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Gaelic Athletic Association

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ) is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation mainly focused on promoting Gaelic games: the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders. The GAA also promotes Irish music and dance, and the Irish language. It is the largest organisation in Ireland with some 800,000 members from the island's population of six million.

Gaelic football and hurling are the most popular activities promoted by the organisation, and the most popular sports in the country. The women's version of these games, ladies' Gaelic football and camogie, are organised by the independent but closely-linked Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association of Ireland respectively.

History

Foundation and aims

The GAA had its genesis from Michael Cusack of County Clare. At the Civil Service Academy in Dublin he established one of the first hurling clubs. Cusack, a native Irish speaker, was troubled by declining participation in traditional Irish sports.

To remedy this situation and to re-establish hurling as the national pastime, Cusack met with several other enthusiasts with similar concerns, most notably Maurice Davin. They established the Gaelic Athletic Association on Saturday, November 1 1884 in Hayes' Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary. The seven founder members were Michael Cusack, Maurice Davin (who presided), John Wyse Power, John McKay, J. K. Bracken, Joseph O'Ryan and Thomas St. George McCarthy. Frank Moloney of Nenagh was also later admitted to have been present by Cusack, while the following six names were published as having attended in press reports: William Foley, a Mr. Dwyer, a Mr. Culhane, William Delehunty, John Butler and William Cantwell. All these six were from Thurles except Foley, who like Davin was from Carrick-on-Suir. Given later controversies about playing 'foreign games' and the banning of members of the British armed forces and police from joining, it is notable that Thomas St. George McCarthy (a native of Bansha, County Tipperary) was a capped rugby international player (having played for Ireland against Wales in 1883) and was also a District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). J.K. Bracken was the father of Brendan Bracken, who was later a member of the UK cabinet during World War II.

Aims

The initial plan was to resurrect the ancient Tailteann Games and establish an independent Irish organisation for promoting athletics, but hurling and Gaelic football eventually predominated. The following goals were set out:

To foster and promote native Irish pastimes
To open athletics to all social classes
To aid in the establishment of hurling and football clubs which would organise matches between counties

The association's basic aim today is stated as:

Additional aims of the association are stated as:

The Gaelic Athletic Association in the twentieth century

In 1918 the GAA was banned by the British government, but Gaelic games were still played in defiance of the ban. In 1922 it gave up the task of promoting athletics to the National Athletic and Cycling Association.

In 1984 the GAA celebrated its 100th year in existence. This anniversary was celebrated by the GAA with numerous events throughout the country. The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final was played in Semple Stadium in Thurles to honour the town in which the GAA was founded.

Modern challenges

Ireland has changed rapidly since the mid 1990s. EU enlargement, combined with the Celtic Tiger economy, has led to a large influx of foreign nationals from the EU's new member states in Eastern Europe. This means that a large proportion of the country's population is now outside the traditional native-born family structure through which the GAA tradition was passed from generation to generation. This presents a challenge to an organisation that was previously not geared towards marketing itself to people who have not heard of it or its games, and instead relied on people who had been reared watching and playing Gaelic games. The GAA has launched a number of projects to attract non-traditional members such as consulting with the Australian Football League and running leagues aimed at non nationals. The fact that increasing numbers of Irish people live in cities presents challenges to the GAA as well.

Maintaining the GAA's activities in the overseas units is also a challenge for the modern association with the number of Irish people emigrating overseas in decline. Despite the large Irish diaspora, Gaelic games remain fairly low-profile outside of the Irish expatriate community. Initiatives such as full-time development officers and high-profile competitions such as the Continental Youth Championship are helping to bring the games to non-Irish people everywhere, while the British GAA is promoting Gaelic games to youth in the UK.

Structure

The GAA is a democratic association consisting of various boards, councils, and committees organised in a structured hierarchy, with world headquarters at Croke Park. All of the association's activities are governed by the Official Guide. Each County Board may have its own by-laws, none of which may conflict with the Official Guide. Each Divisional Board may have its own regulations, none of which may duplicate or contradict the Official Guide or county by-laws.

Annual Congress
President
Central Council
Provincial councils
County Board

Divisional Board (in larger counties)
Sport specific board (in some counties)

Club Committee

All of these bodies are elected on a democratic basis and the members are volunteers. There is a small paid staff.

