Paddy Games was conceived in 2007 by Cork-man Colin Carroll during a live radio interview on BBC Radio 2 with Chris Evans.

Colin and Chris had previously met on-air when Colin guested as the “Sports Guy” after being crowned amateur Elephant Polo World Champion in Nepal and after becoming the first Irishman to compete in the Sumo World Championships in Japan. On this particular occasion, Colin was preparing to break the 3-legged Marathon World Record as well as training for the Retro Running World Championships.

Kindred spirits who both see logic in lunacy, Chris suggested that Colin was ideally suited to promote the international cause for bizarre sports and thus break up the sporting cartel of more regularised sports. Having previously set up various sports governing bodies, including Sumo Ireland and Synchro Ireland, establishing the Paddy Games was a natural fit for Colin.

Since that cosmic and comic radio interview, Colin’s dream of spreading a silliness virus spread rapidly around the world, gaining international credibility and drawing the attention of Olympic athletes who were preparing for the Beijing Olympics. Would there be any defectors to Paddy Games?

With the London 2012 Olympics on the horizon, the Irish-inspired Paddy Games declares war not on the old foe but on the ancient Greeks as perpetrators of pro-establishment sports (Note: Paddy Games has no beef with living Greeks). In an increasingly homogenous world, sports have become overly mechanised and regulated, athletes depersonalised stooges, while sports-lovers are corralled into viewing “acceptable” sports.

After all, who was it that arbitrarily decided we should jump over the hurdles, be prohibited from racing backwards, deny the doggy-paddle as a swimming stroke, and ban crawling once we have learned how to walk? Paddy Games blames the Greek God, Zeus.

The global sporting calendar accommodates, for example, the Island Games, Asian Games, Pan-American Games, the Baltic Sea Games, the Gay Games, the Jewish Games and the Commonwealth Games. Now it is Ireland’s turn to promote a unique vision of sport, obliged as it is to ensure that the world can cough up a laugh.

Though steeped in history, Ireland doesn’t have a landmark like the Eifel Tower; is full of notables yet is without monarchy; though graced with culture has no Expo.  For the Irish, our imagination is our Eifel Tower; our culture is our king; Paddy Games our greatest exhibition.

Invented by the Irish, played by the world – let the Paddy Games begin.