William Bulfin
early 1860s–1910
Irish link: Documented
Offaly-born writer who went to the pampas as a young man, rose from contributor to owner-editor of The Southern Cross as 'Che Buono', and wrote Rambles in Eirinn (1907).
- Letters and journalism
GAA Museum, Croke Park
The GAA's museum at Croke Park displays a 1918 rulebook of the Argentine hurling federation and a medal won in Buenos Aires in 1925.
- Kind
- Museum
- Where
- Dublin · Ireland
- On the globe
- 53.36° N, 6.25° W · Coordinates from Wikidata · See it on the globe
Visiting
Visiting: Not confirmedas of 11 October 2026
The museum's own page describes the rulebook on display; its opening arrangements were not checked.
Source: GAA Museum, Croke Park, Argentinian hurling rulebook (GAA abroad trail, undated), 11 October 2026(opens in a new tab)The GAA Museum at Croke Park holds two objects from Argentine hurling: a 1918 rulebook of the Federación Argentina de Hurling and a medal won by J.J. Kelly in 1925. The museum's caption says hurley shortages forced nine-a-side teams and that the First World War cut off supplies of ash hurleys.
Hurling reached Argentina with Irish emigrants in the late 1880s. The earliest references, according to Seamus King and Paul Darby, date from 1887–88, in Mercedes and near the Passionist monastery at Capitán Sarmiento. William Bulfin printed hurling rules in The Southern Cross in August 1900 and helped form the Buenos Aires Hurling Club that year; the first match between constituted clubs was Almagro against Palermo on 15 July 1900. At its peak, the Irish Times reports, Buenos Aires had 20 teams.
Sources disagree on when the federation was founded: 1918 by the Croke Park caption, August 1920 by King and Darby, and 1922 by the Irish government's diaspora site. They also differ on when regular hurling ended, with the First World War named by the museum and the Second by the Irish government site. The game faded as hurley imports failed and the community assimilated. The Hurling Club in Hurlingham turned to hockey and rugby, and Gaelic games have revived since 2017.
The museum's page on the rulebook is part of its "GAA abroad" trail. The research does not record the museum's opening hours.
Where sources disagree
Published sources give different versions. Here is each one with its source, and the wording we use.
When the Argentine hurling federation was founded
1918, the date of the rulebook
Source: GAA Museum, Croke Park, Argentinian hurling rulebook (GAA abroad trail, undated), 11 October 2026(opens in a new tab)August 1920
Source: Seamus J. King and Paul Darby, Becoming Irlandés: hurling and Irish identity in Argentina, Sport in Society 10:3 (May 2007), via seamusjking.com, 1 April 2016(opens in a new tab)1922
Source: Ireland.ie, The Hurling Club, Buenos Aires (diaspora strategy 2026–2030), 2026(opens in a new tab)
We say: A federation was founded around 1920; the Hurling Club traces its roots to 1922, by its own account
When regular hurling ended in Argentina
The First World War cut off ash hurleys
Source: GAA Museum, Croke Park, Argentinian hurling rulebook (GAA abroad trail, undated), 11 October 2026(opens in a new tab)Regular hurling ended with the Second World War
Source: Ireland.ie, The Hurling Club, Buenos Aires (diaspora strategy 2026–2030), 2026(opens in a new tab)
We say: Hurling declined as hurley imports failed in both world wars
People linked to this place
Sources
- Source: GAA Museum, Croke Park, Argentinian hurling rulebook (GAA abroad trail, undated), 11 October 2026(opens in a new tab)
- Source: Seamus J. King and Paul Darby, Becoming Irlandés: hurling and Irish identity in Argentina, Sport in Society 10:3 (May 2007), via seamusjking.com, 1 April 2016(opens in a new tab)
- Source: Arminta Wallace, Buenos Aires hurling: not enough sticks, too many fights, Irish Times, 1 Jul 2017, 1 July 2017(opens in a new tab)
- Source: Ireland.ie, The Hurling Club, Buenos Aires (diaspora strategy 2026–2030), 2026(opens in a new tab)