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THE monumental arrogance of the modern GAA would be enough to drive Michael Cusack and Archbishop Croke weeping into each other 's arms. The two were far from bosom buddies but they had a clear and uncluttered vision of what the GAA should be and they set these views out in unequivocal language. Much of that bright vision has been lost in the misty-eyed hypocrisy of some of the men wh o have followed .. them ., but neither that far-sighted pair nor many another idealist who genuinely sought to wear their mantle could ever have envisaged the shameful posturings which have marked the recent

events in regard to the RDS unfathomable have set back by a

score of years the reputation of the double bill. organisation they seek to serve. Less than two weeks ago the Some years ago I had cause to GAA announced that it was in- discuss membership of the GAA terested in attracting a major with the then chairman .of the sponsor for the All-Ireland series Monag han County Board , Peter and when I opined that a figure in Sherry. Asked how he would the region of £1 million was being define membership of that organissought the GAA' s public relations ation , his answer was probably the officer , Danny Lynch, phoned to wisest and most perceptive I have say that I had sold the scheme ever heard in regard to this short and that £3 million to £5 matter. "Membership of the GAA million would be the price of any is a state of mind ," he said. serious bid to sponsor these games If that is the case there can be in football and hurling. very few people in this country What price now the good name who are not members. A big day of a sponsor being linked with that out at Croke Park or Thurles or of the GAA? Not a lot. And why? Clones or Hyde Park will always Because a tightly-knit coterie of encompass people old and young narrow-minded power-brokers from all sections of our diverse have found ready and supine sup- community. When Down played port from within their own ranks and won so spectacularly in Croke ;and for reasons which are Park last September all strands of

political , religious and social opinion were represented. Even representatives of the British government in North ern Ireland were present. Ambassadors from other countries are frequent attenders at Gaelic games. On such days we are all members of the GAA. The GAA belongs to the Irish people, Catholic, Protestant and dissenter. It does not belong to those who are merely active in its games and in its meeting rooms. It Is as much a possession of all the people as the air we breathe. The GAA, quite properly, addresses itself to matters of heritage and birthright. It does not , however, have exclusive ri ghts to these facets of our lives, it shares them with all Ireland's citizens and by extension with all humanity. That is not putting too strong a case. It is merely a realistic appre-

ciation of the way things are. The French language does not only belong to the French , nor the English language only to the English. It was good to be in the Dodder Room in the RDS last week to see people like Paddy Cullen and Noel King chatting together over a drink with Tommy Carr. It was good that David Beggy was on the pitch playing for Leinster being watched by several Meath teammates last Saturday in Donnybrook. It was good to be in the company of three members of the Cork hurling team at the same venue the previous week as they watched their friends from Cork Constitution play Old Wesley. It was good that such a distinguished sportsman and politician as Jack Lynch should choose the occasion of a hurling club dinner to put

recent craven decisions into per- spective. The GAA , in its expression olf objectives in its rule-book , speaksi to its members of its commitment t to the ideal of a 32-county Ireland I free of racial , political and socialI strife. That is a noble aspiration 1 and there are many ways in which the GAA can contribute to the | furtherance or even achievement ol; that aim. Wh at has happened within the past couple of weeks is. at variance with that aspiration ' and damaging to the possibility ol.1 its achievement. What has the GAA said to the , Protestant Unionist people of Down' and the other six counties which i constitute North ern Ireland? Has il: said that a 32-county Ireland > would recognise , respect and fostei' the culture which they hold dear? ' Has it said that all the citizens of aI

