GAA club names.

[whitey]

Interesting topic and something I've read up on before. I recall there being 12 protestants who have clubs named after them, and that isn't including Douglas Hyde who has Roscommon's stadium named after him. The 12 are Henry Gratten, Wolfe Tone, Charles Stewart Parnell, Roger Casement, Henry Joy McCracken, John Mitchell, Watty Graham, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmett, Thomas Davis, William Smyth O'Brien, and Thomas Russell. Mitchell in there would a contentious one now though.

Closer to home for me, Cavan has some lovely names too. Drung Dalcassians, Drumlane Sons of O'Connell, Mullahoran Dreadnoughts, Maghera MacFinns, Killeshandra Leaguers. A lot of others went by the wayside when you had multiple clubs in a parish and they end up dissolving or amalgamated. Loughduff Millesians, Loughduff Volunteers, Finea Knights of Freedom, Killeshandra Fontenoys, Doogarry Raparees are some who don't exist anymore. Ballyconnell First Ulsters (initially Ballyconnell Joe Biggars) are now called Kildallan too.

Cavan oddly has a few names which are more associated with soccer. Ramor United (which was a uniting of 3 clubs in the same parish), and Laragh United. Lacken Celtic and Cootehill Celtic too. Cootehill also wear green and white hoops, as the club was founded by emigrants returning from Glasgow, and founded the GAA club with a nod to Glasgow Celtic with the name and club colours

Michael Davitt too I think

Michael Davitt was a Catholic (although he spoke out against the hierarchy)

[seafoid]

Every now and again in the North attempts are made to demonise the GAA by certain sections of the media and political  groups who insist that GAA club names are something to be ashamed of.  This has been usually met with a mixture of stout defence and from some quarters an acceptance that the GAA can do more to be more inclusive.
In reality though the names of clubs throughout the country are an astonishing achievement in themselves.  To the best of my knowledge the names of GAA clubs are unparalleled anywhere in the world. 
In this years All Ireland club finals, Crokes beat Watty Grahams and Shamrocks beat Cuchullainns. Local History,  National Heroes,  National pride, mythology, , Patriots,  Saints,  Martyrs and much much more. In English football you have City, Rovers, Town, Wanderers,  Athletic. Bland  meaningless stuff. In America you just pick a wild animal or something..  Its time to celebrate the History and heritage of our great names.

With Glen getting to the AIF I read up on who was Watty Graham?  He was a Presbyterian Church elder from  Maghera, Co Derry who was hanged in the COI rectory Maghera for his part in the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798.
I think we should post the stories and backgrounds of our famous club names and celebrate one of the things that makes our organisation truly great.

Bit harsh on other sports.

Bolton Wanderers are so-called because they initially had a hard time finding a permanent home. They moved to three different venues in their first four years.

Sheffield Wednesday started off as a cricket club whose players were workers who got half the day off on a Wednesday so they could train.

The LA Dodgers baseball team were originally the Broooklyn Dodgers. Their original ground was beside tramlines, and the fans had to dodge the trams when getting to the games. The fans came to be known as the "trolley dodgers" and the team adopted the name.

And there's a bit of blandness in the GAA. The Seattle Gaels, Denver Gaels, Washington DC Gaels, Houston Gaels, Greenville Gaels, Delco Gaels, Paris Gaels, South Africa Gaels, Zulu Gaels, Seoul Gaels, Saigon Gaels, Bondi Gaels, Penrith Gaels, and Connemara Gaels share their names with 51 clubs in Ireland!

Crokes didn't beat Watty Grahams. The GAA did.

[Never beat the deeler]

Interesting topic and something I've read up on before. I recall there being 12 protestants who have clubs named after them, and that isn't including Douglas Hyde who has Roscommon's stadium named after him. The 12 are Henry Gratten, Wolfe Tone, Charles Stewart Parnell, Roger Casement, Henry Joy McCracken, John Mitchell, Watty Graham, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmett, Thomas Davis, William Smyth O'Brien, and Thomas Russell. Mitchell in there would a contentious one now though.

Closer to home for me, Cavan has some lovely names too. Drung Dalcassians, Drumlane Sons of O'Connell, Mullahoran Dreadnoughts, Maghera MacFinns, Killeshandra Leaguers. A lot of others went by the wayside when you had multiple clubs in a parish and they end up dissolving or amalgamated. Loughduff Millesians, Loughduff Volunteers, Finea Knights of Freedom, Killeshandra Fontenoys, Doogarry Raparees are some who don't exist anymore. Ballyconnell First Ulsters (initially Ballyconnell Joe Biggars) are now called Kildallan too.

Cavan oddly has a few names which are more associated with soccer. Ramor United (which was a uniting of 3 clubs in the same parish), and Laragh United. Lacken Celtic and Cootehill Celtic too. Cootehill also wear green and white hoops, as the club was founded by emigrants returning from Glasgow, and founded the GAA club with a nod to Glasgow Celtic with the name and club colours

and Countess Markievicz. No club (that I am aware of) but Markieivicz Park. She was born into CoI and later converted.

