Dáire O’Driscoll takes an in-depth look at the contradictory nature of the Gaelic Athletic Association’s restrictions on displaying political views within GAA arenas.

“The (Gaelic Athletic) association is apolitical. Any member is allowed to have their own political views or opinions outside, but Croke Park is not the place to make political gestures.” These are the words of the GAA’s head of Media Relations, Alan Milton, to the Sunday Independent (via Sportsjoe), in response to the organisation’s decision in March 2015 to prohibit referee David Gough, from donning a rainbow wristband to show support for the marriage equality referendum that May.

The problem with this statement, unfortunately, doesn’t end with confusing politics and identity. Identifying as LGBT is not political; indeed that would infer that identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or otherwise is a choice, something that one can express on a specific day in a polling station. The problems continue with the GAA’s professed apoliticism. There exists few organisations in Ireland that subversively or subconsciously propagate a politics.

The Irish national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann (A Soldier’s Song), was composed and written by Peadar Kearney and Patrick Heeney in 1907 as a marching song for those in the republican movement. It was not until 1923 that Liam Ó Rinn translated it to English, A Soldiers Song, into Irish. Furthermore, it was not until 1926 that the anthem was adopted officially, but not before a series of debates and reviews during which the spokesperson for the Department of External Affairs labelled the anthem as “hardly suitable in words or music”.

In the 1930s the GAA then played a role in promoting the Irish language version of the anthem by printing the lyrics in their match day programmes and encouraging spectators to take part in its singing prior to games and to this day that tradition continues.

The English version of Amhrán na bhFiann has, with a few notable exceptions such as the 2004 Ryder Cup in Oakland Hills, disappeared from the public sphere. One could wager that many who sing the anthem at Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium or elsewhere do not wholly understand the words they are singing. This begs the question that if they did understand the lyrics, how would they feel about singing them.

The final four lines of the anthem sung has an undeniable militaristic undertone to it: “Tonight we man the gap of danger, In Erin’s cause, come woe or weal, ‘Mid cannons’ roar and rifles peal, We’ll chant a soldier’s song”. The problem however lies in the final, almost universally unsung, chorus:

Out yonder waits the Saxon foe,

So chant a soldier’s song.

The “Saxon foe” refers quite plainly to England (Scotland and Wales would classify themselves as Celts). Furthermore, there is no mention of any other nationality nor foreign state placing the song firmly in the sphere of us versus them – Ireland vs England. For an organisation that claims to be cross-border and all-island, surely the implication that the Saxons should be considered foes sides firmly with the political narrative of nationalist republicans both south and north, where the mention of Ireland vs England carries even more political weight.

The GAA seemingly hide behind the fact that as a gaelic games organisation, something which is inherently nationalistic and sparked the beginning of a movement to gain Ireland independence from the British Empire, it is an expression of gaelic identity. This is true; however nationalism hides behind the veil of identity to further a political cause. Language too should be considered. While the language of Irish should be celebrated as part of our shared identity it is itself steeped in politicism and nationalism (Tiocfaidh ár lá should spring to mind).

All of this is not to suggest that the GAA should cease from using Irish as its official language nor singing the national anthem before games, which may seem rather trivial next to the staging of a Sinn Féin rally in 2006 in a West Belfast GAA ground, rather it calls into question the seemingly pious apoliticism the GAA purports to the media and its wider membership.

If the GAA wish to prevent some of its membership displaying “outwardly political symbols”, such as a rainbow bracelet, then they too should refrain from their outwardly political rituals, after all Croke Park is (by their own admission) “not the place to make political gestures”.

Dáire O’Driscoll, Pundit Arena

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