Belvedere offer ground to i: Fontenoy By Tom Humphries

The first cloud in the clean sk), The RDS showground where soccer and Gaelic football might have bridged another divide and (right) Peter Quinn , president of the GAA. above Croke Park arrived iri ecclesiastic garb. A surprise attack by GAA patron Dr Clifford , Archbishop of Cashel, stung thje association deeply. His criticisms of recent Feile concerts in Thurles were barbed with a reference to an even more ancient sore spot , the playing of socce r. Croke Park responded hastily and firml y but the arrow had struck home. ;Ever since the foundation ol tt\e GAA in a billiards room in Thurles, the association's history has been littered with ambiguities and controversies regarding soc- sented the club's special events ferred , it back to the GAC andi the followi n g day. Quinn was: Eight people attended. Peter cer and 'other codes'. _ ". '¦¦; ; ' : committee with a proposal for the pe rm issio n w as gr a n ted th ree:. unavailable on the Friday as were¦ Quinn , the association's presiThe Ban , t hat '- most "infamous - staging "of a challenge game be- weeks ago for the game to go> the Down officials and the meet-- dent , chaired. Liam Mulvihill , and most unwieldly piece of tween Dublin and Down — the ahead. Several riders were: ing was planned for Saturday. general secretary, sat in . Sean O sporting legislation , survived ful All-Ireland final that might have attached however. Dublin were informed of thes Laoire and Sean McCague of the 60 years until its abolition in 1971 been. The key to the proposal On November 25th , John Egani meeting only on Friday. Once¦ GAC, Danny Murphy and Brian after many years of hard lobbying was that the game would be of the Clanna Gael, received ai again nobody took the commoni McAvoy of Down, Jim King and by Tom Woulfe of the Dubli n played in the club's catchment telepho ne call from Sean O• sense decision to ring the Clannai Con Clarke of Dublin made up County Board . Where the GAA area , preferably at Shelbourne Laoire, deputy chairman of the: Gael club for details over thei the group. The meeting lasted for was still identified with national- Park . GAC, during which preliminary1 matter. Croke Park stuck rigidly' half an hour and decided nothing. ism, however , much of the early Inquiries were made and Shel- conditions for the playing of the: to its mandate to deal only with> Down made their worries known. philosophy of the GAA remained bourne Park was ruled out. The match were laid down. Details» county boards. Critically, the Dublin representintact. RDS was approached and the were to follow in writing. Wh atever other calls took place: atives who were supposed to be It should have been club were referred to Shamrock no surprise • On December 2nd , the follow- on Thursday, we shall nevei" in charge of the finance arrangethis week when the same question Rovers FC who are currently in ing Monday, Clanna Gael met: know. There is a view prevalent: ments, were unaware that the asked on both sides of the Border the middle of a three-year stint with Tipperary Spring Water toi in Dublin that a lot of pressure; game had been made an all-ticket produced opposite answers. The leasing the showjumping arena. discuss sponsorship of the event. was put on the Down Countyr affair. They argued strongly GAA south of the Border has On Saturday October 12th , That day, two letters arrived fromi Board to withdraw from the fix-- against cancellation , stating that long been a mere sporting body officials from the club met with the GAC with 13 days left before: ture at this stage. Down's 10-mani the reasons were flimsy and that jostling with other pursuits for Shamrock Rovers manager Noel the game, the conditions to be: executive committee was meeting; it was too late in the day to pull attention. North of the Border the King at the Burlington Hotel and m et by the club were at last: as scheduled on Thursday the Sth the * niiin GAA is a bad ge of identity as found him agreeable to the con- ;available. and county chairman Danny Murphy The meeting adjourned after 30 well as a sporting body. The cept of stag ing a GAA game at The game was to be clearly raised the issue ot the game and minutes and Jim King was disassociation means a great deal to the RDS on the same afternoon as billed as a GAA promotion. The voiced the co" i.n that the event patched to track down John Egan the nationalist community and the club's scheduled League Of Dublin County. Board were to appeared to bw a joint promotion and Michael Fitzgerald of Clanna they have suffered lo ng and hard Ireland clash with Bohemians. :supervise the collection and dis- and that there was uncertainty as Gael and haul them down to in its cause. The spiritual dimenBoth Down and Dublin were tr : ibution of all monies arising. A to who was actually controlling Croke Park. King and Clarke sion that the GAA prides itself approached and on October 27th ]letter was required from the RDS the finances. were recalled at 2.45 when the on thrives best in those parts of Clanna-Gael Fontenoys received a :stating that December ISth was in Again red tape hi ndered pro- eight reconvened. They