Thomas St George McCarthy

[Seany]

Anyone else read Jarleth Burns's article on this man in Gaelic life?

Very interesting.

Turns out a RIC man helped form the GAA

can anyone post iit?

[Doire abú]

It was a good read alright.

[T O Hare]

Briiliant read and very interesting!!!!!

[T O Hare]

Thomas St. George McCarthy (1862-1943) was an Irish Rugby International and was also a founder member of the of the Gaelic Athletic Association, being present at Hayes Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland at the Association's inaugural meeting on 1st November, 1884[1] . He was born at Bansha village, Co. Tipperary, though he was often erroneously described as being a native of Kerry. This was due to the similarity of name with his father, George McCarthy (1832-1902), Lieutenant of the Revenue Police, County Inspector of the RIC and a Resident Magistrate who was from County Kerry, though working in Tipperary and residing in Bansha. At the foundation of the GAA, McCarthy was a District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary based at Templemore, County Tipperary. He moved to Dublin in 1877 and became a friend of Michael Cusack, who had a cramming school. He was coached by Cusack for an RIC cadetship examination in 1882, in which he took first place. In 1881, he joined Dublin University Football Club (Trinity Rugby Club) and was capped against Wales in 1882. Later that year, he won the Leinster Senior Cup with Trinity.

His involvement in the GAA is notable because in a later period there would be a ban for many years in the GAA on people who played rugby and soccer joining the Association and this ban also applied to members of the British police and armed forces.

He had a great love of the game of hurling,[2] which he witnessed being played in his native village by the members of the Galtee Rovers GAA Hurling and Football club, then in its infancy. He was a regular attender at matches in Croke Park to where he travelled from his home in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh. He died in 1943 and was buried without fanfare in an unmarked grave in Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin.[2] Unlike, the other six founding members of the GAA, very little has been done to commemorate McCarthy[2] - presumably due to his position as a member of the Royal Irish constabulary.[2] However, plans are in train to redress this injustice and it is proposed to build a commemorative gravestone at Deansgrange in 2009, the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the GAA,[2] and there have also been calls for more recognition of his contribution to the GAA.[2]

The McCarthy Cup is named in his honour and is competed for by members of the Garda Síochána (Garda Thirds[2]) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland[3]

[Our Nail Loney]

Yeah read this also, very good read, i had not heard of him, what about burns asking at the end would fellow gaels mind him looking into it more? 

[Our Nail Loney]

f**k this thread really took off, shows what the rest of yous must think about him!