Joe Brolly

[Il Bomber Destro]

I can't see what the club were realistically expected to do?

The reaction to Heffron's choice was personal for each individual, it was in sync with what would have happened around most nationalist areas at that time. He lost friends over that choice. As far as I know there was no memo passed down from the club hierarchy telling them to freeze him out. He feels let down by his team mates but I'm sure a lot of his team mates, community and family also felt let down by one of their joining what was viewed at the time as an orange police force complicit in the murder of catholics and subverting justice for their families.

With regards men coming in with leaflets, it happened once from what I gather. It's not as if these lads sought permission from the club to do this, the fact is you could probably drive into any club ground around the country and walk into a dressing room no bother on a training ground. It's not as if clubs employ active security personnel on doors or gates.

It's understandable that Heffron feels bitterness and resentment towards the club for the way it played out. It's also understandable the way his team mates reacted toward his decision to join the PSNI. It's an unfortunate consequence of what were troubling times and one of hundreds or thousands that would have happened in  the North in a 30+ year period. The club seem to have been caught in the middle and I think they were doomed regardless of the choice they made.

The tone of Brolly's article was very dangerous, for a casual reader with no critical thought, it implicates Creggan in the attempted murder of one its own players which seems to be a million miles away from reality.

[tothetop03]

I think people are missing the point. Northern Ireland has changed a lot since this happened. Ok its nowhere near perfect but I think vast majority of clubs would handle it different in 2017. We are criticising a club which was faced with a new problem and there was no script!

How many Gaa clubs had played joined Psni and kept playing for there own club.... i know one player from a Neighbouring club but he moved away.....

[Rossfan]

In the midst of all the criticism of the Club, Brolly, Peadar himself etc is anybody criticising the real bastards here - the cowardly anti democratic cnuts who tried to kill the poor chap?

[redhandefender]

I think people are missing the point. Northern Ireland has changed a lot since this happened. Ok its nowhere near perfect but I think vast majority of clubs would handle it different in 2017. We are criticising a club which was faced with a new problem and there was no script!

How many Gaa clubs had played joined Psni and kept playing for there own club.... i know one player from a Neighbouring club but he moved away.....

There is no way of knowing that and more importantly how can you say they were ousted by there own clubs. I know one who done it for security reasons.

[Walter Cronc]

Might have been discussed but should Kickhams not have stopped the leaflets being handed out? Easier said than done obviously.

[Kickham csc]

In the midst of all the criticism of the Club, Brolly, Peadar himself etc is anybody criticising the real b**tards here - the cowardly anti democratic cnuts who tried to kill the poor chap?

Spot on. It really is a f%$ded up world where the people who actually did the deed, can sit back and watch everybody else tear strips out of each other

[tothetop03]

I think Joe has over stepped his mark here and is misinterpreted the thinking of most clubs on this subject.... 

[screenexile]

The security forces not only colluded with loyalists to murder innocent Catholics. They also intimidated, stopped and searched cars for no reason, long delays, threatening lads, man-handling them, made threats, etc. So many people have deep hatred for the RUC. And I'd say it's only lessened slightly since it's name change. If at all.

If you see anywhere where I said they didn't colluded then grand... but take off your rose tainted glasses and see it for what it was, a war a very dirty stinking war, and nobody fought Queensbury rules style... searched most days growing up, homes raided on a number of occasions, riots on a daily bases and family shot at wounded and beaten up, very lucky to not lose anyone, so I can't know how a person would feel losing a brother sister or parent... I'm sure it's tough

An eye for an eye attitude will make everyone blind, moving forward, albeit slowly is a hell of a lot better than the place I grew up in, dragging up the past is making the peace process painfully slow, people looking justice is right but an amnesty of sorts and a truth commission would heal a lot quicker

As for accepting the police, it's got to be done, at some point you'll have to call them and use them and put your trust in them!

Right on the money Milltown. You can't on the one hand expect people to forget the campaign of violence perpetrated by republicans and to accept the bone fides of the new peaceful republican movement and on the other denigrate members of your own community joining the PSNI and trying to make policing more representative. This is just wrong and any GAA club that would reject someone in those circumstances does not belong in the GAA.

I agree with most of what you're saying aia but I think the last bit is wrong.

