hello everyone,
well best weapon for an Irish man to include. im currently pursuing to be taught the fighting arts behind these as it is an important piece of heritage and totally ignored in Ireland. for those not in the know the shillelagh was a basically a club. it was often made of different materials but was most commonly and best known for being made with blackthorn.
it varied in size from 1 to 4 foot and was often weighted at one end with lead inserted in the larger end. it was originally a battlefield weapon which was adapted into a walking stick and became common in the faction fights in Ireland and north American and Canada in the 1800's.
well to get the ball rolling anyone interested or who has experience in other forms of stick combat i would love to hear from you. i am trying to study this and am distance learning jogo du pao sadly nobody in Ireland teaches Irish stick combat but i hope to change that.
below are links of videos of the two main Irish stick styles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uciBKZOVmPM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=868X1FMQRu8

---

Have you thought about buying a Cold Steel Blackthorn as a practice weapon?

i have not held it but heard from others that it handles like a big hunk of rubber and that it tends to break from what i hear nothing beats the real thing.

Love those real blackthorn sticks, I would love to own one(or many ;)).
The Cold Steel  things is as such rather good, if you break one of those over somebodys skull they are probably out for a good time.  If I owned one I would be more worryed about the woody looksy adornement thing on it.

My son and I have for a long time practiced sword fighting with swords made from broom handles covered with plumbing insulation foam tubes secured with duct tape, and with tennis racket grip tape for handles.  Hopefully this has given us a basic understanding of sticks too.  
And they deliver a good but managable amount of pain ;D

Try to hit the opponent and if possible avoid beeing hit, that`s what you need to know, after that it`s just lots of practice ;)
timann

if you want a stick http://misticshillelagh.tripod.com/
there you go he makes great sticks suitable for all needs. yes training with them requires padding or there have been sticks created by a Canadian group made of bamboo taped together with hockey tape which work great have my tape in the mail now.
yes they work a bit for sword practice but vary widely i know a guy who trains in it telling me he fought a fencing coach near him and the coach had to give up as he was so annoyed with getting hit in the hands. we target many different areas and use many different moves to sword play which im involved in too with wma etc check out the videos you will see what i mean

Never underestimate the power of a good chunk of hardwood!    Various forms of stickfighting are taught all over the world; the Filipino systems, the Japanese, (even Judo includes a stick form in it's upper level of teaching) Chinese, European....
Someone posted a link to Victorian cane/walking stick fighting styles a while ago; these are obviously derived from saber techniques of the period.

And Phillipine  escrima. So simple and dangerous

yes the stick is an important weapon not many can get away with having a knife or sword but can with a stick.
yes there are a few forms of English stick fighting and one or two Irish ones started for the use of walking sticks.
there are also french styles north African and many others.
i must check out these judo forms though these are new to me.

Not often seen.   Years ago, I had a big book put out by the Kano judo institute in japan showing all the standard techniques in good-quality black-white photos. (this was long about 1965)  Towards the back of the book, they had a section on stick forms; they were showing mostly the "hanbo" staff, about 24" long.    
I gathered that these were techniques that had been developed for police, perhaps.   One of the few things I remember was that the stick never came up above the shoulder; everything was geared to lower-level strikes and thrusts.

That would be in accordance with their prison police training. they use batons, no hits above shoulders to prevent possible serious damage to neck and head.

I believe it's the Dolan Family here in the U.S. that teaches a form of "BATA" called the Whisky Stick Dance. Suppose to be a style developed in Ireland.

I'm sorry, the name of the chap is Glen Doyle and he is from Newfoundland.

yeah thats the guy his style is very effective his is a video in the links i posted his is a great style and one of the only continually taught styles im still to train in it properly.

There is also the French art 'La Canne': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqYeDCAO2Hg

 I seem to recall a story about Rex Applegate in his old age being jumped by two thugs on a street corner.  He completely owned them with a cane.  Critical failure in the victim selection process.

I practice "Cane Master" only because I was having some joint trouble a few years ago (in high school) and knew I wouldn't need my cane to walk with forever, so... martial arts cane.