stated the country where the situation letter from Bria n McAvoy con- fact i the only date the GAA game gress and the executive decided that they had spoken to Clanna that the GAA grew fro m, still firming the county 's full willing- icould have been played on. not to go ahead with the game Gael about the ticket arrangepertains. ness to participate in the fixture. A letter was secured from A J unless Croke Park could clarify men ts an d w er e satisfied th at North of the Border Gaelic Dublin had alread y agreed and Fitzgerald , an officer of the RDS, the positio n a n d assure Down that everything was under control. games are an expression of iden- only the blessing of Croke Park jin response to the last require- they would not be in breach of They didn 't believe that the event tity where such expressions are remained to be received. , The GAA say its content Rule 5 of the association which was a joint promotion , but had important. Michael Fitzgerald , who was on ¦ment. ambiguous. Clanna Gael say states: "The Association and its merely been misrepresented as Thus in late October when familiar terms with Peter Quinn was j satisfied requirements. In any resources shall be used for and such in the media. Michael Fitzgerald , P.R.O. of the from previous functions , was ,itevent "We made our points, but I side contacted the dedicated solely to the above Clanna Gael-Fontenoys club in delegated to ring Quinn to sound ,other ,inneither don't think anybody was very relation to the letter. By aims. Dublin rang GAA president Peter him out on the proposal. The The aims m entio n ed in c l u de t h e i n te r ested at t h at sta ge", says Quinn , a hard nosed Fermanagh word from the club is that Quinn mutual agreement with Shamrock strengthening of the national iden- county chairman Con Clarke "we bu siness man , with a certain pro- was 'furious' when he heard the ,R overs , tickets for the game were tity through the games of the as host county were happy with on sale at a number of outlets DOSal two worlds rnllirte d idea. Peter Quinn himself says his put j GAA , promotion of Gaelic games the arrangements. We didn 't think personal feelings on the matter .last Friday week, in conjunction and the Irish language and assistwas really a matter over which ublin GAA clubs are at the: are of no account "I merely with a newspaper advertising ance in promoting a community itCroke Park had to adjudicate The real trouble, howsharp end of the competi-¦ referred Michael to the proper campaign. , th rough its clubs. Dtive market for the raw' authority for sanctioning games, ever , began two days earlier when spirit The Down County Board were Dubli n's satisfaction was not material of youth. Those on the' th ft fiam pc Ari minict mtirtn /"V» m !at a press conference in the aware then on Thursday evening matched elsewhere. Some discusDodder Rooms of the RDS at southside of the city where rugbjr mittee." of the disquiet felt in Croke Park sion took place as to the fall-out which Shamrock Rovers chairman and soccer have their traditional ' Dublin County Board , as John McNa m ar a appea red , the concerning the fixture. Dublin in public relations terms of a strongholds have a particularly theThe host county, applied to impression was created that the Count y chair m an Con Clar ke has cancellation. "The p otential difficult furrow to plough. Thus1 the GAC. There duly followed a event was a inint nromotion. a different tale regarding his own damage to the' association of Clanna Gael-Fontenoys, a pro-' series of delays then county's involvement. "We got a f un ds being i m prope r ly u sed was put the gressive club struggling to survive: enti re game on icewhich . for a critical sooner had the Thursday call on Friday asking us to come greater than any public relations in the shadow of Lansdownc; period of almost three weeks. The morning papers appeared to a meeting the following morn- damage", says Peter Quinn. "It Road and the stomping ground ol Games Administration Committee N o n alarm bells started ing. When we got there, I asked was a situation that could have Shamrock Rovers found them- th e next week declined to sanc- ring ingtha all over Croke Park. Peter• Sean McCague (chair of the GAC) given rise to payments going selves casting about for an idea tion the match on the grounds Qui nn returned to his home from what the meeting was about and anywhere." that would raise their profile and |1 that the RDS was not a ground business in At t h e Cen t r al Cou nc i l m eeti ng England to receive a he said that he did n't know." boost their coffe r s in this their 'vested' in the GAA. The GAA' s worried call from Sean O Laoire The Saturday morning meeting later that evening, journalists centenary year. Ma n age m ent Comm ittee , aware of of the GAC , who wanted a meet- was due to take place at 9.15 but were asked to leave as the deleIn the first week of October ,, the problems facing south Dublin ing with representatives of the did n't in fact take place until gates that remained wished for club member Jack McGinley pre-¦ clubs, reviewed the decision , re- Down and Dublin county boards 11.15. some privacy in which to discuss