Yes Creggan did not handle the situation correctly at the time and the way Peadar was treated in not being picked for the team or even acknowledged in training games is despicable, the club should have backed him.

Having said that it was a challenging time for Nationalist communities to get their head around a "new" police force and while they should have shown the leadership and foresight to back him it wasn't just quite as simple as that. If they issue an apology and reach out to Peadar for what happened and why it happened I think it would ease the situation.

They probably won't though.

[tothetop03]

I think people are missing the point. Northern Ireland has changed a lot since this happened. Ok its nowhere near perfect but I think vast majority of clubs would handle it different in 2017. We are criticising a club which was faced with a new problem and there was no script!

How many Gaa clubs had played joined Psni and kept playing for there own club.... i know one player from a Neighbouring club but he moved away.....

There is no way of knowing that and more importantly how can you say they were ousted by there own clubs. I know one who done it for security reasons.

The one i know was not ousted he left the area due too as you say security reasons..... also i know two neighbouring clubs got themselves into a mess by inviting the Psni to their clubs and had to backtrack when they realised what potential harm it may do by the reaction of their membership and in one case their players!!

[Kickham csc]

Might have been discussed but should Kickhams not have stopped the leaflets being handed out? Easier said than done obviously.

It was a one off event, happened after a training session.

Half the lads were in the shower, a number didn't realise what was happened until after a minute of so, and it was over within minutes.

No leaflets were handed out before or after that incident

Also, we were probably like any other club, we trained Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday mornings, same time for about 30 years. So somebody in the team or the club might have invited the lads in, but can say for sure as it wouldn't been hard for outsiders to figure out our schedule

[Walter Cronc]

Might have been discussed but should Kickhams not have stopped the leaflets being handed out? Easier said than done obviously.

It was a one off event, happened after a training session.

Half the lads were in the shower, a number didn't realise what was happened until after a minute of so, and it was over within minutes.

No leaflets were handed out before or after that incident

Also, we were probably like any other club, we trained Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sunday mornings, same time for about 30 years. So somebody in the team or the club might have invited the lads in, but can say for sure as it wouldn't been hard for outsiders to figure out our schedule

Cheers Kickham!

[Kickham csc]

The security forces not only colluded with loyalists to murder innocent Catholics. They also intimidated, stopped and searched cars for no reason, long delays, threatening lads, man-handling them, made threats, etc. So many people have deep hatred for the RUC. And I'd say it's only lessened slightly since it's name change. If at all.

If you see anywhere where I said they didn't colluded then grand... but take off your rose tainted glasses and see it for what it was, a war a very dirty stinking war, and nobody fought Queensbury rules style... searched most days growing up, homes raided on a number of occasions, riots on a daily bases and family shot at wounded and beaten up, very lucky to not lose anyone, so I can't know how a person would feel losing a brother sister or parent... I'm sure it's tough

An eye for an eye attitude will make everyone blind, moving forward, albeit slowly is a hell of a lot better than the place I grew up in, dragging up the past is making the peace process painfully slow, people looking justice is right but an amnesty of sorts and a truth commission would heal a lot quicker

As for accepting the police, it's got to be done, at some point you'll have to call them and use them and put your trust in them!

Right on the money Milltown. You can't on the one hand expect people to forget the campaign of violence perpetrated by republicans and to accept the bone fides of the new peaceful republican movement and on the other denigrate members of your own community joining the PSNI and trying to make policing more representative. This is just wrong and any GAA club that would reject someone in those circumstances does not belong in the GAA.

I agree with most of what you're saying aia but I think the last bit is wrong.

Yes Creggan did not handle the situation correctly at the time and the way Peadar was treated in not being picked for the team or even acknowledged in training games is despicable, the club should have backed him.

Having said that it was a challenging time for Nationalist communities to get their head around a "new" police force and while they should have shown the leadership and foresight to back him it wasn't just quite as simple as that. If they issue an apology and reach out to Peadar for what happened and why it happened I think it would ease the situation.

They probably won't though.

They would have done if this was handled better by Joe, as I've said before, the acceptance of the PSNI was a journey that everyone had to take, and some were on a faster path than others, and 15 years on and society has moved on and I believe reconciliation was possible.

