A Personal Reflection On Saturdays Events At GAA HQ
As a relatively senior member of Éirígí, outside of my political duties, my life revolves around the GAA. From March to the end of September, my life is all planned around the GAA schedule. In the area of the country where I live, dual clubs (clubs that play both Hurling and Football) are non-existent, therefore as a family we have memberships of two clubs, in other words I pay almost €400 per-year just for memberships!
I coach in both codes, so that means training three nights a week, then GoGames every Saturday - Hurling one week, Football the next. I sit on the executive of one club, meaning I attend committee meetings, and sub-committee meetings every week. I am by no means unique or special; this and much, much more is replicated by ordinary people all over Ireland week in, week out.
Burns is confronted by protesters.
Éirígí activists in every province play very important roles in their respective GAA clubs, some sit on the top table as chairpeople, secretaries, and PROs, while others are out in the early mornings marking pitches and hanging nets. Some are still playing at a high level, others think they can squeeze one more year out of Junior B. In the Six Counties, some Éirígí activists were in clubs that bore the brunt of attacks by Unionist death squads, losing friends, teammates and club members to Britain's dirty war against Ireland. It is for this reason that Jarlath Burns' comments on Saturday really hurt.
Éirígí activists were proudly in attendance at the Gaels against Genocide demonstration at Croke Park on Saturday. The protest was organised to highlight Allianz’s sponsorship of the GAA National Leagues, despite the company being named in a United Nations report as complicit in the genocide in Gaza.
Éirígí activists and members of the 1916 Societies outside Croke Park on Saturday.
All Ireland winners including Co. Meath's Colm O’Rourke, and Co. Tyrone's Peter Canavan led the protest. Ten county boards have passed motions at their AGMs calling for the GAA to end their relationship with Allianz. Instead of allowing the motions go forward to Congress, the GAA leadership referred them to their ethics committee, which in turn whitewashed the relationship.
The GAA congress was interrupted by protesters chanting “Allianz Amach” (Allianz Out). Burns made a badly thought out statement when order was restored, comparing Palestine Solidarity protesters to both Unionist death squads and Far-Right Islamophobes. This was absolutely outrageous!
Burns is confronted by protesters.
Having met Burns on a number of occasions, I do believe that he is a fundamentally decent man. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that his comments were made on the spur of the moment, after an interruption to the congress that became relatively tense. I feel genuinely disappointed for Burns personally, as despite initial skepticism about his tenure as president - he had spoken about the need to possibly replace the tricolour and Amhrán na bhFiann - his time as president has been nothing short of revolutionary.
From his passionate speeches about inclusion at All Ireland finals, his reinstating of the Hurling Development Committee, and his oversight and delivery of the Football Rules Committee (FRC), the latter of which has completely rejuvenated the game of football, there was every chance he could have left his position as the greatest Uachtaráin in modern history, but instead his legacy is now one of using our organisation for the sports-washing of Genocide.
Co. Tyrone’s Peter Canavan.
I would urge Burns to retract, or at least clarify his comments, as the hurt they have caused to Gaels around the country, particularly in the Six Counties, is immense. Responding to Burns' claim that he “didn’t need any lectures about what it is like to feel the pressure of illegal occupation”, Co. Tyrone's Peter Canavan on RTÉ’s Saturday Game caught the spirit of ordinary members when responded to Burns’ comments saying:
“Jarlath is still sore from something that happened 50 years ago, and rightly so, he mentioned that there were no convictions on those killings. That was 50 years ago. Why? Because so many people buried their head in the sand, and didn't want to know what was going on. The exact same is happening now with us, we have an opportunity as an association to do the right thing”
The GAA is unlike any other sporting organisation in the world. Your club is the parish you were born in, the people in the club are the people you went to school with, they are there for your wedding, and indeed it will be the club that will bury you when you pass on to your eternal reward. The GAA represents, or at least has represented for well over a century, what a world outside of monetary or commercial gain looks like. It places volunteerism and community at the centre of everything it does.
It is a genuine blueprint of how a society beyond capitalism might function, and this is why the deal with Allianz must go! We are not naive enough to think that the organisation can function at the highest level without commercial partnerships, but the very least we can demand is that those commercial partnerships are not investing in the murder of innocent children. That is not a fanatical demand, it is simply asking Croke Park to reflect the values of our association!