Sport

Paddy Heaney: GAA is about community; the GPA just don’t get that

<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;; ">When the GAA closed the gates &ndash; and told its members to go home and stay at home &ndash; the severity of the situation was understood immediately</span>
When the GAA closed the gates – and told its members to go home and stay at home – the severity of the situation was understood immediate When the GAA closed the gates – and told its members to go home and stay at home – the severity of the situation was understood immediately

When history records how Ireland responded to the coronavirus – the GAA will warrant a special commendation.

Even as the first draft of that history is being written, it is apparent (to some) how influential the GAA has been in curbing the spread of Covid-19.

A recent article in The Guardian noted that “Covid-related deaths were substantially lower in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the UK during the height of the crisis.

''An office for National Statistics comparison of death rates across Europe found England had the worst figures, at 38.8 deaths per 100,000 people in the week of April 11.

''Northern Ireland’s peak came a week later with 28.8 deaths per 100,000 – worse than France, Denmark and Norway, but better than Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary and anywhere else in the UK.”

In an attempt to identify the reasons why Northern Ireland fared much better than anywhere else in Britain, the Guardian article points to geography and the fact that “Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million population live mostly in rural areas, with about 340,000 people in Belfast.”

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the article fails to pass any credit or comment on the biggest social influence on the vast majority of the 1.56m people living mostly in rural areas – the Gaelic Athletic Association.

However, it’s blindingly obvious. When the GAA stopped, everyone stopped.

When the GAA closed the gates – and told its members to go home and stay at home – the severity of the situation was understood immediately.

No institution in Ireland exerts a greater influence on its membership than the GAA.

As a largely rural organisation that is built around family networks the GAA’s membership was quick to grasp that the wants and needs of the individual had to take second place to the health and well-being of the wider community.

When many GAA clubs, both rural and urban, provided grocery deliveries, it not only provided an invaluable service, it further underlined the seriousness of the situation.

Everyone could see that GAA volunteers were putting the needs of their community first. That set the tone.

With most clubs displaying thank-you banners to NHS workers, the position of the GAA couldn’t have been more clear.

There is no community organisation in England, Scotland or Wales which replicates the role of the GAA in Ireland.

While many commentators have noted the growing societal influence of the GAA in recent years, the events of the last few months illustrated just how much clout the association carries in rural communities.

As grass-roots level, the GAA club isn’t just a sporting body, it’s the bedrock of the community. It’s the twine which weaves between families, friends and neighbours, drawing them together as one blanket.

We should be profoundly grateful that the GAA performs this role.

In a brilliant Rolling Stone article called the ‘The Unraveling of America,’ the writer Wade Davis is in no doubt why the most powerful country in the world has become a byword for dysfunction and disaster.

“More than any other country, the United States in the post-war era lionized the individual at the expense of the community and family.”

Wade says America’s celebration of the individual was “the sociological equivalent of splitting the atom”.

Fascinatingly, Wade argues that despite the economic disparities which are tearing America apart, these divisions can be “mitigated or even muted if there are other elements that reinforce social solidarity – religious faith, the strength and comfort of family, the pride of tradition, fidelity to the land, a spirit of place”.

The GAA ticks almost every one of these boxes.

Were it not for the GAA, and the communal values it espouses, we would racing headlong into the same abyss as the United States.

Sadly though, not even the GAA has escaped the cult of the individual.

The €6m which Croke Park gifts to the GPA each year is in total conflict with the values and beliefs of ordinary GAA members.

If the leaders in Croke Park actually listened to the broad membership, they would quickly appreciate the revulsion that exists for this insanely lavish funding of the GPA.

The decision makers in Croke Park urgently need a reality check.

The initiatives that rise from the bottom in the GAA tend to embody the true values of the Association.

Initiatives that have featured in this column like Slaughtneil’s Energetic Emmets and my own club’s delivery service during lockdown are perfect examples of GAA at its best. Clubs looking after their communities.

When it comes to the GPA, we are dealing with an organisation that is looking after individuals – who don’t really need looked after.

Certainly not to the tune of €6m.

As the vast majority of GAA members give up their time freely to coach, clean, fund-raise and whatever else is asked of them, there is a both astonishment and disgust at the vast sums of cash which are going out of Croke Park towards projects which have nothing to do with the GAA.

Hugh Peter McWilliams, the incredibly generous benefactor to Ballinascreen and Derry GAA was buried in Moneyneena yesterday.

Hugh Peter was another example of how GAA members contribute towards the collective.

A member of the Derry county board said Hugh’s sponsorship of Derry GAA “made absolutely no business sense, he was just supporting the county”.

When I wrote about this subject a fortnight ago, the GPA responded by getting a very popular county player to endorse the work it has done for him.

I have no intention of making any comments about this particular player. I’ve met him before and he’s a fine man.

The GPA’s counter-argument tells you everything you need to know.

They put up an individual. The GPA is all about the individual.

But the GAA is about the community.

And the GPA just don’t get that.