A defining act of sporting defiance
100 years later, Gaelic Sunday is a timely reminder of Ireland’s proud impulse to resist
WHAT, you’d wonder, would British MP Boris Johnson make of Gaelic Sunday? Or what would be the view of Jacob ReesMogg, another of the Brexit brigade who seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that the six counties of Northern Ireland are actually part of an island that includes another 26, on a movement that celebrates a major milestone this weekend...
The latter experienced a brush with modern Ireland in the sporting sense when breezing past Conor McGregor outside the entrance of the New York hotel where the UFC fighter was staying during the week.
Crumlin’s loudmouth millionaire, – back in the headlines after being sentenced to five days of community service after criminal mischief and assault charges were filed – didn’t seem to recognise the Tory politician who is helping to lead the not-so-United Kingdom into a situation where the stockpiling of essentials seems to be part of a grand, segregated future.
It’s a place where uppity, little Ireland and a government led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar needs to understand its place.
McGregor, too, seemed blissfully unaware who the beanpole guy wearing a shirt and tie in claustrophobic heat was. But then, he too has a superficial sense of history, as evidenced by his claim to being the first Irishman on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, one quickly rebutted by the long list of those who had preceded him.
Recently-deposed UK foreign secretary Johnson and his fellow Brexiteer Rees-Mogg would do well to pay attention to the 100-year anniversary of Gaelic Sunday that is being marked by events today, not just in Ireland but by GAA units around the world.
The original event at 3pm on Sunday, August 4, 1918 was a reminder to London that only one organisation has a foothold in the hearts and minds of most communities on this island.
On hundred years ago Britain introduced conscription into Ireland to aid the war effort.
Frustrated by the massive public opposition to this move, the authorities included the GAA among a list of groups it blamed for the lack of support among Irish people. An order was issued by Dublin Castle that a permit was required before any GAA activity was allowed to take place.
In July 1918, British authorities in Ireland informed the GAA that no game could be played without receiving permission from Dublin Castle.
The GAA, under Luke O’Toole, responded by insisting that, not only would no GAA club seek a permit, but that a national day of defiance and disobedience would be observed by clubs with every parish in the country requested to stage a GAA activity at this time. Such was the success of the initiative that the order for a permit was scrapped. It was the first real sign of the GAA’s power.
On Wednesday evening at Croke Park, former president Aogán Ó Fearghail gave a talk that centred around the Ulster Championship game between Cavan and Armagh at Cootehill on July 18.
‘It all started and it was driven by Eoin O’Duffy and the Ulster council over a banned match,’ he explained.
‘A permit was requested and 150 armed British soldiers were on the pitch when the GAA arrived. A permit was presented to Eoin O’Duffy, who was secretary of the Ulster Council. He was told if he signed it the match could go ahead, but he refused to sign it and it led to a standoff.’
From that point, the idea of the national standoff via Gaelic Sunday was born.
One hundred years later, a remembrance of same will take place in GAA clubs and grounds on this island and beyond.
The list of events covers all sorts of bases, from a talk in Crossmaglen in Armagh to a 5km run in Templeogue-Synge Street in Dublin to juvenile blitzes, barbecues, parades, and local parish matches all over the country.
At Croke Park this afternoon, before the throw-in for the Super 8s game between Dublin and Roscommon, a parade will take place to mark Gaelic Sunday featuring a club player from each of the 32 counties – the football club Champions in Connacht and Ulster and hurling club champions in Munster and Leinster. The Artane band will lead them in before GAA president John Horan performs a meet-andgreet. Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh is giving a pitch side oration. On the big screen, the specially-commissioned Gaelic Sunday video will be screened.
International units in America, UK and the Middle East are doing their bit. This afternoon, anyone interested in Los Angeles can stroll down to the Pan Pacific Park Baseball Fields on Beverly Boulevard and join in an open hurling exhibition.
The fact that the GAA missed a trick in not bumping the Super 8s football to Saturday and marking Gaelic Sunday in front of a packed All-Ireland hurling semi-final replay between Clare and Galway is one for another day.
But make no mistake about the importance of what happened 100 years ago in the evolution of the association.
The spirit of resistance is manifest in the recent grassroots uprisings. The point of ire might be internal more than external but various flashpoints illustrate how members can be mobilised. When the Club Players Association (CPA) sought to represent those disenfranchised by the lack of a proper organised schedule of club games, over 25,000 quickly signed up.
That groundswell is still feeding in to the very top where the CPA are in talks with the director general over a better calendar for club and county.
‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ became the slogan of the summer when Kildare stood up to the GAA’s own official fixture makers and refused to give up home advantage for the All-Ireland football qualifier at St Conleth’s Park.
The outporing of support for their cause showed they clearly struck a nerve.
Then there was the Liam Miller controversy where another public clamour forced the GAA into a uturn over allowing the testimonial in honour of the memory of the late Republic of Ireland international, who died at just 36 from cancer, to go ahead at Páirc Uí Chaoimh despite the existing rule being quoted to initially rule it out.
The GAA still has an anti-establishment streak running through it. Who knows if word of Gaelic Sunday will make it all the way to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.