Pomeroy GAA and the IRA

[Main Street]

Sinn Fein or IRA it doesnt make a difference, GAA clubs should stay away for these types of events!

Who said the GAA were there?
The thread title?

The open question was what do u think in general, and that is how i feel in general. does anyone read on this board anymore?

I read this

is there unease at yet another demonstration of a relationship between clubs in the GAA and support for IRA terrorists.

what did you read?


The parade demonstrates feck all relationship.

Or do you just spout any old shite that comes into your head about what you feel in general at any random moment?

[Hardy]

I think the GAA's policy on this type of thing is unclear, at best and ambivalent at worst. It needs to be  clarified, once and for all, not least to take pressure off GAA club administrators in the North. I'm certainly uneasy at the readiness with which Sinn Féin hijacks GAA clubs (in the worst interpretation) or at least associates itself with the GAA by default. I don't know the facts of this particular case, but I do know that Sinn Féin thumbed their noses at the GAA before at the time of the Casement rally and got away with it.

We can equivocate and split hairs about whether or not one event or another is simply the hire of a hall or whether one parade or another simply happened to form up in the GAA club car park, or interpret this as a parade commemorating a deceased GAA member, rather than a deceased IRA member. (If it was, why wasn't it organised by the club? And when did GAA clubs start parading in memory of deceased members? And who selects the deceased members to be honoured in this way?). And is nobody even slightly bewildered by the gymnastic ability of some to decry perceived sectarianism in Northern soccer and fail to appreciate that, rightly or wrongly, this stuff is perceived as the exact mirror image?

But we know the deep essential truth is that this is SF at the very least showing disrespect to the GAA's non-party-political rule and riding roughshod over the wishes of GAA members who don't happen to share their ideals. I think fair minded GAA people of all political hues will leave their political views aside and call that what it is - unfair. We rarely see other political parties going out of their way to hijack the GAA's name and reputation like this.

I understand the local pressures that would make it difficult to say no to a request to use GAA facilities for essentially party political purposes. That's why a clear set of guidelines from HQ might make life easier for GAA club administrators, if they can point to a ruling that prevents them facilitating this sort of thing. It would also lessen the instance of numpties coming on here to stir spite.

Some party politician (FF, if I remember correctly) turned up inside St Tiernachs Park in Clones during the last election campaign, handing out election literature.  I think he was hounded out of it by the disapproval of the patrons. I remember people here agreeing that we can't let GAA facilities be hijacked for this sort of party political stunt. If it applies to FF, it should also apply to SF.

[pintsofguinness]

Hardy agree totally with what you're saying about Sinn Fein thinking they've some God given right to use the GAA and I know of instances where they've tried to effectively bully GAA clubs however I wouldn't say the hiring out of halls/club rooms etc is one of them - at least not in my expereince. 

You will know that these places will be hired out - I don't see any problem with that.
You will also know that in most communities the GAA club will be the centre of the community and members will be reluctant - even if they are anti sinn fein or anti IRA - to raise objections to facilities being hired out because it will be their neighbours and friends they are raising objections to. 

Take Pomeroy - what member, anti sinn fein or not, would raise an objection to allowing people to gather at the club to remember one of their members?
(I don't know how they can stop people gathering anyway). 

Still can't believe we're linking this club to the march because people are told to gather there.

[Puckoon]

Hardy agree totally with what you're saying about Sinn Fein thinking they've some God given right to use the GAA and I know of instances where they've tried to effectively bully GAA clubs however I wouldn't say the hiring out of halls/club rooms etc is one of them - at least not in my expereince. 

You will know that these places will be hired out - I don't see any problem with that.
You will also know that in most communities the GAA club will be the centre of the community and members will be reluctant - even if they are anti sinn fein or anti IRA - to raise objections to facilities being hired out because it will be their neighbours and friends they are raising objections to. 

Take Pomeroy - what member, anti sinn fein or not, would raise an objection to allowing people to gather at the club to remember one of their members?
(I don't know how they can stop people gathering anyway). 

Still can't believe we're linking this club to the march because people are told to gather there.