Season of goodwill ends in humilia tion

D-da y for underdo gs CL ARA , who

meet Thomas Davis in tomorrow's Leinster Club football final at Newbridge , owe it all to a certain PJ White , a businessman from the town who acciden tall y came across that historic meeting in Hayes' Hotel , Thurles i n 1884 , at which the GAA was founded. The ubiquitous White was on a bu si n ess t r ip in Thurles at the time, and all Clara folk would now agree that he was in the right place at the right time. White hotfooted it back to his native Clara to relay tidings of the momentous gathering, all of whi ch led to the Formation of the Offaly club on December 15th , 1884. Cla r a are the oldest club i n Leinster and December 15th remains a most significant date for them as it also happens to be tomorrow's date when they do battle in their first Leinster final. It is also the date on which the GAA itself could have made more history by allowing a Gaelic football match to be played on the

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Soccer has always been a problem for the Gaelic Athletic Association. Now, the enterprise of the Clanna Gael-Fontenoy club in attempting to be involved in a joint venture — and the subsequent banning of the Dublin-Down match at the RDS — has left the GAA with a public-relations disaster. TOM HUMPHRIES tra ces the b ackground back to the sorry affair and examines the conflicts within the association.

Gaelic Athlete , Feb ruary 3rd 1912. Th i n g s couldn 't have been finer. The spirit oi the Gael was back ir h'a rness. After the fretfu summer of 1990 when soccer 's ri s i n g t i d e h a c threatened to sweep away al but t h e most securel) anchored GAA boats , the nation's pre-eminent sporting organisation was on top again, The most memorable championship summer in living memory was still glowinj w.ar m l y, spo n sors we r e bjuzzing, TV people were kowtowin g and God was ir his heaven. The GAA was back.

By Pat Roche

32-county Ireland wou ld be regarded as equals and that friendly ecumenical contac t between different cultures and traditions would be encourage d and promoted? The answer to these questions is an unequivocal 'no'. The GAA's hierarchy can fulminate and filiibuster as much as it' likes. It matters not a whit what ' their current excuse is. They spoke - ' of "vested grounds " and that was ; seen for what it was, a sham. They spoke of rules and regulations,. • they issued stat ements and then. further statements to explain earlier statements. They have , in Yeats's immortal . words, "dis graced themselves again ". They bring to mind the lines from An Cailleach Beara;, "M6r mo nair ', A claim Kin da.

same ground as a soccer match. But that is another story. The Clara club can only hope to be celeb r ating v icto ry on t h e most important day of the month in their club history. They start tomorrow's match as underdogs against the holders who will be contesting thei r third fi n al in as many seasons. Clara have a number of things goi n g for them , however, not least the inclusion of seasoned county players in the Reynolds brothers, David and Willie , and the Ste wa r ts , Aidan and James, along with Pauric Moran , all of whom are part of the present Offaly revival . Selector John Naughton comments: "If we are beaten we would still be satisfied that we had a good season. In fact , had we been beaten in the county final we would still regard it as a good season". Clara last won the county title 27 years ago. Thom as Davis are view i n g the match with guarded optimism. Says manager Andrew O'Donnell: "We don't kn ow a lot about them

but they must be a good team to reach the provincial final. " The Tallaght men include county stars David Foran , Paul Nugent, both of whom operate in midneld, Paul Curran and Gerry Kilmartin. Their left full back Edna OToole is a son of former Dublin goalkeeper of the fifties , Gerry O'Toole. It seems, though , that Thom as Davis's defeat of Baltinglass in the semi-final was on its own a much more notable feat than Clara 's wins over Rathvilly, the Carlow champions, and Duffry Rovers of Wexford. A win for the Dublin champions must be the prediction though it must not be forgotten that only a couple of weeks ago Birr shocked Kilkenny champions Shamrocks in the hurling final.

THOMAS DAVIS: F Troy; 0 Nugent, J J Martin, E OToola; J Fadden, P Curran, G Kilmartin; O Foran, P Nugent; P Joyce, P Godson, S Grealis; L Adamson, P Dwane, V Carney. CLARA: P Lowry; P Flanagan, L Carroll, W Frynn; P Moran, A Stewart. C Kans; D Reynolds,J Stewart; W Reynolds, C Scanlon, D Scully; E Egan, T J Deehan, P J Cunningham.

