DURING the summer, before the days of XBoxes or Playstations, any youngster remotely interested in sport would congregate at our local GAA pitch in Mullaghbawn and play football from morning to night until you were either exhausted or remembered that you hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
It was a different era then, but there was no safer place to be. Even though you were essentially unsupervised and mobile phones were a long way off, parents knew exactly where you were – not that mine cared that much. The summer’s entertainment was taken care of.
Nearly all of my most memorable childhood moments revolve around my time at that pitch, whether it was playing matches or training or those summer months goofing around. Even my first flirtation with girls came in the low dugouts, which wasn’t as interesting as football but also passed the time and was all part of the growing-up process.
One day we had a considerable gathering and decided that a soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool supporters was the game of choice. When playing Gaelic in our numerous matches during the summer I adopted the persona of Joe Kernan or Paddy ‘Mo’ but that day I was Stevie Coppell, an exciting winger from the ’70s, and even though there was little in my game that resembled the Manchester United icon, in my head I was every bit as nimble and agile as the famous Red Devil.
The game was tight with a few thunderous challenges as we turned the Mullaghbawn pitch into Old Trafford or Anfield for an afternoon. Then, all of a sudden, a large car skidded to a halt alongside the pitch and our local priest emerged, shouting at us to stop the game.
Utterly confused we stopped playing as the priest explained to us that we should not be playing ‘that foreign game’ on our GAA pitch and that we were forbidden to do it again or he would take the ball and tell our parents.
We were left totally perplexed as we were not aware that we had broken a GAA code. There were no soccer clubs in south Armagh and the only sport we played was our beloved Gaelic but we also worshipped the soccer stars of that time and Match of the Day on a Saturday was without doubt the highlight of the TV week.
To this day I don’t understand the anti-soccer rhetoric which sometimes rears its head in our Association as I am a person who has a healthy interest in most sports (ask Erindoors). Throughout my years of writing this column I may have had a few pops at other codes but have also recognised their place and worth.
I also played a few soccer matches for local clubs, as did most Gaelic players during the off-season, and didn’t stop my son a few years ago when he expressed interest in joining a local soccer club. That only lasted about six months because he said it didn’t compare to Gaelic – which may also have meant he wasn’t very good.
I have a genuine love for the Association and am grateful for everything it has given me and I convey that message at any function I attend, but every now and again the GAA unfortunately lets itself down and comes across as narrow-minded and archaic.
The decision to fine Longford club Dromard €2000 for allowing a Jamie Carragher soccer camp to take place at their ground last summer is one such occasion. The club was fined for contravening GAA rule 5:1 that stipulates: “All property including grounds, clubhouses, halls, dressing rooms and handball alleys owned or controlled by units of the Association shall be used only for the purpose of, or in connection with, the playing of games controlled by the Association.”
I honestly can’t comprehend why the club has been fined given what we as an Association have allowed on our hallowed turf in the last few years. We made millions allowing the rugby and soccer boys into Croke Park and although many disagreed with the idea I supported it as it showed us as an accommodating sporting organisation. That decision showed the GAA to be an innovative and forward-thinking association.
As far as I am aware Beyonce has never played camogie because if she has I certainly would have been at that match, and Bruce Springsteen has never sung in Scor, yet they will grace Croke Park this summer.
The Wexford County Board are happy to reschedule fixtures in May because of the Springsteen concert - I only wish some of the same logic and common sense was applied to Dromard GAA club.
Wexford’s hurlers were set to face Dublin, and their footballers Kildare, in a Leinster championship quarter-final double-header at Headquarters on Sunday, May 29, but those fixtures have now been brought forward by a week to make way for ‘the Boss’ at Croke Park gigs on the Friday and Sunday of that weekend.
The county chairman told RTÉ that because any money earned by the GAA from the concerts would be put back into coaching for counties all over the country, the Wexford board welcomed the news.
That is a great attitude from forward-thinking GAA people. Hopefully the same attitude will be applied to the Dromard situation and their appeal against the fine will be successful.