Cultural activities

Through a division of the association known as Scór (Irish for "score") the GAA promotes Irish cultural activities, running competitions in music, singing, dancing and storytelling.

Rule 4 of the association states:

The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.

The group was formally founded in 1969, and is promoted through various GAA clubs throughout Ireland (as well as some clubs outside of Ireland).

Achievements

The Gaelic Athletic Association has grown to become the largest and most popular organisation in Ireland with some 800,000 members out of the island's 6 million people and more than 2,500 member clubs, and runs about 500 grounds throughout the country and overseas.

The Gaelic games of hurling and Gaelic football were saved from ultimate decline. Both hurling and football were standardised. This standardisation helped to spur the growth of the modern games since they were now being organised on a structured basis.

The Gaelic games of hurling and football are also the most popular spectator sports in Ireland; 1,962,769 attendances were recorded at senior inter-county hurling and football championship games in 2003 while 60% of all attendances to sports events in Ireland were to Gaelic games (34% of the total to football and 23% to hurling). Soccer is the closest rival with 16%.

Due to a policy of having at least one club in every parish, clubs are fairly evenly distributed throughout the country in both urban and rural areas and the organisation's reach is therefore considerable. This presence means that the GAA has become a major player in the sporting and cultural life of Ireland though its Scór section. The association is recognised as a major generator of social capital thanks to its promotion of healthy pastimes, volunteering, and community involvement.

Criticisms and questions

Perception of nationalism or sectarianism

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) since its inception has been closely associated with Irish nationalism, and this has continued to the present, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland, where the sport is played almost exclusively by members of the mainly Catholic nationalist community.

The GAA would argue that it has always promoted an Irish rather than Catholic identity , although it is primarily organised according to Roman Catholic parishes. Members of minority religions have played an active role from the GAA's inception up to the present day, for example the Protestant Jack Boothman, who was president of the organisation in the 1990s, while Sam Maguire Cup is named after Sam Maguire a Church of Ireland member. The GAA Official Guide forbids sectarianism and party politics.

Certain GAA practices and rules reinforce a perception within unionist circles in Northern Ireland that the GAA is a nationalist organisation. For example, Rule 15 requires that the flag of the Republic of Ireland is flown and Amhrán na bhFiann, the national anthem of the Republic is played at all matches, even outside the Republic of Ireland. As such, this anthem has been played at GAA events in the United Kingdom, Canada, USA and others. In Northern Ireland, suspected associations between members of the GAA and republican elements have led to individuals and clubs coming under scrutiny from the security forces and weapons finds at Gaelic sportsgrounds have deepened mistrust..

The preamble of the GAA Official Guide also contains the statement, "Since she has no control over all the national territory, Ireland’s claim to nationhood is impaired". The "basic aim" of the GAA is "the strengthening of the National Identity in a 32 County Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic Games and pastimes." Rule 17b limits membership to those who "who subscribe to and undertake to further the aims and objects of the Gaelic Athletic Association, as stated in the Official Guide."

This association with Irish nationalism made the GAA a target for loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles. A number of GAA supporters were killed and clubhouses damaged. Indeed, as the profile of Gaelic football has been raised in Ulster so too has there been an increase in the number of sectarian attacks on Gaelic clubs in the 6 counties.

In 2007 Fermanagh player Darren Graham, who represented the county at both Gaelic football and hurling, temporarily left the sport. Graham had received sectarian abuse from some fans, due to being a Protestant from a Unionist background. However he received support from his Lisnaskea team mates and the GAA board, who stated "Abuse of any players, officials or referees is not acceptable and all official reports of it will be dealt with seriously."

Bans on other sports and Rule 42

Until 1971 members were prohibited by Rule 42 (Rule 44 in the 2007 rulebook) from playing non-GAA sports or even attending those sports events as spectators, and up until recently, such sports were officially barred from using GAA grounds. In particular, sports with a British origin, except for golf, were commonly referred to formerly as garrison games. On 16 April 2005 the GAA's congress voted to temporarily relax its Rule 42 requirement that GAA-owned premises are used by the GAA only, in respect of Croke Park, to enable the Football Association of Ireland and the Irish Rugby Football Union to rent the stadium to play their international fixtures in Ireland while the Lansdowne Road stadium is being rebuilt. The GAA's governing Central Council agreed that the first soccer and rugby union games in Croke Park could take place in early 2007. The first such fixture was Ireland's home match of the Six Nations Rugby Union Championship against France which was won by France 20-17.

