What binds you to the GAA?

[irunthev]

A board like this is a fascinating place to lurk and observe the way that different people react to different topics. Here, there are so many different opinions about the GAA and each one of them is valid and worth expressing and having heard, and while you will always run the risk of being shot down for your opinion, it's still your opinion and you are entitled to it.
Despite the differences in opinions and attitudes, the one common thread that links us all together is a liking / obsession / passion  for and an involvement in the GAA, but even that comes in so many different forms as well.
Some guys here have played county football, some have been barely good enough to play for their club; some guys have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the game throughout the country, while others barely know what goes on outside of their own parish; some guys are players, some managers, some committee members and some merely spectators; some have travelled the world and been involved in the GAA wherever they have gone, while others wouldn't even regard the efforts of the poor bucks in Wellington NZ as being worthy of  mention; some only classify a true Gael by his ability to sing  Amhran na bhFiann, quote Rule 42 backwards and converse in Irish, while others will consider anyone from anywhere who plays the sport anywhere in the world as a fellow Gael; some are bitter and twisted and full of negativity and jealousy, while others are optimistic and positive; some crave change, modernisation and development, others long for the good old days; some read and consider every persons point of view, others only consider their own point of view. No matter the make-up of the person or the background though, we are all tied into this damned Association and for most of us it looks like a life sentence. Most of us have been involved for as long as we can remember and it's a way of life, but what is it that makes you so passionate about the Association and what kind of member are you?

[stpauls]

for me, i think the term 'in the blood' would sum it up for most of us!! I know, certainly in my situation where football was the only sport you played in Mullaghbawn, that when you are brought up playing Gaelic Football, from whatever age, that it is just something that you do!! but for me, having stopped playing for a few years when i was 17, it was only when i moved to Munich for my years placement, that i realised exactly what it was all about. I joined the club out there, and being away from home, it made me feel like i was part of a family again, a sense of belonging, and since then, most of the things in my life have been arranged around either playing, coaching or carrying out tasks/chores etc. to help with the running of my club! i want people to have the same sense of belonging that i get from being part of the club, and maybe that something that i have said or done during my time with the club, will have an effect on their involvement with it later in life!!

[youbetterbelieveit]

I am of the same opinion of stpauls, It is like being part of one big family, One of the basic human instincts is to not alone and be part of a group.  The GAA provides that for every type of irish and even non-irish person. I have been in college gaa teams, american and australian club teams and my clubs in ireland, and each one gives you that belonging feeling. Another great benefit is the friendships you develop within the GAA I probably know guys from all counties around ireland and getting to know that many people can be a very hard thing to do, but with the gaa it is possible. 

[ardmhachaabu]

I would be very much a spectator now, played for a bit when I was younger with a club.  I haven't been involved with a club in a long time.  The GAA is very strong within my extended family, cousins still play for their club, uncles are involved in management, coaching, physiotherapy. 

[DUBSFORSAM1]

for me, i think the term 'in the blood' would sum it up for most of us!! I know, certainly in my situation where football was the only sport you played in Mullaghbawn, that when you are brought up playing Gaelic Football, from whatever age, that it is just something that you do!! but for me, having stopped playing for a few years when i was 17, it was only when i moved to Munich for my years placement, that i realised exactly what it was all about. I joined the club out there, and being away from home, it made me feel like i was part of a family again, a sense of belonging, and since then, most of the things in my life have been arranged around either playing, coaching or carrying out tasks/chores etc. to help with the running of my club! i want people to have the same sense of belonging that i get from being part of the club, and maybe that something that i have said or done during my time with the club, will have an effect on their involvement with it later in life!!

StPaul - Sure yous'e didn't play much "football" in the Munich team more of a blanket defence approach...

With me I grew up playing in school both hurling and football along with about 6/7 other sports - often think what could have happened if had concentrated on one - but then started working over the world and played in London, Edinburgh, Australia, Luxembourg etc and played with St Paul for Europe in the Gaelic World Cup in 02.....
Playing abroad was a passion as there was no politics etc or committees etc and you just played because you wanted to play and you drank cause you wanted to drink etc and it was a pure enjoyment thing...

Now I don't play much and amn't involved at club level over here but I travel for all Dublin championship matches and come back for some league games - (Dublin v's Monaghan (the aul lads county being hte next adventure) - and also try to get to as many matches as possible in the summer while in Dublin - Used to go to all Derry matches and if possible to Monaghan/Cavan matches or big Ulster/Leinster matches no matter who played.....2 years ago the only time I missed a match in Croke Park was cause was down the country at other games....

To me now it is all about going to watch teams play and enjoy the banter and a couple of pints afterwards..

[stpauls]

StPaul - Sure yous'e didn't play much "football" in the Munich team more of a blanket defence approach...

hey, there was no need for that, and sure, the blanket defense was only invented by Tyrone a year later!! 

