Shooting for Ireland
Flicking through this week's Stormont written answers, I came across a query from Sinn Fein's West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty which looks like the IFA/FAI Darron Gibson controversy, with added velocity.
Mr Doherty asks the Sports Minister Edwin Poots if he will make representations to the International Practical Shooting Sports body "to ensure that participants competing at international level from Northern Ireland can opt to represent Ireland in line with citizenship rights enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement".
The minister replies that "responsibility for representation and affiliation arrangements within the sport of International Practical Shooting is a matter, in the first instance, for the governing body of the sport, the UK Practical Shooting Association."
Which all begs the question, what is practical shooting? According to "the idea is simple. The shooter tackles competitive 'stages' requiring varying numbers of rounds and using different shooting positions, against the clock. The appeal of the sport lies in the diversity of the courses of fire available to the shooter - they are different for every match.. Targets vary in size, shape, position and material - metal, paper or frangible - from a variety of distances (usually from 3 to 60 yards)."
Amongst the competitions the UK Association supports are "Practical Shotgun, a demanding, testing and very rewarding discipline, as well as Mini-Rifle (.22 rifle), Long Barrel Revolver (LBR), Handgun, Gas Powered Pistol (GPP) which includes Airsoft and Rifle".
Taken aback by a question on shooting which had not been tabled by the DUP's Jim Shannon, I checked with the Sinn Fein MP as to whether he was a fan or exponent of "practical shooting". Mr Doherty told me he had no knowledge of it, but had been asked to raise the matter by a gun club near Strabane who want to shoot for Ireland.
However this latest row over UK or Irish affiliation is sorted out, let's hope no one gets caught in the cross border crossfire.
P.S. Thanks to Fluffy Sheep for pointing out my "Dobbyaism", which I have now corrected
I'm 
Comments