The success of the GAA, based on the co-option of intense local loyalties into a

[seafoid]

Commenting on the interaction between the GAA and national politics in Ireland 1912-1985, Politics and Society, Prof Joe Lee made the following observation:

"The success of the GAA, based on the co-option of intense local loyalties into a wider sense of national identity, reflected a capacity for organisation and a sense of communal coherence . . . The GAA served not only as a recruiting ground for republican activists, but as an apprenticeship for national organisers. The prevailing culture proved able to relate local loyalties to national issues."

What do Northern posters think of this ?

[Rossfan]

I heard tell that the Nazis based their structure for running  their Reich on the GAA organisation of Clubs/Counties/Provinces/National.
They had Kreisleiters, Gauleiters etc. Some  German chap who worked on the Shannon scheme at Ardnacrusha who was impressed with the way the GAA was organised told the Nazis.

It certainly showed a dispirited people how to organise and do things for themselves without kow towing to foreigners.