The Other View

Issue No.1 Summer 2000

Loyalists Examine the GAA

by Olwyn Douglas, Billy Mitchell, Michael Atcheson and Drew Salters

For most loyalists the Gaelic Athletic Association is simply another arm of Irish Nationalism. Prior to the armed conflict and advent of pan-nationalism, loyalists took little notice of what for them was something that Catholics did on a Sunday afternoon. However during the course of 'the troubles' many loyalists began to think of the GAA at best, as the sporting wing of a broad pan-nationalist movement, and at worst, as the Republican Movement at play. As part of our commitment to the kind of dialogue that fosters understanding and respect for other traditions, we travelled to Stilorgan in South Dublin to meet with members of Kilmacudd-Crokes GAA Club.

Kilmacud-Crokes is an amalgamation of two separate GAA Clubs - Crokes Hurling Club that was founded in the early part of the century in the shadows of Croke Park and Kilmacud GAA Club, which was founded in 1959 in the South Dublin area.

According to Club Chairman, Tom Rocks, Kilmacud GAA was founded "in an area of very limited interest or involvement in Gaelic games". The amalgamation of the two clubs in 1966 into Kilmacud-Crokes made it one of the strongest clubs in the association.

Community Focus

Prior to our visit to Kilmacud-Crokes we had learned from senior GAA sources that the Association "is more than a sporting organisation". While focusing on such Gaelic sports as hurling, football, handball and camogie, the Association was established to "enrich the culture of the nation and further Gaelic ideals, including the Irish language and Irish music and dance". GAA clubs also endeavour to strengthen pride in the communities that they serve. We found this ideal reflected in the integrated approach to sport and community by Kilmacud-Crokes.

Out first thoughts on being shown round the complex was "This is more like a Country Club than a Gaelic Club". The place was a hive of activity involving people of all ages and of both sexes. Besides the playing pitches, we were shown floodlit tennis courts, swimming pool, fitness suite and a lounge and bar. It was explained to us that the GAA Club had formed a partnership with a local Community Club. As Tom Rocks explains, "Our partnership with the Glenalbyn Community Club is unique and is now been looked at by many clubs as a better way of integrating with the local community".

Each of us got the feeling that this was a real social partnership as well as a sports club. We did get the feeling, however, that the partnership involved people from the better off middle classes and that the benefits to the more marginalised communities were minimal. But that is a perception based on a fleeting visit and may well be unfair. A club that can field some 35 juvenile teams must be reaching some young people from less well-off families in the Dublin area.

Politics and Religion

We did not get the impression that membership of the GAA for the people whom we met had any political significance. Indeed we were assured that the club was non-political and that religion was not a subject that members would even think about, let alone discuss. Membership of the club appears to transcend both political and religious affiliations as well as social status. The idea that GAA was for Catholics only was quickly rejected by our hosts. Indeed, as John Mitchell explained, the local Muslim community had a GAA team and the sport was open to all regardless of their politics or religion.

The majority of the members with whom we talked said that they did not know the religious affiliation of club members and, perhaps more importantly, they did not particularly want to know. We sensed none of the sectarianism that characterised the Holy Catholic Nation envisaged by the late Archbishop Mc Quaide or Cardinal Mac Crory.

However a number of loyalists have suggested to us that in a country where Protestants make up a mere three percent of the population, and therefore pose no political threat to the majority, it is easy to appear magnanimous. If the statistics were closer to those in Northern Ireland the attitude may well be different.

It is difficult to bring back home the sense of non-sectarianism that we found at Kilmcud-Crokes and explain it to people whose perceptions of the GAA are based on the more politicised Clubs affiliated to the Ulster GAA. More cross border interaction is needed so that a wider loyalist constituency can experience the pluralism that pervades whole swathes of urban society in the Republic.

'Foriegn' Sports

There was a time when GAA players were banned from playing so-called 'foreign' sports. This dated back to 1885 when rivalry between the Irish Amateur Athletic Association and the Gaelic Athletic Association led to the ban being imposed.

We found sufficient evidence at Kilmacud-Crokes to show that this ban has long been lifted and that there is an integrated approach to sport within the GAA. Club Secretary, Larry Ryan, explained that several members of the Irish Rugby squad are GAA players and Sean Flynn, chair of the Club's Camogie Committee, played rugby for ten years. On the night that we visited the complex the tennis courts were fully occupied by Dubliners enjoying a non-gaelic sport.

