Rather than bore you with generic cliches about who we are, here's an article about SPDFW that appeared in Irish Fighter (Issue 4, 2009). It will explain everything....

McVeigh’s dream realised.  

Although a small nation, the Irish have distinguished themselves in many sporting arenas, in particular the fighting arts and combat disciplines.  Perhaps it’s because we’re a small country that our innate spirit and gameness was forged many years ago.  No matter what we had at our disposal, or how we were up against it, we could always rely on, and defend ourselves with the qualities.

We welcomed our underdog status, which tends to spur us on, rousing fighting indignation and fuelling our competitiveness.  And although humorous and somewhat patronising,  the Hollywood depiction of the Irish as quick to  take umbrage and quicker to trade blows at any perceived slight, is not what I am referring to.  However, if pressed, most Irish people would admit to being a little flattered by this portrayal as some of us tend to be gentle when stroked but fierce when provoked.

For the first time in a long time there is relative calm on our island.  You can now mention fighting and Ireland in the same sentence without conjuring up the shame and horrors of the past.  Thankfully, our fighting endeavors are now in the sporting arena, and while they always have been there, they were often sadly eclipsed with the news of other fighting.

Bantamweight Champion

In all the time we spent gracing rings, enthralling spectators, and putting our country on the map; embracing and enhancing other fighting cultures like Karate, Judo, Ju-Jitsu, Taekwon-Do, and most recently Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), we’ve never really had a fighting  identity, one that defined us and set us apart.  While the English have ‘Lonsdale’ and the Americans have ‘Everlast’, sadly we were lacking.
For nearly 40 years I’ve been involved in physical culture.  At the age of seven, I joined the Immaculate Boxing Club, which was then in Divis Flats, Belfast.  My late uncle John Caldwell, a former world bantamweight champion, also boxed out of this famous club, which is still going strong in the area today.  I kickboxed  26 years ago when the sport was in its infancy in Ireland and I was, and still am, a member of St Peter’s Judo Club which is also in the Divis area.  I trained with many Judo players who went on to play at the Olympic Games.

Commitment and dedication to the exciting sport of Muay Thai came to me late in life.  I’ve now been training in the Thai sport for 10 years and have recently opened the ‘Mayhem Muay Thai Club’ on Belfast’s Queen Street.  Wrestlers and Judo players preparing for the Commonwealth Games also use my gym.

Didn’t appeal to me

I always dreamed that my passion for fighting and sports would be part of my livelihood, but perhaps because of lack of commitment and dedication, coupled with finishing in second place more than a few times , it wasn’t to be.  I did consider of opening a shop and supplying fighters and martial artists with equipment, but brokering other people’s brands and ripping of the Irish public, didn’t appeal to me.  So, just as Irish Fighter magazine sets us apart in what we read about the fighting arts on our island, I was inspired to set us apart in what we train in, and wear, and recently launched my own brand of clothing called ‘Saint Patricks Day Fightwear’.

For those who find it convenient to believe the Irish are all twinkled eyed leprechauns tipping the forelock to all and sundry, Saint Patricks Day Fightwear has a very streetwise, urbane look.  This isn’t to say we don’t delve into the past for inspiration.  Our Celtic boar logo lead the ancient Celts – who were renowned for their ferocity and determination to see things through to the end – into battle, while our anvil logo is respecting the blacksmiths who were revered in Irish culture of old because they forged the weapons for our warriors.

Saint Patricks Day Fightwear is all about satisfying the different requirement of the present day Irish warriors.  We’re not a bunch of marketers sitting in a studio designing big scary tee shirts with big scary price tags!  We do what all other Irish martial artists  and combatants do every week – we train hard, compete hard, and endure the regular pains and sprains of our sports.