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A bit depressing seeing the ignorance of some on this thread. The confederate flag is something I'd equate with a swastika or KKK hood/costume. I find it difficult to believe most people would not understand the deeply racist connotations of such a flag. And surely someone near the clown(s) who had this flag would have known and had the sense to tell them to take it down. I know i would if I were there. I'd be mortified if I were from Cork. It's not cool and it's not funny. The defence of it on this thread is sickening and very depressing to be honest.

Couldn't agree more.

Fully expect Tyrone to win this by 4 or 5 tbqh.

The Dubs are well overrated. Last two AI wins two of the worst games of ball I've ever seen! Mayo curse won it for them last year!

Love the Dub fans, love the anticipation of a good game but a Tyrone win - no doubt in my mind.

If it's a dry day, Tyrone will win this. Time for a new order in Ulster

For Tyrone, winning Ulster is a must. We have to do this.

From there, advance to the semis and after that, all bets are off.

We have to make a statement of intent this year. Very excited to see this team play as you get the feeling they've been chomping at the bit since last August. Our complacency, as always (is this the ultimate characteristic of Tyrone people? Because for every team that ever was you can turn up and just know they have just decided not to play today!) could be our undoing. But a dry day and a good cheer could see us do very well this year. Total faith!

This is absolutely ridiculous. The flying of the Confederate flag is racist, in any context. Ignorance does not cancel out racism ffs. I notice no-one has replied to my repeated question of how mixed-race Irish GAA attendees might feel upon seeing a confederate flag flown at a game. But sure, it's just people being insensitive, right? Grand so.

Just so we are all on  the same page.

A misogynist is a person who hates or doesn't trust women. Misogynist is from Greek misogynḗs, from the prefix miso- "hatred" plus gynḗ "a woman." The English suffix -ist means "person who does something."

Thanks for this. Was going to link to this http://lmgtfy.com/?q=misogyny but you know... wouldn't want to further patronize people 

Could be foxcommander, but his posting rate seems a bit higher. Then there was the other mysterious "newbie" whose first post was to agree with everything Jimmy said and tell him what a great job he was doing.

Definitely not Foxcommander. 

Read some historical posts.

Yeah, as I said I thought it was important to support someone posting about how Ireland has benefited from and continues to benefit from colonialism and our whiteness. I have posted before on here. But this is an important discussion and it is necessary for us to confront out complicity in these structures of oppression. Because GAA makes up the backbone of our identity as Irish, it's really in these circles that questions about Ireland's lack of diversity must be asked. If all you're taking from these discussions is some kind of board-trolling then you really need to re-think your priorities.

Cork GAA fans using the Confederate flag is ignorance of the highest order at best, unabashed racism at worst. It's a good example of how many Irish feel that white supremacy 'doesn't apply to us'.

Highly doubtful if its racism or white supremacy. Ignorance and cultural insensitivity for sure.

I mean, if its the racist tendencies of the Irish people that are finding expression, then surely the other 31 counties would some means of doing likewise? How about Tyrone or Louth or Derry who also sport red and white colours? Unless you're proposing that the "many Irish" of whom you speak tend to be based in the far south?

More likely some idiot thought of bringing a confederate flag along due to the coinciding colours and the shared "rebel" label, and it caught on in the insular setting, without a thought given to its actual meaning.

It is perpetuation of white supremacy though. The confederate flag is a symbol of slavery, has been used by the KKK and embodies white supremacy. Your point about county flags is silly tbh. Those flags are the indigenous flags of our counties - they have no perverse connotations like the Confederate flag.

I'm sorry, but you've lost me. How can the county flag point be "silly" when the only reason they're being used in a GAA context is to support Cork county teams?

Unless there are other instances you know of when Cork or other Irish people are sporting confederate flags.

And its not being used to embody white supremacy or anything like it. Its pure ignorance and insensitivity.

I say 'many Irish' because 'many Irish' north and south participated in the slave trade, many Irish benefited from Empire through employment - and all white Irish benefited from and continue to benefit from being white.

Even if, for the sake of argument, what you say is true, what does that have to do with modern day Cork people sporting a confederate flag at a match? There is no connection whatsoever.

Our actions don't exist in a vacuum. When you use a flag like the confederate flag that is loaded with race hate, regardless of ignorance, it is racism and it is white privilege that Cork fans can so nonchalantly take out that flag and use it with no through to the wider implications and the message it is sending out. This is just one point in a much much larger conversation about Irish complicity in oppressive structures that perpetuate racism. It's important we face up to this - especially because of our history - we owe it to our ancestors who suffered under persecution to recognize our privileges and also recognize how many black people and people of colour have been and still are oppressed daily because of the all pervading racism of our world. Of all white people it is perhaps the Irish who are best positioned to see that the police are not just, that state policies disenfranchise minorities etc - precisely because our people have suffered under similar yokes of oppression.