[Ball Hopper]

Following on from the Longford post earlier.

A book "Forging a Kingdom – The GAA in Kerry 1884-1934", by a North Kerry man Richard McElligott - currently a Lecturer in Irish and Modern History in the School of Business and Humanities at Dundalk Institute of Technology – which lists about 400 clubs that were recorded in Kerry in the first 50 years of the GAA in Kerry.

A lot of the clubs were street league teams that were later renamed into their current form (Like Rock Street, Tralee became Austin Stacks) and a fair few had the names of people and saints like the rest of the country. 

A fair few Rovers and Rangers were also present, and even a "Streets United" in Tralee in 1907.

A good theme between these three: Holy Terrors (football in Tralee 1889), Lerrig Holy Terrors (hurling in Ardfert 1890) and Renard Holy Terrors (football 1917).

"The Gods" from Tralee football in 1906 also deserves special mention.

A very odd club name is "Joubert's Choice", a football team from Tralee in 1901.  Can anyone shed light on that name?

[Dreadnought]

We're lesser known as John Mitchell's, A United Irishman, Presbyterian and all that, but his pro confederate slavery stance probably doesn't sit well when looked upon now.

He was right about this though;

"The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine...and a million and a half men, women and children were carefully, prudently and peacefully slain by the English government"

There was a campaign a couple of years ago I remember to have clubs change their name from Mitchell's, was around the time they were tearing down the slave trader statues in England

Should the fact he  owned slaves mean he should be erased  from history ? Different times , and all that

In a few years ,  clubs/pitches might be named after  players/officials around  today.  They'll be calling for  names to be removed in years ahead,   because it was discovered someone  voted No in the  gay marriage referendum or  because he   burnt turf at home

So we're equating slavery with a vote in a referendum or burning fuel? Wow

[Dreadnought]

Renaming clubs is not the same as "erasing history." You'd have to obliterate all mention of these people from history books or historical films and TV shows to do that. There's plenty of ways to preserve history without giving every single historic character a club named after them.

Exactly this. It will still be known what these people did. Like there are some things they've done that simply should not be celebrated. Some clubs really should look at change. In Mitchels case, it's not like a lot of these clubs have an actual link to him. They named in his honour. Those should be a change. The ones with something, but who have a link to the club is a far tougher one alright.

[Rossfan]

Are the Fighting Cocks still on the go in Carlow?

[seafoid]

Michael Glaveys always stands out in Roscommon.

[AustinPowers]

We're lesser known as John Mitchell's, A United Irishman, Presbyterian and all that, but his pro confederate slavery stance probably doesn't sit well when looked upon now.

He was right about this though;

"The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine...and a million and a half men, women and children were carefully, prudently and peacefully slain by the English government"

There was a campaign a couple of years ago I remember to have clubs change their name from Mitchell's, was around the time they were tearing down the slave trader statues in England

Should the fact he  owned slaves mean he should be erased  from history ? Different times , and all that

In a few years ,  clubs/pitches might be named after  players/officials around  today.  They'll be calling for  names to be removed in years ahead,   because it was discovered someone  voted No in the  gay marriage referendum or  because he   burnt turf at home

So we're equating slavery with a vote in a referendum or burning fuel? Wow

That's not what I said ,

But  future generations may  see such actions as worthy of tearing down a statue , in the same way  slave traders/owners statues are being tore down now. Slavery  was legal  and accepted as normal in the past but not  now. 

[whitey]

None of these things are straightforward

We recently saw a club form a guard of honor (wearing club gear) at the funeral of a member where there was a paramilitary display

That's okay, but something a guy did or an opinion he held 200 odd years ago, is grounds for people to set their hair on fire

A league of Ireland club can feature Che Guevara on its shirt, yet he herded gay people into labor camps

[Dreadnought]

We're lesser known as John Mitchell's, A United Irishman, Presbyterian and all that, but his pro confederate slavery stance probably doesn't sit well when looked upon now.

He was right about this though;

"The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine...and a million and a half men, women and children were carefully, prudently and peacefully slain by the English government"

There was a campaign a couple of years ago I remember to have clubs change their name from Mitchell's, was around the time they were tearing down the slave trader statues in England

Should the fact he  owned slaves mean he should be erased  from history ? Different times , and all that

In a few years ,  clubs/pitches might be named after  players/officials around  today.  They'll be calling for  names to be removed in years ahead,   because it was discovered someone  voted No in the  gay marriage referendum or  because he   burnt turf at home

So we're equating slavery with a vote in a referendum or burning fuel? Wow

That's not what I said ,

But  future generations may  see such actions as worthy of tearing down a statue , in the same way  slave traders/owners statues are being tore down now. Slavery  was legal  and accepted as normal in the past but not  now.

