ITFAS  formed in 1996 to cater for traditional archers and is the umbrella body for traditional archery in this country. What we do is back to basics archery with the emphasis on fun, friendship, the simple enjoyment of shooting and the eternal search for the inner child which most of us never lost in the first place!! ITFAS clubs to date are: Warriors of Queen Maeve in Longford, Setanta Archery Club in Kildare There are also  many independent ITFAS members around the country in such far flung places as Mayo, Leitrim, Sligo, Waterford, Dublin, Roscommon, the peoples republic of Cork and a few in Scotland, Canada, England and The Netherlands. There is room for a lot more and we are actively encouraging and assisting the formation of more clubs. New clubs are looking possible in Tullamore, Leitrim and KIlkenny ... Watch this space for details. ITFAS is influential  in the formation of ETAS (European Traditional Archery Society). Spearheaded or should that be arrow headed by UK archer Pip Bickerstaffe and Dutch archer Gert Neelen. ETAS is setting up traditional archery clubs across Europe where the emphasis (naturally )is on fun, friendship and the simple enjoyment of shooting and not on competition.
ITFAS, as a traditional society caters for four classes of bow. Longbow, American flatbow, Hunting tackle (recurve)and the Mongolian bow. We  use wooden arrows with feather fletchings. We do not use any shooting aids such as sights or stableizers. This is purely instinctive shooting. New members are always welcome. Just contact your nearest club and introductory training is readily available from experienced coaches . New people are welcome to come along on a few Sundays and have a go before deciding whether archery is for them.  Traditional archery is a relatively cheap sport and very family friendly. Yearly membership of ITFAS is €25 for adults, €15 for juniors and €10 for cubs. Greatly reduced rates are available for familys. A full set of equipment i.e a starter bow, 12 arrows, bracer, tab/glove and quiver could cost as little as €150 (the cost of one average golf iron!). After that the only up keep is arrows and thats only if you miss a lot! Field archery is a sport which originated in the USA. It came about through the need to keep ones eye in during the hunting off season.(In America they hunt with the bow). If you picture a golf course, fill it with trees, replace the holes with animal targets and the irons and balls with bows and arrows you get some idea what we're about. Oh and picture the participants as something other than bank managers and solicitors. We also practice other forms of archery such as clout shooting, wand splitting and some very silly shooting styles we have been known to make up on the spot. All of our clubs have given displays at various country fairs, medieval festivals etc around the country. We have even been popping up on t.v, radio, press and block busting movies!!
"I took up archery for the debauchery" John Carrigy, Warriors of Queen Maeve 2001