Quote from: Dreadnought on November 18, 2021, 08:44:33 AMQuote from: Itchy on November 17, 2021, 04:20:07 PMQuote from: Dreadnought on November 17, 2021, 04:10:18 PMQuote from: Itchy on November 17, 2021, 01:49:22 PM
Error of his ways? I dont see any error of his ways in say a man taking up arms for his country. This whole thing about changing names is a total pile of bollox. Leave it be and just get on with it.
It's not really a pile of bollox though, is it? There are club names out there which are a problem...
No there are not except to people who are going around looking for a problem. Do you think people who are offended by Kevin Lynch's name being on GAA club will suddenly start respecting the GAA if it is moved? Like I said a pile of complete bollox. Go up to Dublin and see the amount of streets named after people like Cromwell and I dont see lines of people expressing their outrage about it.
Uh, yes? I live in the North. There are many people in the middle ground who don't like the way many names and such relate to the Troubles. These are not the hardcore Unionists or Loyalists, but secular everyday people not in either community just going about their lives, vote Green or Alliance, and would love the opportunity for their kids to play different sports. Their wider family may also have been impacted by the Troubles (like many families here). They might play football and rugby, but usually not GAA due to being uncomfortable as it's exclusive. They see the way the names are venerated in that the GAA is stuck in that and not moving on. I can't disagree with that personally either...
I literally know these people and I work with and are friends with some of them. They've told me this. If the GAA did take a stance to move past these names, they absolutely would respect the sport more. The same like many respected the GAA when we got rid of Rules 27 and 42 in the past. The GAA has moved forward before, and needs to do so again on this. Heads in the sand doesn't work here, change is needed.
It's really not bollox, especially if we want to grow the sport in the North. It is stuck at current levels otherwise and won't grow into the middle ground. Rugby has changed. For example it has got rid of certain flags, Northern Ireland flags are not waved at Ulster matches any more and you won't hear GSTQ. They now accept a very much more varied crowd in recent years, with around 30% of fans now from a Catholic background. That would be unheard of the other way round in GAA...
The modern GAA is the most popular it has ever been. You will never win over a certain section of northern society because the GAA isn't solely a sporting organisition - it is a cultural one too that has implicit ambitions of a reunified Ireland. To remove that cultural aspect is to lobotomise what the GAA is and, in doing so, alienate the core support that it already has. And for what? To win over a few thousand (secular alliance party/green party voters as you have described above) people who love a spin to Dublin on the pints no matter what the sport happens to be (the types that spend €100 on a ticket to an autumn international rugby match but wouldn't attend a club rugby match).
In short, if you actually think the GAA should change, get involved and make the case for change from within. What I suspect you want to do is the opposite - hurl from the ditch and complain but invest no effort yourself in bringing such change about.