Burns wants rid of Tricolour & Anthem to attract Protestants to GAA

[Tothefuture]

There is zero triumphalism involved in flying the tri colour or playing the national anthem inside a gaa ground.

Parading behind a band and playing the national anthem at the more important games adds that bit of pomp and ceremony to the occasion. That's about the height of it.

Any nationalist would want the Orange and Green to find a togetherness. The GAA is a fantastic local resource that could help break down a lot of barriers and improve community adhesion.

I can definitely see how community based an organisation it is. I do however feel that the organisation if it really wanted to reach out could do more. I don't mean to be having a go, in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.

Just out of curiosity, but what exactly do you mean by your not being encouraged by the organisation to give it a go at your local club? What form should that encouragement take exactly? Do you want them to come to your front door and engage with you personally? Have you wanted to go down to your local club, but people specifically told you not to?

It would be fair to say that The area I come from never really had the best of community relations in the past but has definitely improved. I was involved in the local Soccer youth team set up and we actively tried to encourage a greater cross community involvement. This involved us going into the local Catholic Primary School to advertise the club and by holding open nights in different areas to encourage involvement. I don't expect People to come and knock on my door but outreach is certainly needed I believe.

[Throw ball]

There is zero triumphalism involved in flying the tri colour or playing the national anthem inside a gaa ground.

Parading behind a band and playing the national anthem at the more important games adds that bit of pomp and ceremony to the occasion. That's about the height of it.

Any nationalist would want the Orange and Green to find a togetherness. The GAA is a fantastic local resource that could help break down a lot of barriers and improve community adhesion.

I can definitely see how community based an organisation it is. I do however feel that the organisation if it really wanted to reach out could do more. I don't mean to be having a go, in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.

Just out of curiosity, but what exactly do you mean by your not being encouraged by the organisation to give it a go at your local club? What form should that encouragement take exactly? Do you want them to come to your front door and engage with you personally? Have you wanted to go down to your local club, but people specifically told you not to?

It would be fair to say that The area I come from never really had the best of community relations in the past but has definitely improved. I was involved in the local Soccer youth team set up and we actively tried to encourage a greater cross community involvement. This involved us going into the local Catholic Primary School to advertise the club and by holding open nights in different areas to encourage involvement. I don't expect People to come and knock on my door but outreach is certainly needed I believe.

I see you are an Armagh man. I know as an Armagh City man that there is now a great deal of young Gaelic players also playing with Armagh City and Armagh Rugby club. There is also a lot of people involved in helping out across 2 or 3 of these too. I would be surprised if you did not get a warm welcome in any GAA club.

[Tothefuture]

There is zero triumphalism involved in flying the tri colour or playing the national anthem inside a gaa ground.

Parading behind a band and playing the national anthem at the more important games adds that bit of pomp and ceremony to the occasion. That's about the height of it.

Any nationalist would want the Orange and Green to find a togetherness. The GAA is a fantastic local resource that could help break down a lot of barriers and improve community adhesion.

I can definitely see how community based an organisation it is. I do however feel that the organisation if it really wanted to reach out could do more. I don't mean to be having a go, in my life I have never been encouraged by the organisation to come and give it a go and my local club is a mile out the road.

Just out of curiosity, but what exactly do you mean by your not being encouraged by the organisation to give it a go at your local club? What form should that encouragement take exactly? Do you want them to come to your front door and engage with you personally? Have you wanted to go down to your local club, but people specifically told you not to?

It would be fair to say that The area I come from never really had the best of community relations in the past but has definitely improved. I was involved in the local Soccer youth team set up and we actively tried to encourage a greater cross community involvement. This involved us going into the local Catholic Primary School to advertise the club and by holding open nights in different areas to encourage involvement. I don't expect People to come and knock on my door but outreach is certainly needed I believe.

I see you are an Armagh man. I know as an Armagh City man that there is now a great deal of young Gaelic players also playing with Armagh City and Armagh Rugby club. There is also a lot of people involved in helping out across 2 or 3 of these too. I would be surprised if you did not get a warm welcome in any GAA club.