However, the community now feels under attack, the whole community, even those who had supported Peadar, so the barriers have gone up.

The ironic thing about this is that Creggan down the years have always tried to remain non political, in that I mean we didn't promote Sinn Fein hard line republican agendas over SDLP, Workers Party, etc.

The club has always fought to remain a culturally focused club, strong in supporting sports, music, dance and the language.

At the time, people in the club would have thought that promoting PSNI would have  been making a political statement, and the club were in the position of trying to support Peadar but remaining neutral on the issue.

And in hindsight, that's where the club can receive justifiable criticism.

But there was no f#&*king manual to refer to on how to manage the situation, so I find it hard to criticise the club understanding the position it was in

[vallankumous]

In the midst of all the criticism of the Club, Brolly, Peadar himself etc is anybody criticising the real b**tards here - the cowardly anti democratic cnuts who tried to kill the poor chap?

Everyone is in agreement on this.

[Milltown Row2]

The security forces not only colluded with loyalists to murder innocent Catholics. They also intimidated, stopped and searched cars for no reason, long delays, threatening lads, man-handling them, made threats, etc. So many people have deep hatred for the RUC. And I'd say it's only lessened slightly since it's name change. If at all.

If you see anywhere where I said they didn't colluded then grand... but take off your rose tainted glasses and see it for what it was, a war a very dirty stinking war, and nobody fought Queensbury rules style... searched most days growing up, homes raided on a number of occasions, riots on a daily bases and family shot at wounded and beaten up, very lucky to not lose anyone, so I can't know how a person would feel losing a brother sister or parent... I'm sure it's tough

An eye for an eye attitude will make everyone blind, moving forward, albeit slowly is a hell of a lot better than the place I grew up in, dragging up the past is making the peace process painfully slow, people looking justice is right but an amnesty of sorts and a truth commission would heal a lot quicker

As for accepting the police, it's got to be done, at some point you'll have to call them and use them and put your trust in them!

Right on the money Milltown. You can't on the one hand expect people to forget the campaign of violence perpetrated by republicans and to accept the bone fides of the new peaceful republican movement and on the other denigrate members of your own community joining the PSNI and trying to make policing more representative. This is just wrong and any GAA club that would reject someone in those circumstances does not belong in the GAA.

I agree with most of what you're saying aia but I think the last bit is wrong.

Yes Creggan did not handle the situation correctly at the time and the way Peadar was treated in not being picked for the team or even acknowledged in training games is despicable, the club should have backed him.

Having said that it was a challenging time for Nationalist communities to get their head around a "new" police force and while they should have shown the leadership and foresight to back him it wasn't just quite as simple as that. If they issue an apology and reach out to Peadar for what happened and why it happened I think it would ease the situation.

They probably won't though.

They would have done if this was handled better by Joe, as I've said before, the acceptance of the PSNI was a journey that everyone had to take, and some were on a faster path than others, and 15 years on and society has moved on and I believe reconciliation was possible.

However, the community now feels under attack, the whole community, even those who had supported Peadar, so the barriers have gone up.

The ironic thing about this is that Creggan down the years have always tried to remain non political, in that I mean we didn't promote Sinn Fein hard line republican agendas over SDLP, Workers Party, etc.

The club has always fought to remain a culturally focused club, strong in supporting sports, music, dance and the language.

At the time, people in the club would have thought that promoting PSNI would have  been making a political statement, and the club were in the position of trying to support Peadar but remaining neutral on the issue.

And in hindsight, that's where the club can receive justifiable criticism.

But there was no f#&*king manual to refer to on how to manage the situation, so I find it hard to criticise the club understanding the position it was in

Its a sorry mess for all involved, the club has got itself into a fantastic setting with the new pitches, facilities and the club is reaping the benefit of the community effort thats been put in and the success of the teams, things Joe hasnt brought up.. you are right about the manual, how does one conduct themselves when XY and Z happens, you will fcuk over someone but damage limatations from here on in

No leafleats in the referee's changing room next year please 

[Beffs]

In the midst of all the criticism of the Club, Brolly, Peadar himself etc is anybody criticising the real b**tards here - the cowardly anti democratic cnuts who tried to kill the poor chap?

No. And that is the real tragedy here.