by
Seamus Morris


It’s the boil that won’t, or can’t, be lanced. It’s there continuously in the background, gnawing away. From time to time it erupts, makes the public sit up and take notice, plants itself on the front page of the newspapers for a few days, and then recedes, waiting to once again flare up. The use of Croke Park by “other” sports is once again big news….

This time the story concerned the granting of €40 million by the Government to the GAA, helping to ease the burden in completing the stadium. The act raised the ire of many, provoked those who usually have little or no interest in Gaelic Games (or any other sport) to arise from their slumber and declare this a most dark day in the history of our nation; in this argument, the GAA played the part of the bad guy to a tee, were mean bastards who wanted their cake, and wanted to eat it. It was join the dots time.

Blackmail may be too strong a word; heck, it’s probably not. There has been an element of it all through the debate on whether Croke Park should be opened up, the argument being that the GAA somehow owes the other main sporting bodies the use of Croker, that it’s in the “national interest” for the gates to be swung wide open. These proponents seem to disregard the role that the GAA has played in the “national interest” since 1884, how they kept many an Irish man and woman stimulated, connected to their culture, hotwired to their roots. Towns and villages forged an identity through the GAA, it was pure, parish against parish, pride and honour at stake.

When Irish culture was in danger of being overrun by a foreign power, when Irish identity was being eroded, the GAA arrived, served a purpose of monumental importance, nurtured the country into an era of independence. In Northern Ireland, the GAA has proved to be a cultural life raft for the majority of Nationalists, helping them maintain their identity amid a cacophony of Britishness. The GAA is more than a sporting organisation, and thus placing it on a par with the FAI and IRFU is incorrect, and unfair.

Thus, when commentators argue that the GAA somehow owes something back to the people of Ireland, that the grants it has received from the taxpayer make it incumbent upon the Association to acquiesce with the wishes of some members of that public, the point is glaringly missed. The GAA has already given more than enough to this country, and it is still giving. What the Association has done in the last 120 years is priceless, literally. It has filled a void, provided culture and entertainment in equal measures, given many people their main outlet in life. To state that due to the fact that €40 million of taxpayers money has been bequeathed to the GAA makes them answerable to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the country is absurd; bringing this argument to its logical conclusion would result in every person having a say in any project that has had public funding – impractical, isn’t it ?

De Scribe believes that Croke Park should be opened up. There, it’s been said, and it may not sit well with many in the GAA but it’s what he feels. However, his main gripe is the manner in which the process is being forced on the Association. Soapbox ascenders are crawling out of the woodwork, producing scaremongering of the highest order, using base and simplistic arguments. For them, the GAA is backward, unsophisticated, lacking any real appeal as it has no international stage. It is almost as if they believe that the stars decree that the gates of Croker should burst open, that Gaels should stand back and look on, in awe, at the spectacle of soccer or rugby on the sacred sod.

What is needed is sanity in this debate. Sean Kelly has that commodity in abundance. On this current issue, he is the captain who will steer the ship through choppy waters. The Kerryman has stated that he believes HQ should be opened, but he has been careful not to tread on the toes of those more conservative elements in the organisation. In this delicate procedure, nifty footwork is required.

Logic dictates that Croke Park cannot sustain itself whilst it remains closed from October to St Patrick’s Day. The odd concert here and there will not suffice – the carrot of an additional four or five full houses a year, through soccer and rugby, cannot be ignored for much longer. The GAA is proud and strong enough in itself to “withstand” the coming of an age when the sod will host the once banned “foreign” games of association football and rugby. It is now a modern organisation, the biggest in Ireland, the best supported. The income from hosting rugby and soccer cannot be ignored for much longer.

Yet. Those who continue to attack the GAA in the media, who take low swipes and have long held gripes, who fail to see it as a modern and proud organisation, are displaying a vast ignorance and are unhelpful in the extreme. De Scribe is not blind or foolish enough to ignore the fact that the GAA has not always done the correct thing in the past, he realises that rules such as the infamous “Ban” proved more a hindrance than a help. But times have now changed.

A prediction. In 2006, maybe 2007, Jones’ Road will reverberate to some new tunes, hosting new friends. Points and goals of a different kind will be scored. Songs, perhaps some in foreign tongues, will sound through the famous venue. And no, Cusack, Maguire, McCarthy et al will not be turning in their graves, shocked at it all. They would realise that the times, and the circumstances, dictated that yet another new chapter in the history of their Association had to be written.

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