Chapter 13 - Cultural, Sporting And Social Movements In Ireland Flashcards
Explain the foundation of the GAA?
Irish sports (like hurling and Gaelic football) were in decline. In some areas, they were
even unknown. They were poorly organised and were played with different rules in different areas.
Michael Cusack was particularly worried that Irish sports would completely disappear. He held a meeting on 1st November 1884, in Thurles Co. Tipperary, to establish a ‘Gaelic association, for the preservation and cultivation of our national pass times.’
What was the support for the GAA like?
Only seven people attended the first meeting in 1884. The GAA included sports such as Gaelic football, hurling, weightlifting, athletics and handball. The athlete Maurice Davin was elected president and Cusack became secretary. People such as Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Davitt and Archbishop Thomas Croke became patrons of the GAA. This showed that the Home Rule Party, the IRB, the Land League and the Catholic Church all supported the GAA.
Explain the development of GAA
New rules for football, hurling, weightlifting and athletics were agreed in February 1885. Clubs were formed all over the country and abroad. Games were played on Sundays for the first time. The first All-Ireland Championship was played in 1887 (between parish teams.) The GAA created links with the Gaelic League and actively promoted the Irish language. The new rules appealed to people and the organisation became hugely popular. In 1913, the GAA bought land on Jones’ Road,
Drumcondra. This was named after Archbishop Croke and became Croke Park.
Explain some controversies of the GAA.
In 1897, the GAA introduced ‘Rules 21, 27 and 42.’ This banned members of the British Army or police from being members of the GAA; banned members from playing ‘foreign sports’ and banned those sports from using GAA grounds. Rule 27 was abolished in 1971, Rule 21 in 2001 and
Rule 42 was only abolished in 2005. Like with the Gaelic League, militant republicans in the Irish Republican Brotherhood infiltrated the GAA. These men believed the GAA could be a recruiting zone for republican soldiers.
What were the impacts of the GAA?
It revived dying Irish sports and gave people a social and physical outlet. This was true in the countryside, in towns and from all social classes. It linked sport and nationalism for the first time. Many GAA members went on to fight in the 1916 Rising and War of Independence. It succeeded in strengthening a sense of Irish national identity. It supported the Irish language, Irish culture and Irish industry. The GAA now has over 2000 clubs in Ireland, 300 clubs abroad and the All-Ireland final regularly attracts more than 80,000 spectators.
