As I have stated here on several occasions, the challenge of writing fiction is that, unlike what really happens, it has to make sense.
Consider this:
If I put a finale in a novel where Mayo would end decades of hurt at Croke Park by beating Kerry on Reek Sunday.
See what I mean?
Dear reader, that wouldn’t pass as work-experience book editor.
My parents were there in ’51, and Baby Doctor was at McHale Park to see Sam come back to the West.
I can exclusively reveal that she’s grand!
Over the last couple of days I’ve been trying to convey to British friends just what a cultural treasure we have here in the GAA.
Every dot on the map is a Gah pitch.
It isn’t a mystery to me how the kids in the West Bank immediately called hurling.
“The freedom sport”.
There isn’t anything to compare it to on the neighbouring island.
Nothing at all.
Played at the top level, Gaelic Football can produce a pulsating spectacle, as it did at the weekend.
Try this.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched this point.
Historic.
Think Stevie Chalmers stabbing it past Sarti.
Hurling is something else again.
My mate UNESCO says it is very old indeed.
I’ve shared this photo before.
My father is the intense-looking young fella in the back row, five in from the left.
The cup in question has always been a mystery to me.
I didn’t know what the trophy was until a few days ago- again, too contrived for a novel-when this appeared on my Facebook.
The Hughes Cup was presented to the Mayo County Board and competed for in the county senior hurling championship during the 1930s and 1940s.
Westport GAA won it in 1934, 1935, 1941, 1943, and 1945.
My mother said that my father was 18 or 19 in that team picture.
Therefore, I reckon that’s the 1941 winning team; the blood is strong.
The other side of the house gave me the love of a soccer team in Scotland that was, so I’m told, originally imagined as a GAA club.
So, next Monday we go again.
If the available resources are deployed with only rudimentary competence, then the club with the Irish immigrant backstory will retain its title.
No other club in the SPFL could stretch to this level of Danegeld.
More of this please, Celtic.
Across the city it’s about the Dollars.
Always the Dollars.
Being the default champions amid a hostile cultural environment of snarling nativists is the sort of thing you could put in a novel.
Actually I already have.
Enjoy the new season wherever you are.
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Hi Phil
Thank you for your response to my comment
Any chance you could big up Finn Harps please ?
Donegal’s very own…
A piece of trivia for the pub quiz aficionados. Football was so called because it was a ball sport that was played on foot in order to differentiate it from ball games played on horseback.
So all the variations of football (GAA, soccer, rugby, American, Australian, etc) take their name from that.
“there isn’t anything to compare it on the neighbouring isle , nothing at all”
The annual Shinty – Hurling International match would beg to differ
Attendances may be a bit smaller but the passion for shinty is on par
Croke Park holds 82,300, and an empty seat is unheard of, especially on All-Ireland day.
The Shinty-Hurling international match, as far as I can see, has been held at Bught Park, Inverness.
It holds 5,000 souls.
So, “may be a bit smaller” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
The Camanachd Association is a very fine organisation.
I put a map of this island on the piece with the locations of every GAA pitch.
That was a clue.
It is the NATIONAL character of the GAA that has no parallel in Britain or, indeed, in Scotland.
Moreover, there is no sporting organisation in Britain or any of its constituent parts that has events like Bloody Sunday 1920 or individuals like Sean Brown of Bellaghy or Aidan McAnespie in their history.
That’s why the Palestinian kids on the West Bank immediately took to the hurling.
“The freedom sport”.
GAA Grab All Association
Had to be shamed into letting Liam Miller’s benefit match be played in one of their grounds
This was a lad that played for Celtic and the Republic amongst other teams
If American Football gets sconced for having Football in its title so then should Gaelic Football
Hope this doesn’t upset your sensibilities Phil
I write this as someone that’s played Hurling and Gaelic football
Please don’t glamourise the GAA to people that know better
Hope this gets printed or am I frowned upon like the sports and games outside the GAA ?
The GAA at HQ level has many things to answer for Michael.
The main one at the moment is accepting sponsorhip from Allianz.
It’s utterly shameful and indefensible.
The GAA at grassroots level is a cultural gem.
In “the nation of the townlands” its the beating heart of the place.
It was like May 21st 2016 all over again for me. That day Hibernian lifted a 114 year old curse beneath a banner of James Connolly with the words ‘Our demands most moderate are, we only want the Cup!’ I’d already watched Hibs lose 5 cup finals by then just as I’ve witnessed maybe 10 Mayo defeats. Sunday was a beautiful day for sure.