Joe Brolly

[longballin]

I'd like to know if the posters celebrating brolly for writing this piece were as supportive of him last week when he acted as an apologist for a convicted paedophile.

that's how it works... sometimes you agree with someone other times you dont.

[Therealdonald]

To suggest he acted as an apologist for a convicted paedophile is just nonsense. He suggested asking what was Donal Og to do when Humphries asked for a character reference, I thought about this and if a friend of mine asked me for a character reference, no matter the crime he was up for, I would have no hesitation giving it to him. The whole debate reeks of hypocrisy, Ewan McKenna mentioned this week about Mickey Harte's character reference for another defendant who was subsequently found guilty, are we now to put him and Brolly together as apologists for Sex Offenders?
Me thinks thou doth protest too much

[screenexile]

I'd like to know if the posters celebrating brolly for writing this piece were as supportive of him last week when he acted as an apologist for a convicted paedophile.

Sure just make stuff up there!!

Jesus you don't have to look too far to find people making up stories now!

[Itchy]

To suggest he acted as an apologist for a convicted paedophile is just nonsense. He suggested asking what was Donal Og to do when Humphries asked for a character reference, I thought about this and if a friend of mine asked me for a character reference, no matter the crime he was up for, I would have no hesitation giving it to him. The whole debate reeks of hypocrisy, Ewan McKenna mentioned this week about Mickey Harte's character reference for another defendant who was subsequently found guilty, are we now to put him and Brolly together as apologists for Sex Offenders?
Me thinks thou doth protest too much

If a friend of mine came to me and said I am on trial for sex abuse of a minor and need a character reference I'd tell him to f**k off, we are no longer friends. Same thing if i found out my friend was marching with neo Nazis, joined the KKK or was selling heroin. Maybe I expect a bit too much from my friends?

[Itchy]

Saddest thing is that the real victim is long forgotten by most people. Anyone think how that young girl feels when she heard respected people saying what a good man her rapist is. Maybe she would have to question herself then, since the man is so good perhaps she has to take some blame. These references are disgusting and should not be allowed by law in my opinion. It also takes a total bollox to write one for someone charged with rape of a minor in my opinion. We talk all the garbage we want about the past life of Humphries and the like, I'm for no tolerance and let the law concern itself with the welfare of the victim and the perpetrator can look after himself.

[Wildweasel74]

trileacman  i didn't see any Tyrone posters give out about Harte giving a character reference to a man who was convicted of Rape, but u ok giving out about Brolly discussing the position Cusack was put in.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/womans-fury-as-sex-attacker-given-reference-by-gaa-boss-harte-is-jailed-for-twoandahalf-years-29102469.html

[Spike]

The hypocrisy from some in the nationalist community to the PSNI is breath taking. People who credit Gerry and Martin for changing the Republican movement from within shun those who join(ed) the PSNI to do the same. Was the new PSNI perfect no, did it take back RUC officers and hold on to a large number yes, but you need experience in the Police service and where was that to come from? I am delighted to meet Odhran's, Peadar's and Niamh's with the Police Uniform on. I count a number as good friends. When you have a 96% or whatever protestant organisation allied to one section of society you will inevitably have collusion and bad apples. But all the RUC weren't like that and were every bit entitled to be unionist. It's changed times and people like Peadar Heffron and Ronan Kerr were brave to take the steps they did, and were doing so on behalf of their community, some of whom have maimed and killed them and some of whom have just let them down. If Kickhams Creggan behaved as reported then they have shamed the GAA and the whole nationalist community. If they haven't then lets hear their side of the story. The silence of Declan Kearney and the ambivlance of some in SF mirrors the similar reaction of some in the DUP to Loyalism and loyalist paramilitaries. Fair play to Joe Brolly for a hard but necessary read.

This is a complex issue and when we talk about Peadar's treatment it needs to be divided into two areas, the clubs response and the teams response.

If we consider the club,  Peadar's extended family were at the time, and now, heavily involved in the running of the club, through committee involvement and mentoring teams etc.

Threats were made to the club in the guise that our underage teams safety could be guaranteed and this influenced a lot of the clubs responses to Peadar. The "difficult position" that he refers to in the article was entered around this and his family would have been included in the discussions on how to handle the situation and many including myself, believed his family were the official line of communication to Peadar.

Not all the club were against Peadar, as I mentioned before the Creggan area has mixed views and the club is representative of the area, so we would have people with progressive views at the time and supported Peadar, but also republicans who believed the PSNI were re-badged RUC.  The big issue at the time was the acceptance of PSNI. If my memory serves me right, when Peadar joined, Sinn Fein had not officially supported the PSNI, as they believed the required changes to the organisation hadn't been made. So Sinn Fein had not come out and supported the PSNI at that time and republicans thought it was too soon to join.