Culture

In the Official Guide of the GAA, Rule 4 states that, "The Association shall actively support the Irish Language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song and other aspects of Irish culture". A senior Gaelic source acknowledged that the GAA "has played a significant part in the revival of our culture and heritage and in creating an understanding and interest in its importance".

For many loyalists this confirms the perception that the GAA is an integral part of a pan-nationalist movement. However, we saw no evidence during our visit to Kilmacud-Crokes that supporting Irish culture was regarded by the members as supporting the designs of pan-nationalism in Northern Ireland. Indeed we got the feeling that the people with whom we talked knew relatively little about what was happening in Northern Ireland.

There was an obvious pride in the concept of Gaelic sports and Gaelic culture, but we found that this was expressed in a natural and non-threatening manner. It must be said however that the pluralist approach to culture adopted by GAA members in the Irish Republic is not necessarily replicated within the Ulster GAA. Perhaps clubs attached to the Ulster GAA need to look at ways of presenting Irish culture in a way that does not appear to have a political agenda. Perhaps too there needs to be more genuine dialogue between loyalists and members of the Ulster GAA.

Rule 21

We found no real support amongst those whom we met for the retention of Rule 21 and we were left with the impression that the Ulster GAA is the power behind its retention. It must be said however that, if the GAA is a democratic body, it seems strange that the Ulster GAA could exercise a veto over the other three Provinces unless they had substantial support from delegates from Munster, Leinster and Connaught.

Rule 21 was first introduced in 1888 to exclude members of the old Royal Irish Constabulary from playing Gaelic sports. It was then applied to the RUC and British Army after the secession of the twenty-six counties from the United Kingdom. As far as we could find out it was never applied to the Free State forces that suppressed the anti-treaty republicans during the Civil War, nor was it ever applied to members of O'Duffy's Blueshirts or to the pro-treaty ACA (Army Comrades Association).

The ruthlessness of the Free State forces in suppressing the anti-treaty republicans was as great, if not greater at times, than any force used by the RUC against the IRA. When Free State forces executed GAA activists Pat Hennessy and Con Mc Mahon there was no move to apply Rule 21 against the perpetrators. Hennessy was County Secretary of Clare GAA at the time and one would have thought that consistency would have demanded that Rule 21 would have been applied against his assassins.

Several of the folk whom we met at Kilmacud-Crokes acknowledged that the civil war left a legacy of bitterness that took some sixty years to overcome and suggested that the GAA was instrumental in bridging the divide between pro-treaty and anti-treaty republicans. Certainly in Munster and Connaught, where GAA activity was suspended during the civil war, the GAA appears to have been part of the healing process.

It would appear that the GAA adopted a neutral stance during the civil war and took the brutality of republican against republican in its stride. Again, we would have thought that consistency would have demanded a neutral stance by the GAA in relation to the combatant forces in the current Northern Ireland conflict. There may not be many members of the RUC or British Army who would wish to play gaelic football or hurling, but moves by the GAA to help heal the breach between nationalists and the RUC would be regarded as a progressive and invaluable step towards reconciliation.

Ladies Football

Noreen Mc Kenzie is a vivacious young lady who speaks with evangelical passion about ladies (gaelic) football. Noreen grew up in County Mayo where she learned to love the sport that her brothers played. GAA ran deep in the Mc Kenzie family. "I walked week after week to matches from I was no size, and before I could walk I was carried". Gaelic sport runs deep in the Mc Kenzie family. It is a tradition that binds the whole family together in a love for the sport.

Noreen wanted more from the sport than just cheering her brothers on from the touchlines - she wanted to play herself. Four years ago she got the opportunity when she joined Kilmacud-Crokes. Besides playing for the senior team Noreen managed one of the several junior teams that won the Under 11 section in last years Eircell "mini blitz" competition. She believes that ladies football is improving each year and believes that they have quickly earned the respect of their male counterparts. This was confirmed to us by male players who had no hesitation in telling us that ladies (gaelic) football "is faster, more free flowing and better to watch than men's football".

One wishes that ladies soccer and ladies rugby were treated with the same respect by the authorities and the general public in Northern Ireland.

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