The Rugby club on a Saturday morning really is fantastic to see with kids from all communities getting stuck in. Long may it continue.

[Declan]

Jarlath back in the news

A high-profile former GAA star has been accused of cyberbullying over a tweet saying a woman had a face "like the back of a van".

Co Armagh principal Jarlath Burns is now under investigation by school bosses, it can be revealed.

The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) confirmed it was "addressing" remarks on Twitter relating to former MLA Karen McKevitt.

The remarks appeared on the Twitter account of the GAA hero, who denied it was him who posted them.

The former Armagh captain is headmaster at St Paul's High School in Bessbrook.

The tweet, which was quickly taken down, contained a photograph of Mrs McKevitt's van shot from a car overtaking her on the road.
 
It included the caption: "Look who was in front of me this evening. Face like the back of a van."

Former South Down MLA Mrs McKevitt, who is standing in next month's Assembly election in Newry and Armagh said she could not make any comment after lodging a formal complaint with CCMS.

A statement from the Catholic schools body said: "CCMS can confirm that it received correspondence in relation to a comment posted on a social media account of one of its principals.

"It can give its assurance that the matter is being addressed."

Mr Burns said he had been attending a GAA match when a number of tweets - which did not represent his values or opinions - were issued.

On becoming aware of them he said they were immediately deleted. One of the tweets, he confirmed, referred to a member of the SDLP.

He explained he had contacted the SDLP's Press office, which he said had been satisfied, and accepted his explanation.

He added that despite making a number of requests to meet Mrs McKevitt "at this stage this has not occurred".

A SDLP spokeswoman said the incident was being regarded as a prime example of "cyberbullying".

"Karen is very upset and, of course, humiliated by this," she said.

"She has lodged a formal complaint and does not think it would be appropriate to meet Mr Burns until the outworking of that."

Mr Burns has been in the headlines several times. Recently he said he would support an end to the playing of the Irish national anthem at GAA matches if it helped the sport reach out to Protestants.

Now chairman of the rules committee at GAA headquarters in Croke Park and tipped as a potential future head of the organisation, he first came to public prominence for non-sporting reasons as a member of the Eames-Bradley group that produced a controversial report on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.

Last July he praised the outreach work of the Orange Order, and defended the organisation after complaints that a tricolour was not flown at the reopening of its Belfast museum despite the fact the Irish Government had provided funding for it.

He also said on TV that the GAA needed to "reach out" to the unionist community.

Online Editors

[Applesisapples]

Not typical of Jaralath Burns tweets.

[J70]

Sounds like some spotty teenager from his school hacked his Twitter account.

[longballin]

don't sound like Jarlath to be fair...

[armaghniac]

Put a serious password on your twitter, if you have 1000 teenagers in your charge.

[Seany]

Apparently this true -it is not him and the SDLP know it but still issued a statement. 

[Applesisapples]

Justy putting the boot in to his aul team mate. Jarlath's SF connections wouldn't be lost on McKevitt either.

[oakleaflad]

Out of all the things a teenager would tweet about a politician would be pretty low on the list in my opinion.

[general_lee]

Out of all the things a teenager would tweet about a politician would be pretty low on the list in my opinion.

Thought this myself but then again why would Jarlath (or anyone over the age of 12) tweet something so immature?

[Applesisapples]

Out of all the things a teenager would tweet about a politician would be pretty low on the list in my opinion.

Thought this myself but then again why would Jarlath (or anyone over the age of 12) tweet something so immature?

There is absolutely no way Jarlath would tweet this type of remark about anyone, it's akin to Brolly's remark about Marty.

[Brick Tamlin]

Put a serious password on your twitter, if you have 1000 teenagers in your charge.

Or alternatively stay the f**k off social media when in such a position of authority and with the stakes so high.

[Walter Cronc]

No the first time Burns has made an ass of himself on twitter. His arrogance towards the people of Andytown was ridiculous!