The GAA: the organisation for all seasons

During these weeks of county finals and All Ireland club championships, it is worth reflecting on the presence of the Gaelic Athletic Association in our culture. What is it that is so unique, so effective and so contagious about this organisation that seems more like an organised religion than a sporting body? It seems to be everywhere; it thrives in the rural parishes of the Ox Mountains as well as the crowded precincts of Dublin City.

Is it the link to our ancient games and pastimes? Is it the link to nationalism? Maybe its effectiveness comes from its far-flung network, reaching into every townland in the 32 counties. Maybe it’s the fact that it is run so professionally or perhaps it is the appeal of the amateur game. Whatever the reason, whatever the charm, the GAA has a hold on us and, for the most part, it is a holy and a wholesome relationship.

Our Ancient Games 

Before the foundation of the GAA, sporting activities in Ireland were either rough and ready or being taken over by the more formal influence of Britain. They had cricket, rugby and athletics but luckily, at that time, there also remained, in certain places in Ireland, the rudiments of our ancient games. 

There was a basic form of hurling and football played by the masses. The former was based on stick and sliotar, the latter was born from kicking a wind-filled pig’s bladder. The Cultural Revival of the late 1800s formed a major part of Ireland’s break for independence from the Empire. It saw the revival of our ancient games as a way to build manliness, pride in our past and ambition for the future.

Founding fathers 

To assume that the establishment of the GAA was an overnight success would be wildly inaccurate. It had as many birth pains as any nationalist organisations forming in Ireland at that time and its early years were fraught with so much infighting and heaves that its first success was its own survival.

The famous meeting at Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles, which founded the GAA, will show that there was a collection of founding fathers but for my money, Michael Cusack was the daddy of them all. He was a bright, intelligent man with a skin as thick as a buffalo. He was a teacher and a sportsman, a linguist, a journalist and an astute political observer. He was a thickset man, set thickly in his ways, but what a hero!

The Michael Cusack Centre, located in his native County Clare, gives a nice cameo of Cusack and his origins.

Michael Cusack was born in remote and rocky north Clare at the height of the devastating Irish famine during the mid-19th century. Young Cusack excelled at hurling and other sports. 

First training as a teacher, the visionary Cusack went on to found an educational academy where education and sport were central. He left his enduring legacy on Irish and sporting history by forming the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884.

Cusack’s passion for reviving our ancient games was uncompromising. His view was that if you were not with him, you were against him… and if you were against him, God help you. At a certain point, this worked against Cusack. He hated the British and he hated the Irish who wished to leave well enough alone. So, Cusack oscillated between being hugely regarded by some and intensely disliked by others. Such was the thickness of his skin, however, that he survived the lot. But his lack of tact did get him into all kinds of hot water.

Lasting legacy 

In a piece written especially for the GAA in 2022 by Damian White, Remembering Michael Cusack 175 Years After his Birth, we begin to see how it was that the GAA took such a foothold, a foothold that still exists to this day.

From 1882 onwards, Cusack became increasingly involved in the promotion of the Irish language and culture. Further exploring the mythical and heroic status of hurling in Ireland’s history led to him founding the Dublin Hurling Club in 1883. 

A high-profile but poorly regulated hurling challenge match against Galway’s Killimor convinced him of the need to organise hurling and athletics nationally. In Cusack’s own words, ‘The idea of doing something for our national pastimes, as my colleagues were doing for our national language was taking a firmer hold on me day after day.’ 

In 1886, a direct challenge to Cusack from within the fledgling organisation, which had been identified as an ideal vehicle for the promotion of political ideals, led to his dismissal from the organisation which he co-founded. 

Cusack was a temperamental man, unafraid to share his opinions in colourful language. 

At this point in time, it would have been quite reasonable for Cusack to have said: 'My work here is done.' 

Cusack had lit a spark that would eventually burn in every corner of Ireland. That successful recipe contained ingredients that is difficult to analyse. The main meal was a healthy mix of nationalism and parochialism. Add to this a healthy side order of physical fitness and personal ambition, and top off the lot with the spice of local rivalry.

Croke Park to Cambodia 

In recent weeks, I enjoyed two very unique GAA experiences. One was a visit to the Croke Park Museum and the other was attending the 2023 GAA World Games in Dungiven near Derry. Both experiences filled me with pride; pride in my Irishness and pride in the GAA. 

While taking the Croke Park tour, I fell in with a family from Turin. They were dyed-in-the-wool Juventus fans. When I told them that the Sligo colours were also black and white, we became instant football friends. The thing is with the GAA; wherever you go, there is always connection to be made.

The GAA, writing about their World Games, gives us some idea of the enormity of that project.

In the last 10 years, there has been an almost 100 per cent growth in the number of GAA clubs operating outside of Ireland with more than 500 now in existence. As well as traditional strongholds across Britain and North America, GAA clubs now have a vibrant pulse in operation in Asia, the Middle East, right across Europe and Australia. 

New clubs made up of non-native Irish people who have been drawn to, and inspired by Gaelic games, is proof of the strengthening of these overseas roots. The 2023 GAA World Games is a chance to bring these regions together to celebrate their passion for our games and help them develop even further. We have 93 adult teams, amounting to almost 2,000 people, that will be competing in all four codes across the week.

If I was filled with pride on seeing the Croke Park Museum, I was utterly blown away by attending the World Games. The organisation of the event, the diversity of the participants, the passion for our native games, were truly amazing. The event was a melting pot of all that is good about Ireland and the GAA.

Great visionaries, such as Michael Cusack, eventually pass on, great players come and go, great teams get consigned to memory, but the GAA itself, it would appear, will live forever.

Next week… The Second Half – the everyday people and enduring passion of the GAA family.