I get what you mean, but even by any standards of looking back to the past, or ahead to what might be considered amoral by future standards, slavery and a vote on gay marriage is really really not in the same universe. That's is an equivalence you did make in your post by mentioning both as if they might be teh same in future. There are many things done in the past that we look at now and consider poor taste or such. But we do excuse that as being of the time and so on and so forth. However terrorism and slavery and so on are ones that don't come into this - they can't be excused

And to go back to your point. No, they shouldn't be erased from history, but that doesn't mean that we should honour their name either with name of a club, grounds, cup, or so on. We can and should change these. That's not taking them out of the history books, it's just stopping honouring them

[whitey]

We're lesser known as John Mitchell's, A United Irishman, Presbyterian and all that, but his pro confederate slavery stance probably doesn't sit well when looked upon now.

He was right about this though;

"The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine...and a million and a half men, women and children were carefully, prudently and peacefully slain by the English government"

There was a campaign a couple of years ago I remember to have clubs change their name from Mitchell's, was around the time they were tearing down the slave trader statues in England

Should the fact he  owned slaves mean he should be erased  from history ? Different times , and all that

In a few years ,  clubs/pitches might be named after  players/officials around  today.  They'll be calling for  names to be removed in years ahead,   because it was discovered someone  voted No in the  gay marriage referendum or  because he   burnt turf at home

So we're equating slavery with a vote in a referendum or burning fuel? Wow

That's not what I said ,

But  future generations may  see such actions as worthy of tearing down a statue , in the same way  slave traders/owners statues are being tore down now. Slavery  was legal  and accepted as normal in the past but not  now.

I get what you mean, but even by any standards of looking back to the past, or ahead to what might be considered amoral by future standards, slavery and a vote on gay marriage is really really not in the same universe. That's is an equivalence you did make in your post by mentioning both as if they might be teh same in future. There are many things done in the past that we look at now and consider poor taste or such. But we do excuse that as being of the time and so on and so forth. However terrorism and slavery and so on are ones that don't come into this - they can't be excused

And to go back to your point. No, they shouldn't be erased from history, but that doesn't mean that we should honour their name either with name of a club, grounds, cup, or so on. We can and should change these. That's not taking them out of the history books, it's just stopping honouring them

So should Tipperary be prohibited from singing the Galtee Mountain Boy next time they win the All Ireland because it honors and mentions rabid Nazi Supporter Dan Breen?

Should Casement Park be renamed because buy all accounts Roger Casement was a paedophile?

[keep her low this half]

We're lesser known as John Mitchell's, A United Irishman, Presbyterian and all that, but his pro confederate slavery stance probably doesn't sit well when looked upon now.

He was right about this though;

"The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine...and a million and a half men, women and children were carefully, prudently and peacefully slain by the English government"

There was a campaign a couple of years ago I remember to have clubs change their name from Mitchell's, was around the time they were tearing down the slave trader statues in England

Should the fact he  owned slaves mean he should be erased  from history ? Different times , and all that

In a few years ,  clubs/pitches might be named after  players/officials around  today.  They'll be calling for  names to be removed in years ahead,   because it was discovered someone  voted No in the  gay marriage referendum or  because he   burnt turf at home

So we're equating slavery with a vote in a referendum or burning fuel? Wow

That's not what I said ,

But  future generations may  see such actions as worthy of tearing down a statue , in the same way  slave traders/owners statues are being tore down now. Slavery  was legal  and accepted as normal in the past but not  now.

I get what you mean, but even by any standards of looking back to the past, or ahead to what might be considered amoral by future standards, slavery and a vote on gay marriage is really really not in the same universe. That's is an equivalence you did make in your post by mentioning both as if they might be teh same in future. There are many things done in the past that we look at now and consider poor taste or such. But we do excuse that as being of the time and so on and so forth. However terrorism and slavery and so on are ones that don't come into this - they can't be excused

And to go back to your point. No, they shouldn't be erased from history, but that doesn't mean that we should honour their name either with name of a club, grounds, cup, or so on. We can and should change these. That's not taking them out of the history books, it's just stopping honouring them

So should Tipperary be prohibited from singing the Galtee Mountain Boy next time they win the All Ireland because it honors and mentions rabid Nazi Supporter Dan Breen?

Should Casement Park be renamed because buy all accounts Roger Casement was a paedophile?

By all accounts Roger casement was a homosexual, evidence of him being a paedophile is basically non-existent. The dead can't sue for slander but there is no need to blacken the mans name.

[Dreadnought]

So should Tipperary be prohibited from singing the Galtee Mountain Boy next time they win the All Ireland because it honors and mentions rabid Nazi Supporter Dan Breen?

Should Casement Park be renamed because buy all accounts Roger Casement was a paedophile?

Watch you don't pull a muscle with those stretches

[whitey]

So should Tipperary be prohibited from singing the Galtee Mountain Boy next time they win the All Ireland because it honors and mentions rabid Nazi Supporter Dan Breen?

Should Casement Park be renamed because buy all accounts Roger Casement was a paedophile?

Watch you don't pull a muscle with those stretches

So it's okay for people to be outraged and demand action when it comes to slavery but it's not okay for people to be outraged about the Holocaust or child sexual abuse?