Look, go ahead and make the argument that Irish people were complicit in facilitating slavery and racism.

That doesn't make some ignoramus waving a confederate flag racist.

Which is not to say that the use of that flag should be absolutely discouraged.

Again. Our actions don't exist in a vacuum. Flying the confederate flag is racist. No matter if its done in ignorance, it's racist. This is a pretty basic point. And it's white privilege that allows people to just nonchalantly wave this flag with absolutely no thought as to what it means. Again - I wonder how mixed race Irish people would feel seeing that flag waved at a GAA match.

County flags of all 32 counties do not come with racist connotations. As I said, they're part of our indigenous culture which is why comparisons of Sligo colours with ISIS etc are plainly stupid. A Sligo flag is not an ISIS flag ffs. It's when you take a flag that is emblematic of racism that problems start. This really isn't difficult to understand and I'm disappointed in the outcry coming from some posters who are adamant of the right for ignoramuses to wave the Confederate flag without being called out for their racism.

This is nonsense. The Cork flag FFS.  Couldn't we get a higher class of sock puppet for the Board? Someone with a bit of style.

So you think there is nothing wrong with a bunch of white Irish who often profited from colonialism and capitalism flying a flag that is symbolic of slavery and white supremacy? Our actions are political you know, and it says very little for the GAA that the outcry over this hasn't been more pronounced. With Irish culture becoming more diverse (albeit slowly) how do you think mixed race Irish would feel seeing this flag flown?

I think that post is misogynistic.

You clearly have no idea what misogyny is.

Could be foxcommander, but his posting rate seems a bit higher. Then there was the other mysterious "newbie" whose first post was to agree with everything Jimmy said and tell him what a great job he was doing.

Definitely not Foxcommander. 

Read some historical posts.

Yeah, as I said I thought it was important to support someone posting about how Ireland has benefited from and continues to benefit from colonialism and our whiteness. I have posted before on here. But this is an important discussion and it is necessary for us to confront out complicity in these structures of oppression. Because GAA makes up the backbone of our identity as Irish, it's really in these circles that questions about Ireland's lack of diversity must be asked. If all you're taking from these discussions is some kind of board-trolling then you really need to re-think your priorities.

Cork GAA fans using the Confederate flag is ignorance of the highest order at best, unabashed racism at worst. It's a good example of how many Irish feel that white supremacy 'doesn't apply to us'.

Highly doubtful if its racism or white supremacy. Ignorance and cultural insensitivity for sure.

I mean, if its the racist tendencies of the Irish people that are finding expression, then surely the other 31 counties would some means of doing likewise? How about Tyrone or Louth or Derry who also sport red and white colours? Unless you're proposing that the "many Irish" of whom you speak tend to be based in the far south?

More likely some idiot thought of bringing a confederate flag along due to the coinciding colours and the shared "rebel" label, and it caught on in the insular setting, without a thought given to its actual meaning.

It is perpetuation of white supremacy though. The confederate flag is a symbol of slavery, has been used by the KKK and embodies white supremacy. Your point about county flags is silly tbh. Those flags are the indigenous flags of our counties - they have no perverse connotations like the Confederate flag.

I say 'many Irish' because 'many Irish' north and south participated in the slave trade, many Irish benefited from Empire through employment - and all white Irish benefited from and continue to benefit from being white.

Our actions don't exist in a vacuum. When you use a flag like the confederate flag that is loaded with race hate, regardless of ignorance, it is racism and it is white privilege that Cork fans can so nonchalantly take out that flag and use it with no through to the wider implications and the message it is sending out. This is just one point in a much much larger conversation about Irish complicity in oppressive structures that perpetuate racism. It's important we face up to this - especially because of our history - we owe it to our ancestors who suffered under persecution to recognize our privileges and also recognize how many black people and people of colour have been and still are oppressed daily because of the all pervading racism of our world. Of all white people it is perhaps the Irish who are best positioned to see that the police are not just, that state policies disenfranchise minorities etc - precisely because our people have suffered under similar yokes of oppression.

This is nonsense. The Cork flag FFS.  Couldn't we get a higher class of sock puppet for the Board? Someone with a bit of style.

So you think there is nothing wrong with a bunch of white Irish who often profited from colonialism and capitalism flying a flag that is symbolic of slavery and white supremacy? Our actions are political you know, and it says very little for the GAA that the outcry over this hasn't been more pronounced. With Irish culture becoming more diverse (albeit slowly) how do you think mixed race Irish would feel seeing this flag flown?

Could be foxcommander, but his posting rate seems a bit higher. Then there was the other mysterious "newbie" whose first post was to agree with everything Jimmy said and tell him what a great job he was doing.

Definitely not Foxcommander. 

Read some historical posts.

