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Up Antrim!
24 years
ago I wrote a short piece for Antrim 2000. I discovered
it this week when I was clearingout three
decades of accumulated books, newspaper clippings and
assorted pamphlets. The 2000 reflection on Gaelic games is
reproduced below. Since then much has changed in the Gaeldom. The
most important change is probably the growth of womens football. Until recent
times women were confined to Camogie. Now Ladies Football is the fastest
growing Gaelic game.
I look forward
to the outworkings of the Steering Committee for Integration chaired by
Mary McAleese. 2027 has been revealed as the year that the GAA , the Camogie
Association and The Ladies Gaelic Football Association will come together as
one. More needs done in the meantime to give women
Gaels parity with their male contemporaries.
2027 will also
see the emergence of the new Casement stadium. Another
positive.
Television
coverage has improved also. Mighty work is being done by pundits
including some great podcasts and local print media columns. The BBC
as a public service has more to do to bring in parity with other sports. Some
county club finals have capacity attendances. That needs reflected in
coverage. The RTE blockage of northern access to some fixtures is
downright insulting. So too with the lack of local Council playing
facilities. There is much more to be done by all concerned.
In Belfast
hurling remains under pressure. Country clubs continue to stay ahead of city
hurlers. That’s to their credit. This is despite the mighty
work of Gaels at all levels of the Association in Belfast.
Local
clubs and their legions of voluntary helpers, committees, players,
coaches,mentors, fundraisers and supporters remain the back bone of the Gaeldom
across the county, the nation and the diaspora. Our county boards do mighty
work. So do local schools including Colaiste Feirste which is progressing
nicely. Connections between schools, clubs and county will pay dividends in
developing our player base.
We are lucky to
have such a living popular tradition. Last Friday’s Late Late Show
was a great celebration of this and a fitting testimony to An Cumann Luathcleas
Gheal as more than sporting organisation. It is a family. It is
us at our best.
There was a time
when Irish culture, including our games, was banned. In our own time
carrying a hurling stick in Belfast was illegal. So the last twenty five years
of gaelic games have been amazing. We can look to the next twenty five years
with confidence.
The Glory Of Gaelic 2000.
“My first love is hurling. That
includes Camogie. Although there are those who will argue that the camógs play
a different game. I think they play a better game. Then comes football which is
mainly a kind of sport to keep hurlers fit. Handball is much under-rated and I
am too out of condition now to even think of competing, though I know some aged
Belfast men who are still up to championship standard.
Recently, I was told, though I can’t
vouch for this, that rounders is also a Gaelic game. Maybe some of your readers
could confirm this.
So what does it all mean? How
important are Gaelic games? What part do they play in our lives?
To suggest that one particular sport
is better than another simply because it is a native game borders on
xenophobia. So, Gaelic games are not necessarily better than other games simply
because they are Gaelic. They are better simply because they are better.
Soccer is a pedestrian sport, hyped
by big money, more entertainment than athleticism. An odd time you would see a
good match. Rugby isn’t too bad. In fact it can be very good and I wouldn’t
mind getting more time to learn about it. Croquet and tennis and ice skating
are okay so far as they go but they are not exactly team sports. Golfing is
less elitist than it used to be and I presume that even bad hurlers could be
good golfers and that a half decent hurler could be a great golfer. Tiger
Woods’ people come from Dunloy.
There is merit in all sport and I
can’t think of one that I would be against. Not on principle anyway though
poorly managed boxers battering each other’s brain out has never appealed to
me. At the same time Muhammad Ali is one of my sporting icons. Him and Sambo
McNaughton.
Cricket is popular in Derry City. The
least said about that the better. It just goes to show that everyone has their
own taste. And that is how it should be.
But Gaelic games are special not only
because of their skills, the degree of athleticism, team work and sheer
commitment involved. In this context even a sceptic would concede that they
compare favourably with any other sport and a neutral would agree that they
outclass all alternatives. I know other ball players who have been amazed at
how far and how accurately a senior footballer can kick a dead ball and hurling
still bewilders visitors from other disciplines.
But Gaelic games are special because
they are firmly rooted in local communities and open to all who support the
Gaelic code. Because they bring drama and excitement, craic and huge enjoyment
to players and spectators alike. Because everyone can be an expert. Because
they are part of what we are. Uniquely Irish. No better on that basis than
anyone else but special nonetheless.”
Hurling
Antrim in Cú Chullain mode
Cheers me up
On the long road home.
Hurling is the victor.
Losing is no shame.
The joy is in playing
This warriors’ game.
Lá
Breithe Shona
Duit Abdullah Ócalan
The Good Friday Agreement was 26 years old on Wednesday, 10 April.
For almost all of that time Abdullah Öcalan, a founder of the Kurdistan
Worker’s Party, has been in prison in Turkey. There is a mural to Abdullah on
the international wall in Northumberland St. April 4 was his
75th birthday.
Held in solitary confinement for years, denied family visits for much of
that time, he has nonetheless become a voice for peace, a leader willing to
offer the hand of friendship to enemies.
There are
alternative ways to resolve long-standing differences. It takes
patience and leadership.
Öcalan has demonstrated that leadership. Despite incarceration, he
has forged a road map to peace that commits the Kurdish people to democracy and
freedom and tolerance. He has said that it is time to “silence the weapons and
let the ideas and politics speak.” Öcalanwants a “new beginning” that will
bring the Kurdish people’s struggle into a new phase in which they can through
negotiation create an equal, free and democratic country for “all peoples and
cultures.”
I commend Abdullah for his leadership and vision and urge the Turkish
government to release him.
Six months of Hell
This week marks six months from the
attack by Hamas on southern Israel and Israel’s vengeful genocidal response to
that. October 7 was wrong but it didn’t
happen in a vacuum.
Since 1948 when Palestine was
forcibly partitioned and three quarters of a million Palestinians were forced
to flee their homes, the Israeli state has further occupied the west Bank, for
a time the Gaza Strip, built illegal settlements on Palestinian land and
imposed a brutal apartheid regime.
In the decades since then scores of
resolutions condemning Israeli behaviour have been passed by the UN Security
Council and General Assembly. Israel has ignored them all.
Six months on almost 35,000
Palestinians, including 15,000 children, have been killed by Israeli bombs and
snipers and now by starvation. Scores of UN aid workers and now several foreign
aid workers have been targeted and killed. Rafah remains under threat. In
addition, Israeli forces attack Southern Lebanon and last week bombed the
Iranian Consulate in Damascus. These actions have increased concern that Netanyahu
is trying to provoke a wider war to bolster his own position which is now under
increasing pressure within Israel and internationally.
So what can we do? Increase pressure
on the Irish government and its new Taoiseach to take firm action against Israel.
And continue to demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages –
Israeli and Palestinian – an end to the genocide; humanitarian aid for Gaza;
the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; displaced Palestinians to be able
to return home and the lifting of the illegal blockade of Gaza.
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