Beyond that horror and from the deepest recess of her mind, the shade of Clytemnestra continually lurked in murky darkness, and behind her, the black shadow of Aegisthus. She feared for her sanity, and on the brink of madness she resolved to visit her father’s tomb, that some consolation might come to her through his spirit, and with it, bring news of Orestes. After many hours travel, she arrived at the tomb, and agitated beyond human emotion, she commanded Agamemnon’s spirit to release her from the intolerable agonies that besieged her mind. She cried aloud for Orestes to save her from her bondage, and in that agony, she fell to the ground.
An old man was standing over her as she stirred back to consciousness, and with soft voice told her that her suffering would cease and comfort would soon be with her. He accompanied her for some distance, when they saw two men half hidden from sight. He beckoned the two strangers to come forward, and looking at the taller of the two, told him he was not unknown to the young woman. Electra denied any knowledge of him, explaining the reasons for her journey. The old man asked Electra to brush aside the hair on the stranger’s forehead and seek a scar on the left side. Tracing her fingers across his brow, she felt the source of an old wound. Looking to the depth of his eyes, she pondered for a moment, then falteringly, the name quivered on her lips… “Orestes? Orestes!”
The old man told them Aegisthus was close by, offering sacrifice to the gods. He spurred Orestes to strike with opportunity and ‘….Orestes flashed the sword down upon his neck and cleft the cord of brain and spine. Shuddering, the body stood one instant in an agony of blood.’ Electra exclaimed in relief ‘…now mine eyes are raised to see, and all the doorways of my soul flung free. Aegisthus is dead.’

And so loomed at last, the imposing figure and presence of Clytemnestra standing defiantly in justification of her actions. She was facing her destiny by the wrath of her two children, one adamant for immediate retribution, the other fearful of the dreadful sin he was urged to commit upon his mother. ‘Twas she that bore my body into life. She gave me suck. How can I strike her? It is sin;’ and answered Clytemnestra ‘he (Agamemnon) slew my daughter….and from the war, brought that harlot (Cassandra) with the flame of God about her, mad and knowing all, and set her in my room – two Queens ! - and shall not the wife break her prison too, to win another friend?’
Tormented by the confusions between right and wrong, the complexities of love, hate and guilt tumbling through his mind, of his duty in vengeance to his dead father, of Electra’s hysterical arguments for recrimination against Clytemnestra, of the cruel sacrifice of his sister Iphigenia and the killing of Aegisthus - all clashing as if in cosmic disarray – he lost his sanity and in that vacuum of time, he drove his sword into his mother’s body. ‘I lifted over mine eyes/my mantle: Blinded I smote/As one smitted a sacrifice;/And the sword found her body…’

The Trial
Even though Orestes was the king’s son and Electra his daughter, the aftermath of the matricide brought fearful and unexpected consequences; for ranged against them were Tyndareus, King of Lacedaemon, father of Clytemnestra and Helen; and Menalaus, King of Sparta, Helen’s husband and their daughter Hermione. A Council of Argos was convened at which they had only some support, and Tyndareus kept prompting arguments for others to demand the death penalty by stoning; and even though Orestes himself put forward eloquent and persuasive argument, his pleadings did not succeed – except for this – that rather than suffer the ignomy of death by public stoning, he and Electra were permitted to die by their own swords.
Pylades, Orestes’ only firm friend in life who had been with him all during his exile in Phocis, expressed outrage at the injustices and suggested an alternative solution to ignoble suicide. Seriously ill though he was with fever from his fit of madness, Orestes immediately took to the plan. Executing it was simple, but required modification, a subtle arrangement to guarantee success beyond their hopes, put forward by the wily mind of womanhood.
Helen, Pylades remarked, was within the same palace as they, strongly guarded by Phrygian troops who could easily be overcome. By capturing Helen, Menelaus would be persuaded to urge the Council of Argos to change its decision. But, countered Electra, he was a coward and might let her die, and so we suffer double murder. On the other hand, if we snared their daughter Hermione in order to snare Helen, he would be trapped and exposed publicly for what he truly was. In the same manner, Tyndareus would not have the blood of his daughter and granddaughter on his conscience. On that basis they proceeded with the plan.
Menelaus had been warned that something serious was amiss in Argos, and told that his wife had been murdered, he advanced on the palace, supreme in arrogance, and threatened to break the doors to rescue his child, Hermione, to recover the body of Helen and to kill Orestes. But the plot to draw him in face-to-face confrontation had succeeded. Helen was missing, not dead, and as his eyes scanned the palace battlements he was horrified to see lighted torches ready to fire the buildings and the figure of Hermione held at bay with a sword held to her throat. Menelaus demanded her release, but Orestes was uncompromising, demanding that he return to the Council, entreating it to set him free along with Electra and his friend Pylades. He furthermore demanded to be confirmed King of Argos. The protracted delay of Menelaus’ response was taken as a refusal of support, even at the expense of Hermione’s life, confirming his own self-aggrandizement and ultimate cowardice. Orestes commanded Electra and Pylades to set fire to the castle.

Epilogue
During this ugly and unseemly scene occurred the divine appearance in the enfolding clouds above, of Apollo, benevolent, yet commanding, and beside him was Helen, whom he had saved from the sword of Orestes. He ordered calmness, telling them that Helen had been granted the robes of Immortality to take her place with her two brothers, Castor and Pollux, in the bosom of the sky, a saviour of mariners in their Empire o’er the sea
He ordained that Orestes was to go into exile for a year and to return to Athens for his trial at Ares Field for his mother’s murder, and would win the case; likewise he should return to marry Hermione and rule over Argos. He was to bestow his sister’s hand on Pylades and a life of bliss awaited them. Menelaus was to leave Argos and reign in Sparta. Apollo and Helen would return to the mansions of the star-lit firmament where she would be honoured as a goddess, with drink offerings from men, forever more.
Michael Ward.
N.B. To 5th c. (B.C.) Greeks, history came in the form of legends. This article is based on The Orestes and The Electra, plays by Euripides, from the 1906 translations by E.P. Coleridge and Gilbert Murray. The graves of Clytemnestra and Thyestes actually existed.



The Family of The House of Atreus.
Tantalus, King of Phyrigia (Turkey), was the progenitor.
His son Pelops had two sons, Atreus and Thyestes.
Atreus: had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Thyestes: had one son, Aegisthus.

The Family of Helen of Troy.
King Tyndareus of Sparta married Leda who bore him a daughter Clytemnestra, and a son, Castor.
Jealous Zeus in the form of a Swan, nested with Leda by whom she bore Helen and Pollux.
Clythemnestra and Helen were sisters.
Castor and Pollux are known to us as The Twins in the constellation, Gemini.

The Final Tragedy
Agamemnon, King of Achaea, married Clytemnestra. His brother Menelaus, King of Sparta, married Helen.
Agamemnon had a son Orestes, and two daughters, Iphigenia and Electra, by Clytemnestra.
Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, became lovers in league, plotting to exact double revenge on Agamemnon. His childrern Orestes and Electra then kill Aegisthus and so commit the first matricide by also killing Clytemnestra.
Orestes is sent for trial.

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