The rich history of football and hurling would be an invaluable addition to a Northern Ireland Sports Museum, writes Declan Bogue
NOT to boil everything down to a “number of hospital beds” argument, but the collapse — for now — of the Ulster Sports Museum charity appears just one more of those inevitabilities that occur during a pandemic. And one that no living person has experience of.
It’s not that we “cannot have nice things”; it’s more that we have this tremendously awful thing sitting right there in front of us all the time. If you had a few spare quid, is it more likely to go on helping the foodbanks everywhere now, or on keeping the lights on for a brand-new sports museum?
In time, we will not always feel this way, of course. And in time, the likes of Lady Mary Peters and Nigel Carr, who have poured so many years of energy into their worthy vision, may yet see it come to fruition.
But for now, it’s up on blocks. The corporate sector are all about conserving what they have. Big firms are like the proverbial shark in the water: any sign of weakness at all and they are finished. Discretionary spending is suspended for now.
Construction firms, hauliers, banks, any of the blue-chip companies that charities might approach are staring at the teeth marks the first few days of Brexit have left on them, wondering how long it takes before the skin is broken and they start losing blood.
So, what’s left? A raffle? A night at the races? It just won’t happen in the short term.
That’s not to say that the idea is not a brilliant one. It is only through education that we can break down barriers.
Boxing, as far as I can see, has been the best sport at unifying people in Northern Ireland. Others do, too, but are less high-profile.
After that, there are common misconceptions, an ignorance, or an intolerance, towards certain sports from certain factions. We’re all grown-ups in the room, we can admit that to ourselves.
But if all the rich tapestry of these sports were presented under one roof and the displays were attractive enough and presented in an interesting fashion, then I for one am on board with the idea.
A couple of years back, an idle midweek day in Belfast produced one of those world-famous rain showers. We dipped into City Hall for a reprieve. The historical artefacts on display, the history of Belfast, its industry, its past, blew us away. It was a history exhibition done well and the great shame was that we stumbled upon it, rather than being aware of it prior to then. And round the corner from the table the Ulster Covenant was signed on were floorto-ceiling displays of west Belfast handball player, the great Aisling Reilly, and the Antrim camogie player Jane Adams. I wasn’t expecting that. And this is where the GAA could actually make some hay with an Ulster Sports Museum.
Already, support was there from within the 70 patrons, including high-profile figures such as Down’s Sean O’neill, who was named on Gaelic football’s Team of the Century and Team of the Millennium.
Peter Canavan, Tyrone’s All-ireland winning captain of 2003, commonly held to the one of the finest players ever, is another.
‘The more exposure those suspicious of GAA get, the less they will object to’
Representatives of the GAA’S Ulster Council have also sat on the charity committee.
The more exposure those that are suspicious of GAA get, the less they will object to. Occasionally, people let themselves down and there’s a ya-boo shouting match over something someone sang, or something some said, and to be honest, it’s as depressing as it gets.
The GAA are an imperfect organisation. Nobody would argue differently. And history still has a grip of it as it wriggles out of its origin story; pushed on by an almost heretic in Clare-born, Dublin-based schoolteacher Michael Cusack and spread like a prairie fire through parishes, villages, towns and cities across Ireland. Along the way, several coups between Church and militant republicanism were fought out for ultimate control.
The complex relationship it has with the establishment in the north is dense with areas of interest. On a bookshelf behind me sits a wonderful book, The Evolution of the GAA: Ulster, Ireland and Abroad, edited by Donal Mcanallen, David Hassan and Roddy Hegarty.
Within it lies a quite incredible history. The ban on security force personnel from playing Gaelic games from 1897 to 2001. The vigilance committee people who would scour soccer and rugby matches to try to nab Gaelic players moonlighting in these various sports and impose bans — this rule was eventually lifted with an Armagh man, Alf Murray, as president in 1971.
The taking of Crossmaglen Rangers property by the British Army and the long battle they faced to get that precious corner of their field back, at the same
time rising to become one of the greatest football club teams in history.
The opening of Croke Park then for soccer and rugby international games in 2007 while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped and the historic game played between Ireland and England after France were the first team to kick for touch towards the Michael Hogan Stand.
That’s before you even get through the human stories.
Such as Peter Quinn from Teemore, Fermanagh, right hard on the Cavan border who grew up with polio, but overcame it to become a decent footballer who picked up a few county titles.
He ended up being the great moderniser of the GAA, pushing through the redevelopment of Croke Park to become one of the most impressive stadiums in Europe at the time.
Mickey Harte, Pete Mcgrath, Joe Kernan, Barney Carr, Brian Mceniff, Eamonn Coleman, Maurice Hayes, Sambo Mc
‘Look at the rich heritage that hurling and camogie has had on an entire area ’
Naughton, Frank Mcguigan, the stories are legion.
Going more abstract than that, look at the rich heritage that hurling and camogie has had on the entire area of north Antrim and how revered those sports are as living, breathing expressions of cultural worth.
How about the tale of the Cavan footballers who travelled to New York to play Kerry in the 1947 All-ireland final, in a ramshackle stadium called the Polo Grounds that was once the pride of the Bronx?
Now, the GAA of course would be initially reluctant to commit any funds towards such a project.
In this time of pandemic, they have nobody coming through the turnstiles and until the vaccine works its way through the general population, then all bets are off.
It could well be that they also have designs on a new Casement Park housing some historical exhibits. The GAA Museum in Croke Park is one of the most visited venues in Dublin and even through these times have maintained a vibrant programme of online events to commemorate the centenary of Bloody Sunday.
In a redeveloped stadium in the north, with corporate facilities, office space, cafes and all the other aspirational targets they might hope to house, a museum for the GAA in Ulster, given all the difficulties, the vandalism and the constant threat of murder that lurked over their members, would be a very fine idea indeed.
But that might miss the point slightly. If a holistic museum incorporating all sports is a runner, then the GAA should be there at the front of the queue, asking what they can do to help.