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IN A gesture of warm sporting ecumenism the Old Belveder e ' rugby club yesterday offered full and inhindered use of their Angle-' . ¦ sea Road grounds and facilities to. ; the Clanna Gael/Fontenoy GAA j club for the staging of a challeng e game early in the New Year. -: The two clubs both have a home ¦ in the south city area betwee n . j Ballsbridge and Ringsend and the " gesture from the Old Belvedere < club is bound to be greatly appre ciated by their GAA brethren, still . reeling from the blow of havin g tomorrow 's planned RDS challenge- ; game scuppered at the eleventh > hour. i Michael Hickey, chairman of the " rugby committee at Old Belvedere, made the offer on behalf of the ' ; club yesterday. "We are offering ¦' full use of our ground, which can ' be made into an adequate size for -1 the staging of a GAA game. We' :: will provide a temporary stand as ¦ we do for our own bigger games ' ' and the novel factor would be the ' use of floodlights. We are not seeking any material gain, the 1 i faculties will be provided free gratis. We are just extending the hand of friendship to a neighbour- ' ing sporting club. " ' Michael Hicke y, whose own ' 1 spor ting career is a model of ecumenism having played for Dublin in the All-Ireland final of ' 1979 and having represented the " Old Belvedere club since the early " 1980s, added that his club wished merel y to "show some support" for Clanna Gael-Fon tenoy in a difficult time. ' If a game were to be stage d at the Anglesea Road ground, the organising club would have to seek sanction from the GAA Games , Administration Committee to play < on a non-vested ground and would • likely have to produce evidence , that no other venue was suitable ., on the particular date . A game under floodlig hts would have the novelty value of being the first senior inter-county game to be . ", played in such conditions. John Egan, the chairman of the . Clanna Gael-Fon tenoy club at the centre of the recent RDS contr oversy, gave a warm welcome to Old Belvedere's gesture last night., but stated that it was too earl y for ¦ the club to consider alternativ e .proposals. "We are most grateful to Old .' Belvedere for this kind offer. It ' represents the sort of friendshi p we hoped to foster with our origin al'" fixture. At the moment we would " not be in a posit ion to offer any n response except a big 'Thank You' .' to Old Belvedere. We just want to sort out the current mess." With a view to unravelling the -: current embroglio, Clanna GaelFontenoy have written directl y to Croke Park seeking a meeting at which terms of compensation for the lost fixture can be discussed" ' Rumours were circulating yesterday that legal action had been at least hinted at but John Egan was eager to refute such stories. "We wrote to the GAA yester- ' day (Thursday) concerning a meet-. ' ing to sort out our financial position. We are confident that such a , meeting will be granted and that , we can come to an amicabl e arrangement with the association. We will only reconsider our posi- ' tion if that does not transpire to be the case." ..

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conflicting reports of what happened afterwards. A delegate put forward a query. It seems clear that Peter Quinn offered the council a ruling on the basis of the earlier meeting with the Down and Dublin board representatives. Liam Mulvihill outlined the background to the case. Some discussion took place on the publicrelations disaster that lay ahead. Several counties took the view that it was a matter for Down and Dublin to settle between them-

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n the absence of any conflicting motions, the decision was Itaken to abandon the fixture . Danny Lynch , the associ atio n's PRO was left to mop up the mess. At no stage were the two representatives from Clanna GaelFontenoys asked to give their version of events. The aftermath has been sorry to behold. Statements have flowed from all directions. At least one firm of solicitors has been engaged. The Down County Board have been quite tight-li pped but are seething that so much of the blame has been pointed their way. Croke Park authorities have been astonished and hurt at the vehement thunderclaps breaking overhead. Clanna Gael-Fontenoys and the Dublin GAA world in general feel humiliated and embarrassed. There are many lessons to be learnt. Knowing the undercurrents of GAA animosity towards soccer, Clanna Gael were foolish not to keep at least the Dubli n Coun ty Board informed of their movements at all times. The club say they did not have time so gr eat was the r u sh afte r the initial delay. The GAA certainly over reacted and committed public-relations hari-kari after a

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"It is bad for the association", says president Peter Quinn "bu t we have weathered worse storms before. A lot of the reaction has been purely anti-GAA other responses have been made out of disappointment. We laid down conditions that were blatantly broken and that is the bottom line. I see a lot of hypocrisy going .on about the GAA — 15 per cent iof the country are members, 100 | per cent think they own it." "Celebrities don't make statemen ts abo u t death th reats to GAA members in the North . ' Certain Dublin papers have given Ipractically no attention to the fact that the All-Ireland final , ' wo ofsince the three h ur ling clubs i n 'tCo Down have had their club ! houses burnt down. There hasn't been a sequel from these people 'about othe r issu es". Bridges have been burnt. Quinn is adamant that southern people understand neither the North nor the GAA and the conditions it operates un der with i n the six i counties. The last few weeks j probably have not furthered that understanding. The perception ithat the GAA is anti-soccer has 'been strengthened. In D u bli n , there is bewilderment and hurt. "I have just seen a report," says Con Cla r ke , "that says that soccer part i cipation has grown by 13 per cent in the last year. In that light , it seems like a fie culiar own goal. Dublin is a ittle different from the rest of the country in the amount of competition we have from other sports. We have learnt to live side by side with some friendly rivalry. Other counties will have to do that over the coming years or else we won't survive. What happens in Dublin usually follows elsewhere. The GAA will have to '. learn ."

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