Is it 's or s'?

[AZOffaly]

If the club calls themselves Padraig Pearses GAC then yes, you are right. The midfielder belongs to the Pearses.

[Tony Baloney]

I believe it should be .............................

"Here we go again, another run from Padraig Pearses' ticklemister through the heart of the defence stretches the lead further. By God he is some operator."

Yes otherwise Padraig Pearse himself owns you.

[theticklemister]

I believe it should be .............................

"Here we go again, another run from Padraig Pearses' ticklemister through the heart of the defence stretches the lead further. By God he is some operator."

Yes otherwise Padraig Pearse himself owns you.

PMSL !!!LOL

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

I believe it should be .............................

"Here we go again, another run from Padraig Pearses' ticklemister through the heart of the defence stretches the lead further. By God he is some operator."

Yes otherwise Padraig Pearse himself owns you.

Simple-minded fool! 

[moysider]

If you want to be grammatical about it, I suppose it should just be Padraig Pearse GAC. Since it is just one club, and neither does it belong to him.

Of course that is the way it should be. But likes of Ballina Stephenites, Castlebar Mitchels, Charlestown Sarsfields, etc. are stuck with this grammatical anomaly. How this happened is the real ?.
Possibly a bit of messing about from Irish to English. There is a shop I know that thought it would be wise to put their name in Irish over their door - and then added an 's! So they ended up with MacÉil's (not the real name). Most people don't even notice how messed up that is.

[AZOffaly]

That's not the question though. The question was what IS it, not what should it be. It is clearly the Pearses and the Stacks, referred to in the plural. Now if you want to tell the, they are misnamed , work away, but they are named as such, and therefore the possessive is s'

Yes, that was the question: about Padráig Pearse's GAC in County Derry.

If other language manglers elsewhere in the country are brought into it we'll be here all feckin' night. 

I the case of this specific club, then, I agree with you. It is the only club like this that I've ever seen called as Padraig pearse's GAC.

The possessive should be based on the name of the club, so all the other Pearses are Pearses' midfielder. This one belongs to Padraig himself

[moysider]

If you want to be grammatical about it, I suppose it should just be Padraig Pearse GAC. Since it is just one club, and neither does it belong to him.

Maybe it commemorates all Padraig Pearses?

Maybe. Or maybe that's every member's name. Like the No Homers club in reverse.

That's good AZ. The members are the Pearses. A collective noun.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The possessive should be based on the name of the club, so all the other Pearses are Pearses' midfielder. This one belongs to Padraig himself

The possessive apostrophe is possessive yes, but it does not have to be a tangible, ie, the memory or honour of whoever is sufficient for the possessive apostrophe. So forget this 'belong' nonsense.

[theticklemister]

So ye think it would be John Mitchel's GAC....................John Mitchels' number 8 caught the ball.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

3 pages already, this really is the most important issue in the GAA at the moment.

[theticklemister]

3 pages already, this really is the most important issue in the GAA at the moment.

f**k everything else, this is where the craic is happening. 

[moysider]

So ye think it would be John Mitchel's GAC....................John Mitchels' number 8 caught the ball.

If the name of the club is John Mitchel's GAC then John Mitchels' number 8 would be wrong. If the club is just called John Mitchels then John Mitchels' number 8 is correct.

Chicago Bulls is a team name, right? It is not Chicago Bull's Basketball Team.

Therefore it is Chicago Bulls' owner. Not Chicago Bull's owner. The club does not belong to a bull. The team/players are called bulls. In Ireland we call them Pearses or Mitchels instead of Bears, Reds and Bulls. Surely this should put it to bed. The original Myles would not have messed up like that.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Chicago Bulls is a team name, right? It is not Chicago Bull's Basketball Team.

Therefore it is Chicago Bulls' owner. Not Chicago Bull's owner. The club does not belong to a bull. The team/players are called bulls. In Ireland we call them Pearses or Mitchels instead of Bears, Reds and Bulls. Surely this should put it to bed. The original Myles would not have messed up like that.

For fcuk's sake, I give up! 

[theticklemister]

Chicago Bulls is a team name, right? It is not Chicago Bull's Basketball Team.

Therefore it is Chicago Bulls' owner. Not Chicago Bull's owner. The club does not belong to a bull. The team/players are called bulls. In Ireland we call them Pearses or Mitchels instead of Bears, Reds and Bulls. Surely this should put it to bed. The original Myles would not have messed up like that.

For fcuk's sake, I give up! 

does the 'f**k' own the sake??

[Eamonnca1]

So when writing about a club is it 's or s'?

For example, it is Padraig Pearse's GAC. When you put it in writing however, would it be.........

Padraig Pearse's Donaghy scored a point

or

Padraig Pearses' Donaghy scored a point


Let the debate commence!

You could avoid controversy by trying different forms:

• Padraig Pearse's man Donaghy scored a point


• Donaghy of Padraig Pearse's scored a point


• Donaghy scored a point for Padraig Pearse's

Or if you don't want to use the possessive:

• Padraig Pearse man Donaghy scored a point


• Donaghy of Padraig Pearse scored a point


• Donaghy scored a point for Padraig Pearse

This is a bit unique to the GAA. We name clubs after people, but use the possessive in writing, then speak as if it's the plural, and then incorrectly spell the names of some clubs.  Spelling it as a plural (no apostrophe) is like the inverse of the grocer's apostrophe problem.