Puck

Quote
Just because it is so, does not mean that ordinary GAA folk, with no allegiance to Sinn Fein or the IRA, need be subjected to a parade like this through the GAA. There are gaels who will have no problem with this parade because of the cross over you mention - and there are gaels that wouldnt want a similar parade being organised through their club. There are clubs where the majority of the members will be of Sinn Fein persusasion.
The only gaa members that this parade affects is the members of Pomeroy and I'm sure if there are people within the club that are unhappy with it they have their chance to say so.

The inability to reconcile these two statements is vast. On one hand you suggest people in pomeroy would have the  chance to voice their unease with this parade - yet in your reference to hardy you (rightly) state how tough it would be to do so. There is little chance a member of pomeroy GAA who was against this parade - could in any way state their true beliefs about said parade and come out of the statement with a happy ending.

[pintsofguinness]

The inability to reconcile these two statements is vast. On one hand you suggest people in pomeroy would have the  chance to voice their unease with this parade - yet in your reference to hardy you (rightly) state how tough it would be to do so. There is little chance a member of pomeroy GAA who was against this parade - could in any way state their true beliefs about said parade and come out of the statement with a happy ending.

No, I said that if a member opposed the parade they could say so but that it's unlikely they would have a problem as it's for one of the members of their club.

[Puckoon]

The inability to reconcile these two statements is vast. On one hand you suggest people in pomeroy would have the  chance to voice their unease with this parade - yet in your reference to hardy you (rightly) state how tough it would be to do so. There is little chance a member of pomeroy GAA who was against this parade - could in any way state their true beliefs about said parade and come out of the statement with a happy ending.

No, I said that if a member opposed the parade they could say so but that it's unlikely they would have a problem as it's for one of the members of their club.

Thats not quite what you said, although if thats what you meant - fair enough.

[dodgy umpire]

some people really go out of their way to get offended ...............(iluvni)

[Norf Tyrone]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the name of the person for whom the march/rally/celebration is for?

[Rossfan]

Obviously the stirrer (iluvni) is one of those one eyed Unionists who can only think "terrorist" when a Republican is mentioned.
Of course if his gang of cnuts hadnt been discriminating against the Nationalist Community from 1922 ( not to mention the early  1600s when they were handed the stolen land) there would never have been a Provo IRA  nor the need for a forced Coalition Administration in the north.
You reap what you so you one eyed Unionist.

[Tankie]

I think alot of people feel there should be a clear separation because of how the term Republician has been hi-jacked by Sinn Fein and the IRA over the last 25 years in a fashion alot of people are uncomfortable with. As a member of the GAA and a Republician I understand the links between the GAA and the countries republican history but I do feel uneasy with the current Sinn Fein and IRA being linked with the organization and that is why I feel no such Sinn Fein events should be held in GAA clubs!

[dodgy umpire]

I think alot of people feel there should be a clear separation because of how the term Republician has been hi-jacked by Sinn Fein and the IRA over the last 25 years in a fashion alot of people are uncomfortable with. As a member of the GAA and a Republician I understand the links between the GAA and the countries republican history but I do feel uneasy with the current Sinn Fein and IRA being linked with the organization and that is why I feel no such Sinn Fein events should be held in GAA clubs!

are u a republican republican or a fianna fail type republican?

[Tankie]

I think alot of people feel there should be a clear separation because of how the term Republician has been hi-jacked by Sinn Fein and the IRA over the last 25 years in a fashion alot of people are uncomfortable with. As a member of the GAA and a Republician I understand the links between the GAA and the countries republican history but I do feel uneasy with the current Sinn Fein and IRA being linked with the organization and that is why I feel no such Sinn Fein events should be held in GAA clubs!

are u a republican republican or a fianna fail type republican?

see this is the issue. What is exactly a Republican Republican? roughly if you can define it. and whats FF republican?

[dodgy umpire]

a republican by definition is someone who opposes a monarchy but in our context it generally means a person in favour of a 32 county irish republic. fianna fail sdlp etc say their republicans but their is little evidence to suggest that they are true republicans?

[Tankie]

a republican by definition is someone who opposes a monarchy but in our context it generally means a person in favour of a 32 county irish republic. fianna fail sdlp etc say their republicans but their is little evidence to suggest that they are true republicans?

Well i would be a 32 county republican but not at all costs, i agree with the route that we have taken at this stage. the issue i have with 'republican' funerals and the GAA is that i do not see alot of these guys as martyrs.

[pintsofguinness]

Well i would be a 32 county republican but not at all costs,

So you're not a republican.