Come Here To Me!

Jim Larkin at the windows of Liberty Hall during the Lockout.

Yesterday I was on Newstalk discussing a peculiar incident that occurred early on during the 1913 Lockout. You can listen to the audio here. Previously featured on the site, a game between Bohemians and Shelbourne was targeted by Jim Larkin as he believed there to be scabs playing for each team. I was joined by Will Irvine, the co-director of ANU Productions. ANU are doing great work with their Dublin Tenement Experience (Sadly coming to an end soon) and this incident features in their performance. A sound clip from the Tenement Experience was featured in the piece.

The opening scene, in what was to prove a prolonged and sanguinary drama, was enacted in the Ringsend district. In his speech on Friday night Mr. Larkin had referred to a football match which was to be played on Saturday in the Shelbourne Ground at Ringsend between two local clubs. ‘ There are ” scabs ” in one of the teams, and you will not be there except as pickets,’ he said, in language whose menacing character was understood by those who heard him. In obedience to the implied command, a large body of members of the Transport Workers’ Union gathered at the time announced for the match near the entrance to the grounds.

-From Arnold Wright’s Disturbed Dublin.