IF one phrase could sum up the core meaning of the Gaelic Athletic Association it is ‘A Place to Play’. It combines the games themselves and the grounds on which the matches occur.
Padraig O Caoimh, after whom Cork’s main county ground is named, once stated: ‘These fields represent more than a place to play, they stand for the unchanging loyalty of parish and club and county to the ideal of the nation’s games for the nation’s children.’
‘A Place to Play’ is the title of the latest book about the GAA by Humphrey Kelleher; subtitled ‘The People and Stories Behind 101 GAA Grounds’ and published by Merrion Press.
A decade ago Kelleher brought out ‘GAA Family Silver: The People and Stories Behind 101 Cups and Trophies’, and this is a fitting follow-up.
That number 101 works well, allowing for three or four grounds per county, plus nods to the exiles in London and New York.
With 1,746 GAA-owned grounds in Ireland alone, the focus is on county grounds past and present, plus Croke Park of course, and also includes the homes of the exiles in London and New York.
Such a comprehensive work merits three forewords – from FBD Trust Chairman Michael Berkery, GAA President Larry McCarthy, and sports journalist Michael Foley.
McCarthy quite rightly points out that “No other sport in Ireland has invested as much in their grounds as the GAA. As rightly proud as we are of the great sports that we play, we put enormous emphasis where we play them.”
Indeed the investment is as much emotional as financial, with decades of memories to be recalled or, as is more often the case, revived.
There are also introductions from Kelleher and Donal McAnallen, the latter acting as contributing editor. Library and Archives Manager for National Museums NI, and a published author of several works on the GAA himself, McAnallen’s historical knowledge contributes richly to unearthing forgotten nuggets and stories about many grounds.
Kelleher is a Waterford native, who represented his county in both football and hurling, but has a particular passion for the latter code. He has contributed immensely to hurling in Dublin, coaching the county side in 2004 and 2005 as well as enjoying success with a number of club sides there. Kelleher’s first publication was as co-author the ‘Dublin Hurling Blueprint’ in 2001.
The author also became a photographer, getting to grips with modern technology by deploying a drone to capture images from above, showing the stadia in their surroundings.
The visuals are striking, of course, but this is also a bona fide work of research, delving deep in to the history of each ground.
It’s one of those books you could read right through but are more likely to dip into, then return to over and over.
You might go looking at all those the grounds were named after. As McAnallen notes, ‘During the 1940s-50s era there was a profusion of parks memorialising republican martyrs, yet a clear majority of all grounds over time were dedicated to non-political persons – saints, former GAA players and officials – and local features.’
The stattos among us might check out the various pitch dimensions, founding years, location, presence or not of floodlights, and associated club – all just a small part of the wealth of information compiled by Kelleher.
Besides those drone photographs by Kelleher himself there is also a host of brilliant old photos, some image to attract and intrigue the eye on each and every one of the 262 pages.
Just a few examples of those:
Christy O’Connor Jr at Pearse Stadium, Salthill, in the 1960s - but winning a Donkey Derby rather than displaying his golfing skills;
A Gipsy Moth plane from Iona Airways dropping the ball in for the official opening of Westmeath’s Cusack Park in Mullingar in 1933;
US President John F Kennedy visiting O’Kennedy Park in New Ross, Wexford, in late June 1963, landing there by helicopter en route to visit the nearby homestead of his Irish ancestors;
Killeavey men and boys breaking up and moving rocks from their planned pitch, with picks, shovels, and even their bare hands.
Such work wasn’t always fully completed. One anecdote recalls a club game taking place in a field at Strandhill Sligo in 1893 which still had a large rock at its centre; a ‘sentinel’ sat on during play, to prevent players from doing themselves a serious injury by crashing against it.
The expenditure on and development of GAA grounds since then has been truly remarkable, although some 19th century style shenanigans still sometimes went on decades later.
Flower Lodge at Ballintemple was long a home of soccer of Cork, but a secret bid by the GAA acquired it in November 1988. They re-launched it in 1993 as Pairc Ui Rinn, named after legendary Rebel County hurler Christy Ring.
GAA grounds will continue to be built, and occasionally re-named. For now, though, ‘A Place to Play’ is a tremendous tribute to many of those who built the Association and the grounds at which so many great games have occurred.
