HANDS OFF OUR FLAG
Michael Duignan has a strong message for Aogán Ó Fearghail
THE GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail raised the emotive issue of flags and anthems in a post-Brexit world on Monday and he’s certainly opened a debate. From my youth, I always felt a real connection to the Irishness of Gaelic games. And Amhrán na bhFiann was tied in to that. I always felt a huge respect for our national anthem and the Tricolour.
But it was never about the politics or any religious aspect. It was about a sense of the history of the GAA, of the history of our country. One of the influences on my hurling career was Jackie Ryland. Very much part of St Rynagh’s in Offaly, Jackie and his brother Bobby ran the supermarket at home.
He was the secretary of our club; did tireless work for the club and then the county board. He brought us everywhere from under-10 level when it came to matches. Religion, or the fact that he was from a Protestant family, never came into it. Not with anyone. I’m not a diehard republican. I’d see myself as an Irishman and would consider myself very moderate on this whole subject.
Speaking on the AllStars football tour in Dubai, Ó Fearghail suggested that limiting the use of the Irish national anthem or the Irish flag could be on the agenda with the changing situation brought about by Brexit and the discussion of borders. Yesterday, on radio, he appeared to row back a little on his comments saying ‘no, they won’t be scrapped’ only to backtrack again and add ‘who knows what will happen in the future. We all aspire to be part of a new, inclusive Ireland.. there might be something different happening’. Generally, across sport, anthems are played. The French national anthem is one of my favourites. You have Flower of Scotland and what sounds like a Welsh choir singing when Wales play. That has always been part of the big occasions. I just wonder are we going too far in this pursuit of a perfect world where we are afraid that anyone will somehow take offence. Sport does mean something more in certain places. I can’t imagine what it was like to be a hurler in Antrim during the Troubles. The situation was horrific. There is a long list of documented incidents about players being stopped and taken out of cars because of their association with the GAA and the game they played. I remember talking to Sambo McNaughton and he’d mention how Antrim would travel down to the likes of Wexford for a league game, buy a couple of dozen hurls down there, and then head home only to be stopped on the way back and find those same hurls thrown into a ditch after the players were stopped and harassed.
I can’t pretend to know what the GAA community in parts of Ulster went through. Of course, there is a healing process but I don’t think it’s a case of pandering to minorities. If there is a loyalist element who take offence to the traditions of the GAA, then I don’t believe doing away with the national anthem or the flag will suddenly have everyone playing hurling or Gaelic football – they won’t.
To me, the key to healing is education. Mixing together, going to school together and slowly breaking down borders that way.
Dónal Óg Cusack made a point that it is better for kids from the Shankill Road in Belfast to play hurling with no flags or anthems than to never play because of them and he was speaking in the context of a shared culture. But I wouldn’t be commenting as to whether we should be playing hurling up there. Many are never going to hurl. It’s too deeply ingrained.
I don’t think that’s where we need – or the GAA president needs — to be going right now when we’ve more pressing issues for the association on a local and national level. The GAA has never been stronger in terms of numbers, but weaker in terms of where the club fits in to it all, whether it’s with fixtures or being overshadowed by the inter-county scene.
It shouldn’t try to be all things to all people. We have a great association as it is. I’m not saying we should be excluding anybody from the GAA because I see how inclusive it is all over the country.
There have been events to commemorate the 1916 Rising and Bloody Sunday and that is very much part of our history, heritage, culture – if you’re a member you sign up to that. The republican ethos was of its time and the naming of GAA clubs was part of that. Ireland has a completely different landscape now in terms of religion and race, but I don’t think we should be diluting our culture, that sense of history to the extent that the national anthem can’t be played on All-Ireland final day.
The irony of the GAA president’s comments is that the Irishness of the ex-pat community is so strong, whether it’s in Paris, Amsterdam, Boston or Dubai.
We all know what’s going on with the debate over the wearing of poppies in England. Bloody Sunday is a very good symbol of what we’re talking about. Convoys of British security forces did come in to Croke Park.
Players and supporters were shot. As
I have always felt a huge respect for our national anthem and the Tricolour
GAA people we should always remember the people who died. If some want to remember them as republicans, that’s their business. But it would be disgraceful if we ever forgot them. The Hogan Stand was named for a reason.
It’s not about being all things to all men. I played all sports in my time. Where I live now, the GAA season used to be dictated by rugby and soccer – if they finished in April, we started then because of the crossover with players. Now we provide a year-round alternative for those who want to play all the time. It’s okay sometimes to make a choice. For us, we made a conscious decision not to dilute our offering just to attract other people.
Our GAA president could have highlighted plenty of other issues that are more relevant in my opinion. The imbalance in funding to counties – is the GAA looking at that? What’s being done to solve the club fixtures mess?
I don’t know where Ó Fearghail is going, getting involved in something that just isn’t going to happen. He holds, effectively, an honorary position for three years. There are other issues that require fresh ideas.
When we sat down with the Hurling 2020 Committee, it was a question of what can we get through? How do you tackle the system that is Congress and bring about change? So much has changed in sporting terms in this country. The GAA embraced the opening up of Croke Park for rugby and soccer while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped and God Save The Queen has rung out.
I was there for the opening rugby game at Croke Park between Ireland and France and the atmosphere was incredible. Similarly for the England game which had 800 years of history being invoked. Sure you had John Hayes balling his eyes out on the field while the anthem was being played. Sometimes the meaning of sport is hard to quantify.
The GAA president would do well to understand that.