Yeah, as I said I thought it was important to support someone posting about how Ireland has benefited from and continues to benefit from colonialism and our whiteness. I have posted before on here. But this is an important discussion and it is necessary for us to confront out complicity in these structures of oppression. Because GAA makes up the backbone of our identity as Irish, it's really in these circles that questions about Ireland's lack of diversity must be asked. If all you're taking from these discussions is some kind of board-trolling then you really need to re-think your priorities.

Cork GAA fans using the Confederate flag is ignorance of the highest order at best, unabashed racism at worst. It's a good example of how many Irish feel that white supremacy 'doesn't apply to us'.

All these mysterious "newbies" coming out of the woodwork to mouth off about "liberals." I think a sock puppet investigation is in order. Mods, can you take a look at some IP addresses?

When you see someone talking truth and being misunderstood by virtually every other poster in a thread, it's important to say you support them. Especially when it's on a topic as important as Irish people recognising their white privilege and taking account for their complicity in colonialism. So check away at IP's, Tir Eoghain abu.

Essential reading on this topic is work done by Limerick historian Liam Hogan. He's currently compiling a database of Irish slave owners and slave merchants and has written extensively on the Irish slave myth and how imperialism and colonialism have benefited our diaspora and the island of Ireland as well.

This is an incisive piece about Conor McGregor's recent comments to Floyd Mayweather that Hogan uses as a micro example of the endemic global problem of racism, the notion that the Irish somehow have a 'get out of jail free' card and don't benefit from white supremacy. A nod to the GAA as well: https://medium.com/@Limerick1914/as-intentional-as-the-forgetting-that-follows-82a309014d45#.wt7kpsl68

Racial bias in Ireland is an issue which some are still unwilling to confront. The fact that some GAA supporters in Cork proudly fly the Confederate flag at matches is a pointed example. When they are asked why they fly this flag, a common response is that it's the "rebel flag" and since Cork is known as the "rebel county" it is fair game. In other words they identify with a seditious army that was raised to perpetually enslave millions of black people and founded on the ideology of white supremacy. That they don't identity with the actual rebels in this context, i.e. the enslaved, speaks to an unconscious and deep-rooted racial bias. This racial bias also has an ethnocentric aspect and it is projected onto Irishmen who supported or fought for the Confederacy. Take the "illustrious" Irish patriot John Mitchel. He was a zealous white supremacist who longed for his own slaves and plantations as well as slave plantations to accompany an "Irish Republic." He advocated for the re-opening of the Transatlantic slave trade and stated that it was a question of "expediency alone." He was such an irredeemable racist that for him it was impossible to enslave or free an African person because they were "born and bred slaves." Despite the hypocrisy of this man stinking up the place so much that it is almost a physical entity, and despite the fact that he was in favour of resuming the genocide of the Middle Passage, he was merely downgraded in a 2016 History Ireland article by one notch — from a "hero" to a "flawed hero." Streets, military forts and GAA clubs are named in his honour across Ireland.

I'm a lurker here but had to post to say I strongly agree with you jimmyd41 and am so glad to see this perspective on a GAA board, given the parochial nature of the sport. It's a fact many Irish and Irish-Americans want to forget (especially with recent popularity of the "Irish Slave" myth) but we white Irish benefited and continue to benefit from imperialism. The onus is on us to de-centre our whiteness in order to begin to challenge the white colonial capitalist patriarchal structures and institutions that we have established in this world to the oppression and persecution of people of colour and minorities.

McMahon did seem to be doing some serious slabbering on Tv, nearly a re-run of his brother at halftime in the Donegal game

Serious slabbering? What was he saying or who to? How many times did you see this 'serious slabbering'?

It was shown on tele a few times mate. He was yelling in general, pumping his fists but also he was saying a few things to the Monaghan players.  Not a lip reader so couldn't say whatever's happening but it didn't look to be said in a friendly manner

Same goes for every time the camera panned to McCarron. Consistently being slagged. Why zone in on Tyrone as sole purveyors of sledging? They were all at it.

Explain what McMahon did that was so ghastly?

Constantly mouthing and sly digs for most of the game.. I only saw what was on camera so I can fairly assume there was much more going on when the ball wasn't in the Tyrone half!

Hate this kind of post. There was mouthing and pushing between all players throughout the game. Cathal McCarron especially received dogs abuse for the entirety of the match - not to mention the homophobic chants coming from Monaghan supporters in the Hill.

The way I see it is Duffy allowed the match to boil over into the last 10 mins.... seven if which were ET (never seen 7 mins awarded in my life). McCann was absolutely silly but it belies his inexperience and the fraying of tempers from all sides at the end of the game. Monaghan were no angels and the repeated suggestion that Tyrone are the only county who close down a game is so lazy it's boring.

Regarding the actual game, I thought we outclassed Monaghan in every way. I didn't think we had it in us to play such intelligent weaving interesting football and the team celebrations at the end show how Harte has created a unit. Tyrone's game plan is smart and fast. I would have no fear of Kerry whatsoever and I'd say the team are confident they can give them at the very least a good rattle.