‘Queer people and dads’ – historic combat in the heart of theLiberties
It was a clear Monday night, and the sounds of clashing steel rang through the sports halls of St Catherine’s. Sports club members of all walks of life gathered here to test their metal and swordsmanship. This is the Dublin HEMA club, located in the heart of Dublin’s historic Liberties, Marrowbone Lane.
For most, the acronym is unfamiliar but for members of Dublin HEMA club it represents a community, a deep history, and an exciting sport. HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts and as a sport draws from European weapons fighting martial traditions dating back to the 14th century.
“The ultimate difference from historical reenactment is in HEMA you are wearing the most modern safety equipment possible so you can fight in an as historically accurate fashion as you can,” said the Clubs founder Neil Byrne.
Suzanne Cantrell, Byrne’s wife, is one of the clubs’ founding members since its inception in 2012. The club’s popularity has skyrocketed over the last decade and now has 57 members in the books according to Byrne.
He said: “This club used to be tiny. Before covid we would have only had 12 members at any one time.”
A friend of theirs who died during Covid first told the two historical reenactors about HEMA when he was attending the renowned tournament in Dijon. They and a couple of friends then went to a competition in the UK called fight camp wielding their “unfit” reenactment blades in 2011.
“We asked him what was HEMA? And he told us that ‘well it’s like reenactment, but you can stab people in the face,’” said Cantrell.
She continued, “before I was a complete couch potato and when I found out about fight camp I said to myself, I wanted to get fitter…. now 12 years on I’m addicted to cross fit and has completely changed my career.”
After fight camp the two historical reenactors were hooked on HEMA. The now independent club used to be a part of Byrne’s reenactment group. He recalled: “We had people coming to the reenactment groups with no interest in HEMA and people coming to the HEMA groups with no interest in reenactment and it was from that the Dublin Hema club was formed.”
The club now is a wonderful crowd and trains people from all walks of life. The club’s administrator Laura Bitterlich proudly proclaimed, “we have been cultivating a culture of openness of being very friendly and warm.”
Byrne agreed with Bitterlich’s sentiment but put it more bluntly: “we are the gayest Hema club in Ireland,” he said.
Bitterlich further added to Byrne’s comment: “There are two main groups of people who take up Hema: queer people and dads and another group of weird right-wing people. Luckily the Hema demographic in Ireland is mostly queer people and dads.”
Neil mentioned that he himself relies on the other trainers to create this comfortable environment as despite the fact he is a “gentle giant” he’s still a giant at a respectable 6’4 and 16 and a half stone.
“it’s great to have people like that so that if a woman or a non-binary person does walk in, we can be like ‘we have baddass Valkryie warrior queens as well.’”
Compared to most martial arts clubs, Dublin Hema club is not only more diverse and open (out of the 15 or so people training that night 6 were women and 1 was nonbinary person) the club also has a cheap fee of 50 euro a month covering four sessions a week.
“Otherwise, we run beginner workshops every few months which is a 6-hour session where beginners can learn the basics of longsword fencing,” Neil said.
He went on to say: “what that means then is you can come to our regular training on Monday and take part in any class because you already know all the basics.”
The club does not allow walk-ins for good reasons. The space at St. Catherines for both storage and activity is not large enough. The installment of the beginner’s workshop; “creates a buffer so the club doesn’t grow too quickly, and we can manage our resources,” explained Laura.
The Dublin HEMA club meets on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays to do all sorts of activities. From intensive sparring sessions to cheese tastings, this club has much to offer the people of the Liberties and HEMA enthusiasts in Dublin.
“Try it out and see if you like it,” Byrne said.
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