There was a time, not so long ago, when the only net GAA followers had to think about was the net at the back of the goal, recalls a rueful An Fear Rua ...

Now, however, with the welcome advent and proliferation of the Internet, all of that - to paraphrase one of AFR's favourite poets, William Butler Yeats - is changed, changed utterly and a terrible beauty is born.

The synergy of the world's most exciting field sports with the most exciting communications medium since Guthenberg first pressed a heavy wooden plank on a piece of rough paper and printed the opening page of Genesis, shouldn't surprise anyone. The 'Net is above all else a young people's phenomenon. Young people are not fazed by technology in the way their elders and so-called 'betters' are. In fact, even as young as five or six, they welcome it, work with it and enjoy it. There are fifteen and sixteen year olds still at school in Ireland who are running web design businesses or e-commerce enterprises over the Web in their spare time. Look at the young lad beyond in England that the eejits below in Waaahterrforrd Crrrstyal had to buy out and promise to pay his way through college, because he registered their domain name and had taken about £200,000 in orders for Traaaamore Suites of crystal and Lismore Suites and so on.

There is a huge upsurge of interest - especially among younger people - in Gaelic games. They no longer want to just watch, they want to be involved as well. This huge increase in interest is widespread among the Irish Diaspora in the United States, Britain, Australia and many other parts of the world. There is now great commercial interest in the GAA. When you think about it, the Internet also shares those traits. Like the GAA too, access to the Internet is easy, relatively cheap and basically democratic. So, in tandem with this great surge of interest in GAA matters, we see a fantastic growth in web sites exclusively devoted to GAA clubs and interests, and in recent weeks we see progress in the level of sophistication of the design, content and services of GAA web sites. Even the much-maligned official GAA web site has woken up and has included a section with links to other GAA-related sites.

A welcome use of Web technology seen on some of the leading GAA sites is the inclusion of interactive Discussion Boards or Chat Rooms. If you're reading this Chronicle on the 'Net, I hardly need to explain to you how a Chat Room works. The website dedicated (in both senses of that word) to the Clare Hurlers includes a marvellous Discussion Board. As of the time of writing, it includes more than seventy individual topics covering over six hundred postings. Rivalry between Clare and other Munster counties probably accounts for most of the postings, but there are also strong threads running about the wisdom or otherwise of the decision of His Rivirince Father MacNamara and the County Board to switch sponsors (See AFR's earlier Chronicle on this topic - 'On the One Hand ... On the Other Hand').

The Clare site, in its look and content, is a credit to its originator, Matt Purcell. Recently, however, it seems some of the language in the postings got out of hand. This included some unacceptable and completely unfounded personal gibes about individual hurlers. Some unsavoury postings have had to be removed and there was even fear of legal actions arising. According to Matt: 'Fans are revving one another up on the site. It's hurling without sticks of a sort ...The designers automatically barred certain words, but we've had to add to the list'. Which only goes to show that some unfortunate GAA traditions run deep, even in the sophisticated world of the Internet. The next thing you know you'll have some team mentors asking young lads why they have no blood on their keyboards.

The great thing about the Web, of course, is its accessibility to ordinary fans. Gone are the days when only newspapers and magazines had the right to comment on GAA matters. This welcome development is seen most clearly in the content of one of the busiest online forums, the GAA Discussion Board. This Board carries hundreds of topics and thousands of postings. Judging by the recurring 'handles' used on it, there seems to be about than thirty 'regulars' who post comments and reactions. The Board thrives on up-to-the-minute controversy, straight talking, some humour and the occasional 'narky' comment. A careful perusal of some of the 'handles' would indicate that natives of counties Waterford, Dublin, Offaly, Tipperary, Meath and some of the Ulster counties are the main source of contributions: names like Donnycarney, deiseach, DéiseGirl, GalteeMountainBoy, Bord na Mona, Bottle Thrower, Nobber Man, King Dub, Larry Buaile and Mount Sion Man. An Fear Rua himself has been known to make the odd posting or two, much to the chagrin of at least one acerbic participant - Fred Titmus. One man who has successfully crossed swords with AFR over a mix-up in the date of an All Ireland hurling appearance by Waterford, is the West Waterford man, Mick Barry, whose well-informed postings on hurling are a delight to read. Other names like Gunter, Biff, Burr, the ever active Taz, Vicki and Turk are more difficult to connect to a native county.

Unlike some other Discussion Boards, where participants must register and a moderator keeps an eye on things, the GAA Discussion Board is free and easy: anyone may log in and say what they like. This leads to the occasional lapse into bad language, the very occasional posting about soccer and - on one occasion - An Fear Rua noted some extremely libellous comments about certain members of the Tipperary hurling squad. The hurlingandfootball.com site also includes a somewhat smaller Discussion Board than the Clare hurlers - about thirty topics, with around 200 contributions - and there's even a very active Board for Dubs called, appropriately enough, The Dubs' Forum. Elsewhere on this site, An Fear Rua hosts his own Speak Out! Discussion Board, which is growing steadily in popularity after only a few weeks in operation.

Within the past week, a new GAA website has appeared, called An Fear Glas. This is a well-designed and rather funny sendup of yours truly. An Fear Rua is flattered that anyone should go to such time and trouble to develop a 'spoof' site such as this. Many famous web sites elsewhere have spawned hundreds of 'spoof' tribute sites and it is a telling tribute to the growing credibility of An Fear Rua as the premier GAA commentary site, that after only three weeks in operation, there is already an elaborate 'spoof' imitator.

The GAA today is stronger and more successful than ever before. That's because like those other hitherto dominant institutions in Irish life, the Roman Catholic church and Fianna Fáil, it has adapted successfully to changing conditions and has successfully smothered and adapted any threats to its existence. So it is with the Web. An active GAA presence on the Web is to be welcomed, particularly for the sake of our Diaspora, because it helps to keep them in touch with home.

But An Fear Rua wonders if Cusack and Davin at that first meeting in Hayes's Hotel, in Thurles in 1884, could have quite envisaged how far things would develop ...