I have spent 40 years in two counties promoting the ethos of the GAA for free.No it was not for free.It cost me a small fortune in monies spent ,cars prematurely consigned to the scrap heap ,not to mention opportunities forgone because I neglected aspects of my life that could more profitably be exploited had I not been so committed to spreading the voluntary,all inclusive and inherently Irish message of the GAA.
It was not from the ground I licked it.My mother's people the MC Cormacks from Dunderry have been involved since the foundation of the Association ,my uncle Tommy Mac Cormack in particular ran the Club practically from his own pocket as did a lot of those involved in his time.All my brothers have likewise been totally immersed in the Association and so are THC next generation
Neither them nor I are wealthy men and we all know people like them whose love of the association bordered on the fanatical because of the fact that it was the ordinary people's Association and it mattered not a whit whether you were a farm labourer nor a schoolteacher nor a highly paid professionally in the GAA ,your voice was as good as anyone else sand your contribution judged solely on its merits.
The Bank Manager,the Judge,the Solicitor and the Doctor were more sat home in the rarified confines of the local Rugby,Tennis or Cricket Club but the ordinary Joe Soap and Josephine ,his wife had their own GAA Club where class didn't matter and where everybody was equal and unified and one was not looked down because he had less money than his neighbour.
The glue holding this whole hotchpot of people together was its totally voluntary ethos ,its embedded ness in the local community and the total acceptance that it was different from all other sporting bodies in that every penny generated locally was spent locally and an unwritten but well understood quid pro quo that it looked after its own at all times.
It was never part of the deal that they they would turn their backs on their faithful apostles for monetary gain as they have indisputably done in confining 14 of 42 championship matches to SKY television for the next three years ,without consulting e with their members at all.
Are the well paid ex schoolteachers whose paymasters are the voluntary unpaid members of the Association so out of touch with ordinary people that they have failed to recognise that there is huge suffering being experienced amongst the ordinary members because of the deliberately imposed austerity measures of the politicians and do they not know that many many people are so financially distressed that they cannot feed their children ,much less pay for Sky television to see their county or club men playing.
Maybe they are too used to hob nobbing with the Politicos who misuses the GAA to promote their own political careers to remember how ordinary people are faring and it may have escaped their attention that rural parishes are being decimated by the scourge of emigration.
Surely they have noticed that the tumbleweeds are racing through the towns and villages of rural Ireland and that the pubs of Ireland have been decimated by the flight from the countryside and that most of those surviving are hanging on by their fingertips.
It may have escaped their attention that that many GAA clubs are getting it hard to pay their way already and that it is getting increasingly more difficult to get volunteers to fill positions at the AGM.s.
And truth to tell Rugby is making huge inroads into GAA territory due in the main to the treachery of another former President whose proudest moment was in his own words "The rugby match in Croke Park between Ireland and England"and the way he had manoeuvred this stroke.Not a word about his own county winning an All Ireland.
And believe you me Rugby is actively targeting strong GAA territory in order to harvest the innate sporting prowess of the gene pool.
And now this kick in the face to its very own apostles.No matter what they have done to advance us and no matter what personal sacrifices they have made in our name ,if they can't afford to pay for viewing the 14 matches and if they can't afford to go to the games ,fuck them ,its not our problem.
These arrogant employees have crossed the Rubicon and caused untold damage to those idealists on whom the Association is built.
Having survived the money grab of the Government by grabbing the Lotto as another form of taxation and seetting up local lottos to pay for local clubs this retrograde step will I predict cause huge local problems in fund raising and totally disillusion many thousands of volunters who will look on aghast to what has been done to them.
And all this nonsense about catering for the diaspora.Yep screw the locals to pay for the diaspora.Now if those in charge of the Association,being as obviously educated as they are ,cannot come up with a better solution they simply don't deserve to be in their jobs.
And dare I say it,the same arrogance displayed by fine Gael is percolating through to the GAA spokesmen I personally saw on TV ,Nicky Brennan and Padraig Duffy whose attitude to opponents of the deal was arrogantly and belittling dismissive to say the least.
These two buckos would be better off figuring out why two proud parishes like Dunderry and KIlmessan have to combine to field an under 16 hurling team.And why we have fallen from Div 1/2 status to Div 5/6 status in under age football over the last 10 years.And how so many clubs are similarly afflicted.
And maybe they should address why it is that so many people of my generation feel excluded from taking office with clubs because thet feel so unprepared to tackle the technological challenges so rigoursly applied in all inter GAA communications these days.
It may strike them that betraying their own voluntary mentors isn't the answer.
While I am the Community Officer for Dunderry GAA Club these views are strictly my own.
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