GAA needs to take a long hard look at itself

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday November 25, 2004 02:05 by Jarlath

The launch of the Cumann na Fuiseoige GAA Club in Twinbrook has raised a few eyebrows in the wider community.

The iconic symbolism of Bobby Sands associated with the club badge must be challenged by the GAA hierarchy, particularly as the club has been founded, honourably, to introduce and develop young children in their chosen sport.

Some comments attributed to the representatives of the club will have dumbfounded many parents of young children, myself included.

We are told it "is no hard task to look up to Bobby Sands as a role model for children" and "Bobby Sands had courage, integrity and honesty and these are qualities we wish to pass on to our children. As a club, we are proud to be associated with him".

Robert Kerr, speaking on behalf of the club, said that since the formation of the GAA there had been an "association with nationalism and republicanism".

Not one to miss an opportunity, Sinn Fein councillor for the area Paul Butler said: "People do look up to him (Sands) and that is why the club is making reference to his past, the Republican Movement and H-Blocks".

I for one can think of many Irishmen and women with "courage, integrity and honesty" who were not part of a movement which showed total disregard to the welfare of our children and left unimaginable physical and mental scars with them.

Sands belonged to an organisation which saw fit to "disappear" the parents of young children, indiscriminately blew young children to pieces, forced hundreds of young children to stand at the gravesides of their loved ones and who used hurley, baseball bat and gun to brutalise young children in Twinbrook and beyond.

Of course this linkage with terrorists is not unique within GAA circles. One of the premier Under 12's competitions in Tyrone is named after two PIRA members, intercepted and executed while on "active service" in 1988 - the Gerard and Martin Harte Memorial Cup.

If we are genuine about building a peaceful island of equals, the largest sporting organisation on it needs to disassociate from political bias. The political overtones, so graphically pointed out by Mr Kerr, need to go.

The GAA can play a major role in bringing our children together and freeing them from the horrors of our past.

To allow their clubs to indoctrinate young children in a revisionist view of past events, the GAA will merely serve to perpetuate the division and suspicion among our young for generations to come. The association should consider the issue and ramifications of discrimination on the grounds of political belief very carefully.