Naming of competitions, grounds and clubs after nationalists

There are some GAA competitions, grounds and clubs named after Irish nationalists and Irish republicans. For example Casement Park in Belfast is named after Sir Roger Casement, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The trophy for the main all-Ireland Gaelic football competition is the Sam Maguire Cup, named for Sam Maguire, who, although a member of the Church of Ireland was an officer in the Irish Republican Army. Other clubs and grounds are named after Patrick Sarsfield (Lucan Sarsfields), James Stephens (James Stephens GAA), Patrick Pearse (Pearse Park) and Theobald Wolfe Tone (Bellaghy Wolfe Tones).

The above examples all lived before the early 20th century. A modern example is Kevin Lynch's Hurling Club which is affiliated with the Derry County Board and is named in honour of Kevin Lynch, a convicted member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), who died on hunger strike in 1981. The GAA prohibits clubs being named after people who are still alive.

Competitions

Domestic

The GAA organises competitive games in both codes and at all levels from youth all the way up to adult senior. The highest level of competitions in the GAA are the inter-county All-Ireland Championships where the 32 counties of Ireland Compete to win the Provincial championships, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Before 1892, the winning club in each county championship contested the All-Ireland championship representing their county. In 1892, Congress granted permission for the winning club in each county championship to use players from other clubs in the county. The Inter County scene of today was thus created.

Internationals

While some units of the GAA outside Ireland participate in Irish competitions, the GAA does not hold internationals played according to the rules of either Gaelic football or hurling, however compromise rules have been reached with two "related sports."

Hurlers play an annual fixture against a national Shinty team from Scotland.

International Rules Football matches have taken place between an Irish national team drawn from the ranks of Gaelic footballers, against an Australian national team drawn from the Australian Football League. The venue alternates between Ireland and Australia. As of December 9, 2006 the International series between Australia and Ireland has been called off due to excessive violence in past matches, but will resume in October 2008.

Grounds

The GAA has many stadiums in Ireland and beyond such as Gaelic Park used by New York GAA. Every county, and nearly all clubs, have a GAA ground on which to play their home games, with varying capacities and utilities.

The hierarchical structure of the GAA is applied to the use of grounds. Clubs play at their own grounds for the early rounds of the club championship, while the latter rounds from quarter-finals to finals are usually held at the county ground. This is the ground where the Inter county games take place or the County Board are based. For example, a team like Gweedore GAA will play most of its games at Páirc Mhic Eiteagáin, if they reach the final of the club championship then the game will be played in MacCumhail Park.

The provincial championship finals are usually played at the same venue every year. However, there have been exceptions such as in Ulster, where in 2004 and 2005, the Ulster Football Finals were played in Croke Park, due to the fact that the anticipated attendance was likely to far exceed the capacity of St. Tiernach's Park, Clones.

Croke Park is the GAA's flagship venue, known colloquially as Croker or Headquarters, because the venue doubles as the GAA's base. With a capacity of 82,500, it ranks among the top five stadiums in Europe by capacity, having undergone extensive renovations for most of the 1990s and early 21st century. Every September, Croke Park hosts the All-Ireland Hurling and Football Finals, as the conclusion to the summer championships.

The next three biggest grounds are all in Munster - Semple Stadium in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, with a capacity of 53,000, the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick which holds 50,000 and Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, Co. Kerry, which can accommodate 43,000.

Other notable grounds include:

Pearse Stadium in Galway, which has hosted International rules football series games;
Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork is where some Munster Finals are also held;
Páirc Uí Rinn, also in Cork, a former League of Ireland soccer ground.
St. Jarlath's Park, (known as Tuam Stadium) in Galway host to the most Connacht Finals.

References

External links

GAA official website
An Fear Rua: The GAA Unplugged! - analysis, discussion forums, satire and humour on GAA topics.
Hogan Stand
GAAinfo - Results, Statistics and Information
Radio Beo - Live commentary from club games, on the Internet.