When frog swallowing brought national glare on Ballycumber

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Fifty years ago in August last, the village of Ballycumber made local, national and international headlines courtesy of what unsurprisingly proved to be a hugely-contentious frog swallowing competition organised to raise funds for the Boher branch of Macra na Feirme.

The bizarre story began on the front page of the Offaly and Westmeath Independent of July 27, 1973, with a public announcement of the competition at the following weekend's festival in Ballycumber.

“Sunday next at Ballycumber will see the attempted revival of the now almost forgotten practice of frog-swallowing. As one of the main attractions of their annual sports and field day, Boher branch Macra na Feirme propose to revive this ancient tradition. In the not too distant past, the practice of swallowing live frogs was quite common in the Ballycumber area and there are still a few old-timers who swear by the frog as an unfailing remedy for those gastric disorders which defy the best treatment which doctor or chemist can provide.

“The motive for the revival of the unusual practice is the pressing need to raise funds for the further reconstruction of Boher Hall as the local community centre. The promoters expect to require at least 100 frogs for the occasion. Already challenges are being thrown out by frog-swallowing experts in different areas and a neck and neck struggle is anticipated. Reward for champion includes a trip to the Isle of Man and travelling expenses,” the report read.

It may have seemed as if someone other than the frog was having their leg pulled, and perhaps it was, but the competition went ahead, in any event, as the following week's Offaly Independent and Westmeath Independent editioons reported under the headline 'Six share prize for frog swallowing'

The article continued: “The bid to discover Ireland’s champion frog-swallower came unstuck at Ballycumber on Sunday when the demand exceeded the supply as far as the frogs were concerned.”

The article said organisers were not sure what response they would get to the competition right up to the event as they “freely admitted that it had been a gimmick from the start and they were by no means certain that the prize of a week’s holiday in the Isle of Man, plus spending money, would entice anybody to participate.”

“They need not have worried, however, for when the call for volunteers went out over the public address system there was an immediate response from eight brave men. By the end of the first round only two competitors had been eliminated. The remaining six all stood their ground and survived a second helping of live frog with varying degrees of ease. Some looked a bit green about the gills, but others actually seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was at this stage that the supply of frogs became exhausted, the last of them escaping from custody into the screaming crowd surrounding the platform. The organisers then adopted the only course left open to them by substituting the cash value of the prize and dividing it between the six claimants to the title.”

Not surprisingly, news of the event spread and the criticism rained down on organisers, who responded with a spirited denial that their recent Frog Swallowing competition was cruel, barbaric and savage, as had been alleged in a number of circles,

In a statement, the Macra branch confessed that the idea had been a gimmick.

“However, public interest was aroused to such an extent that we felt obliged to satisfy popular demand and go through with the competition...

“Since then, letters have appeared in the various newspapers and there have been published comments by various people in which we have been described as cruel, barbaric, savage. We emphatically deny that the competition presented by us was either cruel or savage. In fact we are satisfied that other forms of sporting entertainment are far more cruel. Take for instance, Coursing, Shooting or Fishing.

It pointed out that during fishing, fish could struggle with a steel hook or hooks embedded in its gullet for a half hour. “What our frogs have suffered is a mere picnic compared to this.”

It also highlighted that there is a thriving export industry in oysters as well as an annual Oyster Festival in Galway “which is usually graced by a Minister of State and sponsored by the manufacturers of our national beverage”.

“Oysters, as you know are swallowed alive and washed down with liberal helpings of the above-mentioned national product.

“We have a thriving export industry in lobsters. These must arrive at their destination alive, and are placed in boiling water while still alive. The Jellied Eel so prized by the English, is also kept alive up to the time of cooking. We could quote numerous instances of evident cruelty in the treatment of living creatures. We do not believe that there was any such evident cruelty in our Frog Swallowing competition.”

The statement also highlighted the the growth of the Macra branch in the area and the decision three years ago to purchase which was then in a derelict condition.

“We have since reconstructed it, entirely out of our own resources and with the voluntary efforts of our members.

“We have plans for further improvements in hand, with a view to providing a complete community centre. We need more money for this.”

The notion that frog swallowing was some form of local tradition had been rejected by many, but an unnamed columnist in the Offaly Independent wrote differently stating that he too had initially disbelieved reports that it was common in parts of West Offaly at the turn of the century

“I certainly had my doubts about it until I met a venerable Clara man who assured me that it was no myth. While he never did the actual swallowing he often caught frogs for people who did so.

I think it better to give his own words:

"Yes, about the time of the Boer War frog swallowing was very common in the area between Clara and Ballycumber. I was about seven at the time and with other boys we used to go through the fields collecting young frogs for men who used swallow them to cure some complaint they had.

“A few years after that the practice died out altogether and it is doubtful if it ever can be revived. It was sickening to watch it but as young lads we didn't understand the difference or care much either."

The controversy was not over, either, as surprisingly, the event proceeded again in 1974.

The Westmeath Independent and Offaly Independent report said the field day, which was favoured by ideal weather conditions, was attended by some 2,500 people who paid 25p a head.

“That the main attraction was the frogswallowing event was evident, for the crowd swarmed around the totally inadequate platform on which the six competitors were far outnumbered by newsmen and photographers representing local, national and cross-Channel newspapers, and an English-based TV crew as they jostled for vantage points, in which a bottle of champagne went to waste when spilled over the "Westmeath-Offaly Independent" representative.”

The winner, from Scariff in Clare, won the £10 top prize when he swallowed five frogs in 65 seconds after he had lowered as many more, whilst posing for photographers before the competition began.

The pressure the publicity was creating was becoming more and more evident and the report went on to highlight local criticism of the event, with a local man, who claimed to be speaking for the residents of Ballycumber, and who wished to remain anonymous, deplored the adverse publicity and refuted claims that frog-swallowing is, or was, a common practice in the area, and said it was significant that there was no competitor from Ballycumber or from any other part of Offaly involved.

Nature intervened in 1975, thankfully, to ensure that the competition was not repeated, as the Offaly Independent explained:

“It appears that due to the exceptionally dry Spring and early Summer, the ponds and marshes (the normal breeding grounds for the frog) were completely dried out, thus inhibiting normal propagation of the frog family, and to contribute further to the problem, the lush meadowlands around Ballycumber (the natural habitat of the golden skinned specimen so highly prized by the gourmet frog swallowers) have been harvested weeks earlier than usual this year, and the fields now present the appearance of the proverbial billiard table, and not the sort of place a sensible frog would venture.”

Roll on the following August 1976, and this time the ante was well and truly upped as the Boher Macra faced threats of disciplinary action by their National Executive, and even of legal proceedings if they persisted in their intention to include frog swallowing on the itinerary for their annual Sports and Field Day in Ballycumber.

As a result, the branch came up with “an ingenious solution”.

“The organisers kept their pledge that there would be frog swallowing but the frogs provided for the event came not from the nearby moors and marshes but of a sweet box and neither the ISPCA nor any other body is likely to object to the swallowing of marshmallow frogs.”

“Thus ended the greatest hoax of the year, but one wonders now what gimmick Boher will come up with for next year's Field Day.”