Slainte!
Been a LONG time since i've been working on the blog, but not on my training.

Update since the last post (16 months worth!)
Well the RBUB instructor course turned out to be a shambles for me and the people i had excited about learning what i believed to be a venerable and true system.
Sadly, the person i was working with to bring it to Australia was manipulating a lot of the happenings to ultimately keep me out of it so he could be the sole teacher here, with the German teacher who i was warned about by a Nth American practitioner. This Aussie basically told me it had all fallen through, but in reality was planning to just have his own students do the course- when i found out it was full steam ahead on the instructors course, this Aussie didn't even respond to me... it would appear St Patricks snakes ended up down under.
I asked Glen Doyle whether this person (Hendrik the instructor certifier)  was still accredited, and whilst Glen assured me it was an ok question and that everything was all good, Hendrik had a big meltdown, abused a lot of people and disassociated himself from many. As it turns out i ended up coping the brunt of all of this and it would appear Hendrik is still part of RBUB, and i am on the outer for daring to ask if he was legitimate before teaching me, and Glen blocked me from facebook for who knows what reason.

I am a man of principles and honour, the blatant sycophancy of Glen by nearly everyone- tolerating his poor treatment of loyal supporters, and then blocking me (and others) when we had been loyal solely to his style was too much for me- i hold my head high when it comes to how i treat others, and how i expect them to act. I do not tolerate being treated in such a way when i've done nothing wrong, and find it particularly gutless when said people don't even have the courage or courtesy to explain their actions. Those that allow themselves to be treated in such a way really are spineless worms... certainly not worthy of even training in the arts of such a noble culture.
With that in mind i explained as such and then left the group... my research has now continued in a much more open minded fashion, but mostly through actual employment of real technique.

Now according to the well respected historian of the shillelagh and Irish martial arts J.Hurley, only RBUB is a legitimate style, and anyone that does anything else is not working with a complete system, and/or are just doing oriental styles and calling it Irish. That may be true for many people/styles, but I totally refute that claim for what i have since been doing with my stick work. My sons, and a i have been working extremely hard on distilling movements that are unique to us and totally effective. I have a weapons master qualification in Eskrima (similar to 2nd dan) and nothing we are doing is remotely similar... i am experienced enough to know the difference- as i can tell the difference between the hanbo i learned for years, and the Eskrima i now do...i wonder if a naysayer is experienced enough (with both Eskrima and Irish sticks) to be so arrogant to say we have just changed continents! It would be a foolish observation to make as the only similarities are... well there are none! One has a wooden stick, one has one or two rattans... that's as close as they come! As for nothing else being legitimate because the don't have a history rooted in antiquity: That too is hardly a bench mark of validity as all things started somewhere, all things have a beginning, THAT is enough- no matter what some self imposed regulator believes.  

It doesn't matter any way...what we are doing here isn't for the naysayers, the public or the world in general...it is for us...MY family.

So we train a lot, and We are honourable and we are driven... and we are dedicated.

...and we are not answerable to him. Aithnichear duine air a chuideachd... and we choose to keep company with honourable people with open minds.


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The other main training i've been very dedicated at is my Highland broadsword, as well as a lot of work trying to finish up some practice swords- the hard part is finding a basket for the hilt- any advice would be appreciated.