Considering the lack of Sinn Fein support plus the majority of our club members would have had negative experiences with the RUC and army. During car searches, once the club colours were identified, you would have spent hours waiting in the car to be let go, and in some cases threatened. Sean Brown's body was dumped in our community and there are still concerns that the police were involved in the murder. This lead to the resistance that Peadar talked about in the article. While I disagreed with this view, I totally understood where they were coming from.

So some in the club supported Peadar and some didn't. I know people spoke out for Peadar and I'm disappointed that this wasn't identified in the article as it would have given the article some balance and would have gone in some way to identify the complexity of the situation.

I have mentioned the team dynamics before, so not perfect but was being managed and I believe the situation would have settled if given time. As I mentioned before, Peadar played soccer in the clubs 4G with some of his ex teammates for a couple of years after this and he never received any negative feedback at the time.

Now a lot of people (especially the politicians) seemed to have forgotten that this all happened 15 years ago and a lot has changed during this time. The wider community has come on the journey of living in the immediate post troubles era to the more normalized society that we live in now.

The club in the past year has hosted events with the PSNI in the clubrooms, and members of the club and some club member families have joined the PSNI and other police services with no issues within the club.

We as a club tend to keep everything in-house and the newspaper exposure will not be appreciated to say the least. If you look at Antrim GAA message boards, very little to no messages would be posted from Creggan lads in the run up to games etc, and the lack of response on this matter is a continuation of that approach.

When club members have died in the past, only recently did the club post a message in the papers. Our tradition was always no public response, however a letter would written from the chairman to the deceased family on behalf of the club.

While the club may be pressurized into making a statement, I anticipate a private approach to Peadar to bring some reconciliation to the issue, which may include a club meeting

Eloquently put.  2 sides to every story and out of tragic circumstances a story was  leveraged to mxaximise reputational damage to the gaa and the people of creggan. Peadar's bitterness (he concedes that himself) toward both  can be understood, Joe's sensationalism less so. No context given and has hardened unionist perceptions against the gaa.  Good luck to all clubs looking funding going forward.

[southtyronegael]

I think the character reference being quoted in relation to Mickey Harte was for a lad (with mental health issues) who was convicted of shooting his own father.

Unless I missed another.

yeah you missed another. the one where the lad sexually attacked a girl and threw her out of the car onto the side of the road. kinda stuff you used to get ur knees blown off for doin. mickey happy enough though as long as he gettin his name in the paper.

[MoChara]

I'd like to know if the posters celebrating brolly for writing this piece were as supportive of him last week when he acted as an apologist for a convicted paedophile.

that's how it works... sometimes you agree with someone other times you dont.

Are you trying to say Joe Brollys not infallible?

[longballin]

I'd like to know if the posters celebrating brolly for writing this piece were as supportive of him last week when he acted as an apologist for a convicted paedophile.

that's how it works... sometimes you agree with someone other times you dont.

Are you trying to say Joe Brollys not infallible?

No... that's Mickey Harte you're thinking of.

[Applesisapples]

Associating with someone who stole from the club to feed a habit is very unlikely to have you and your family intimidated by paramilitaries. Continuing a friendship with a PSNI officer is a whole different ball game, certainly at that time.
The club were put in a very difficult position. It's easy to say a lot of things in hindsight.

It is not a difficult position and required moral courage which appears to have been lacking.

No offence, but your full of shit and have no knowledge of what actually happened.

People with moral courage spoke out for Peadar, and people with moral courage spoke out against.

This was a major divisive issue at the time, and our club was caught in the middle. Nobody stayed quiet who was in support of Peadar. The big issue that he had with the club is related to the club being caught between threats to teams and supporting Peadar.

If it was only the senior team, we wouldn't have cared, but the youth was also included.

So the club tried to manage the situation as best they could

How can you be divided on the blowing up a car with a human being in it? Moral courage means speaking out. The peace process was sufficiently embedded, those threatening Peadar had no right and those speaking against him give succour to the bombers. How can you be divided on a human right? There was a ceasefire, the peace process was in full swing and there is no place for this type of nonsense in a GAA club. But aside from the position at the time it would seem that Peadar's issue is rooted more in what followed and especially after the bombing. You're right I have no knowledge I can only go with what is in the public domain so perhaps the club should seek some professional advice and speak out.

[longballin]

Brolly has some go at Creggan in Gaelic Life today.

[paddyjohn]

Brolly has some go at Creggan in Gaelic Life today.

Link?

[longballin]

Brolly has some go at Creggan in Gaelic Life today.

Link?

I dont know bout link... i bought it

[paddyjohn]

Brolly has some go at Creggan in Gaelic Life today.

Link?

I dont know bout link... i bought it

Some of us don't have the time to visit shops before work lol