Conn Corrigan (New York, Columbia School of Journalism): Edwin Poots, the DUP minister for arts, culture and leisure, attended his first Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) game last Wednesday, in yet another sign of the normalization of political life in Northern Ireland. A few years ago, the odds of catching a senior DUP politician at a game of hurling or Gaelic football would have been as likely as the Queen formally inviting Gerry Adams to come watch England play cricket at Lords.
The president of the GAA, Nicky Brennan, said that he hoped Poots would soon come to the GAA headquarters in Croke Park, Dublin, in May, when they will begin hosting games as part of the GAA championships, the organisation's major competitions for its two principal sports. But in spite of this cordiality, there is still an obvious division: Poots purposefully turned up 10 minutes late for the Co. Down and Co. Donegal game in Newry, so as to miss the Irish national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann. The Soldier's Song, which is played before every GAA match, sparks episodic debates in the Republic about its bellicosity of the Irish national anthem (it includes lines like: "Out yonder waits the Saxon foe, So chant a soldier's song").
Poots said:
I attended the game in my role as sports minister but, as a unionist, I would not feel comfortable standing for The Soldier's Song. I previously attended a GAA conference last October, during which I pointed out to the organisation that there was a substantial section of the protestant community who would still not feel comfortable attending a GAA game because of the political overtones associated with it
The GAA has long been viewed as an exclusive, sectarian organisation by the Unionist establishment. In 1979, the GAA passed motions calling for a withdrawal of the British army from the North, and another calling on the organisation to "unequivocally to support the struggle for national liberation". GAA grounds - which are typically named after Irish nationalist heroes - were often the subject of attack from loyalist paramilitaries. Sometimes to even be in the vicinity of a GAA ground was enough to become a target of a loyalist attack - as Gavin Brett, a 19-year-old Protestant, discovered in July 2002.
Sports are an important part of society: and Northern Ireland, although enjoying a sustained period of relative peace, is still a segregated society, which is evident in the sports that its people play. To generalize greatly: middle-class Protestants tend to play cricket or rugby - which is an all-Ireland game at international level. Working-class Protestants tend to play football, which has two separate official organizing bodies on the island (the Football Association of Ireland in the Republic and the Irish Football Association in the North). As in the Republic of Ireland, Catholics of all social strata in the North play GAA. Both football and GAA suffer from problems of sectarianism: in 2002, for example, a Catholic on the Northern Ireland football team, Neil Lennon, received death threats from a loyalist paramilitary, whilst Darren Graham, a Protestant hurler and Gaelic footballer from Fermanagh, quit both sports in August after having been subjected to sectarian abuse at matches (though the GAA later apologised, and he has since returned).
Last October, Poots said that the GAA must do more to encourage Protestants to join the organisation. And their relationship with the unionist community has been improving. In 2001, it scrapped Rule 21, which prevented members of the British security forces from joining the GAA, and in April 2005 it temporarily suspended Rule 42, which up until 1971 forbade GAA members from playing football and rugby, and which prevented these so called "garrison games" from being played in Croke Park. This was not an easy move for the GAA to make: some of its members were bitterly opposed to the opening up of Croke Park, all the GAA boards of the six counties in Northern Ireland were against the move, and of Ulster's nine counties, only two, Cavan and Donegal, which are both in the republic, were in favour.
But, if the GAA were to take on board some of Poots further suggestions - ending the national anthem, renaming its grounds - there would be many within the organization who would be deeply unhappy, who would argue that names, songs and symbols are integral to the culture of the organisation. In fact, the GAA is so steeped in Irish nationalism, that were this to be removed, the organisation would change beyond recognition. Although Poots's first GAA game is a step in the right direction, then, a lot more must change if Northern Ireland's sports are to be no longer segregated -
