The outpouring of sheer unrestrained joy which followed both Armagh’s All-Ireland triumph and all the outstanding Olympic successes over the last week demonstrated the way in which sport has the capacity to transform us all for the better.
It cuts across all boundaries, and may even be best exemplified by the inscription on the statue honouring Bill Shankly outside Liverpool’s Anfield stadium which simply reads: “He made the people happy.”
There can only be sadness that a small minority could look at any sporting code and regard it with suspicion or even open contempt, with the GAA repeatedly targeted in this regard over the years.
A particularly revealing comment was made by one prominent voice last month while attempting to encourage opposition to the opening of an Irish language primary school in east Belfast.
The speaker claimed that an Irish nationalist cultural insurgency was “trying to take over every aspect of our life”, and asked: “How long before little children in a unionist area like east Belfast are being indoctrinated into playing GAA for PE, and are competing in the Bobby Sands Cup?”
However, some elementary research would have confirmed that the Bobby Sands Cup was not a loyalist rumour but for many years an actual trophy presented after a well attended final.
The great irony was that it was handed to the winners of a long established soccer tournament, with no connection to the GAA, and therefore unlikely to attract criticism from those who believe that a bilingual P1 class threatens an entire parliamentary constituency.
Summer soccer competitions were once commonplace in both nationalist and unionist districts, with the Bobby Sands Cup, played during the Féile an Phobail, among the best known, but they were regularly staged without the approval of the Irish Football Association (IFA).
While similar unofficial matches sometimes involve GAA sides, they also tend to be organised by individual groups and, like the IFA and the Bobby Sands Cup, are not under the auspices of the sport’s main governing structures.
The GAA is a massive amateur body, organising sporting activity for age groups from under-eights to veterans, and, with a swiftly growing international dimension, has an estimated overall membership approaching one million.
It is an enormous force for good on a wider basis, through providing positive community cohesion and specific support for ordinary people from all sections of society during good times and bad, and, like so many others, it has always been part of my life.
The GAA has been closely associated with the nationalist tradition since its inception in 1884, although it has had many members from other backgrounds, and its story, which would take a series of books rather than a single column to properly detail, inevitably reflects the turbulent and frequently tragic experiences of its players and officials.
Every killing during the various conflicts in Ireland, as this newspaper has repeatedly declared, was wrong, cruel and only capable of causing bitterness and suffering on an enormous scale, and it is reasonable to allow the dead on all sides to be remembered in a way which does not cause offence.
Paying tribute to historical figures is not confined to the GAA but has also been extended by the Irish state to the identification of streets and public buildings, with related policies honouring the British royal family and unionist politicians maintained by previous northern administrations.
While recognising individuals from the recent past is a more complex matter, it is worth pointing out that only one of the more than 2,000 GAA clubs in Ireland refers to a republican from the last 60 years in its title.
It is the Kevin Lynch’s hurling club, in Dungiven, Co Derry, named after a former player who captained his county to an underage all-Ireland title before dying on hunger strike at the age of 25 in 1981.
All these issues should be capable of being debated rationally, and kept in some kind of mature context, without resorting to the kind of blanket condemnation of the GAA which is so often witnessed
All these issues should be capable of being debated rationally, and kept in some kind of mature context, without resorting to the kind of blanket condemnation of the GAA which is so often witnessed.
Discussions about the future direction of the association are taking shape, and the firm leadership displayed by its new president, Jarlath Burns, is capable of making a significant difference.
The GAA, like all large institutions, is never beyond criticism, but the overall contribution of its volunteers, as well as the individual successes of counties like Armagh, is momentous and deserves to be celebrated.