[Puckoon]

I spent alot of time growing up at my Uncles house with his 8 kids - all of whom were GAA nuts. My dad wasnt a huge fan, and whats more he wouldnt know if a football was pumped up or stuffed. My Uncle however was a different kettle of fish. After dinner when we'd washed up he would send us over to the pitch where he could watch us from the kitchen window, and have us all practise solo runs or fist passes. I played my first game for drumquin U-14ss when I was about 11. Not because I was any good, but because they never had enough players. After that an eejit called Canavan suggested to my dad that I should play for omagh as I lived there and he was coaching the U 12s. So I did, and fell even more in love with the game, never really the association. Omagh had some great underage players almost all of whom have fallen by the way. We had some great men who took serious time to train us. Some how the 90s became a dark time for underage GAA in Omagh. Our neighbours and fiercest rivals Killyclogher beat us easily most times we played. I hated that because I lived on the edge of Killyclogher and all my friends played for them.

When I headed to college a fondness for beer, chicken burgers at 2am, the fact that staying fit was now requiring work and didnt come naturally and a hernia meant that I took the game for granted and gave it up. When I moved to the USA 6 years ago, I started to miss it. I went home the next summer and was there for Omagh beating Killyclogher in the championship. The stars were childhood friends and younger boys that I used to serve at the tuc shop in the CBS. Thats when it dawned on me that Id missed the boat and that life now dictated my dreams of playing the game were done (barring some highly unlikely event).

Its the overlapping half back taking the ball at speed and the connection for another exile to home that binds me to the GAA.


Oh, and screaming at the lap top at 4.30 on a sunday morning with the headphones on so I wont wake the Mrs.

[Puckoon]

Yes my friend, that indeed is the irony. Ive dodged manys a dirty look.

[irunthev]

Oh, and screaming at the lap top at 4.30 on a sunday morning with the headphones on so I wont wake the Mrs.

It is awful kind of you to use headphones but surely the screaming would wake her up.

Possibly the best post ever by any individual 

Fighting to get to the tuck shop at the Brothers was enough to keep you fit as a kid and countered the sugar intake of the sweets. The ease of access to candy in college was your undoing. UUJ and Queens need to get themselves a tuck shop.

[thebandit]

Baling twine

[thejuice]

I love the games, pure and simple, they're unique, exciting and the teams/players actually mean something to me/where I'm from. I can give or take most other sports (1 exception) but hurling and football just get my motor runnin'.

If you could have seen me watching the Meath-Dublin drawn game on the computer in college over in England, no-one else in the room knew what I was gettin worked up about, with 10 mins left, my hands were shaking, I was getting pins and needles in my face of all places, by the time Cian Ward had levelled matters and the ref blew it up I was in no fit state to continue my course work. Had to go to the bar and sip on a few cold ones to calm down.

When Ireland lose games in rugby I dont be too bothered but if Meath lose, somtimes I'm holding back the tears, im usually pissed off for about 2-3 days after wards. And when we well, words cant describe it.

[stew]

For me it is a hundred of us children, running around on the College fields in Armagh as a ten year old, with big Eamon O'Hagan roaring at you to bend your back and showing us how to block the ball properly. It was going to watch the Harps and the Ogs go at it in a league game with 5 or 6 thousand supporters roaring their team on. My father and my uncles telling me stories about players of old and how wonderful they were, about pat Campbell catch in croke park and jack Brattens tremendous defensive efforts, it is about my love for my county and the thousands of miles travelled to support my heroes, amateurs all, men who dedicated themselves to the club and the county they loved and were lucky enough and good enough to play for.

The 'special busses' my da laid on from 1975 until 1995, busses full of drink, craic and nervous anticipation. As a kid I remember getting very nervous because my da would tell people we were leaving at half five, he meant half five but despite numerous warnings the local lunatics would invariably get polaxed and show up a couple of minutes late to find the bus was gone without them.
I love the fact that the best of the best are our neighbours, they are ordinary, decent people who give a part of their lives to the organization and who have a deep, abiding love for the games, the culture and the fact that they play with their fellow parishoners on their local team no matter how good or bad they were.

My nerves were wrecked a week before every championship game, that has not changed, I live and die by championship results and the fact that I am three thousand miles away from the action hurts me but I would spend any amount of money or time or effort to stay in touch with the lads from my club and the county team.

Gaelic football is a huge part of my life and always will be, for me it is the games, the excitement and most of all it is the people, the people are what makes the GAA a great institution, it is the likes of bobby gamble from the harps, a man that does whatever he can to help out the club, it is the volunteers and non paid members that I am proud of. God Bless the GAA!

[ziggysego]

I come from a small village, where the whole way of life revolves around the local GAA club. There's football, handball, scor activities. Then there's the summer scheme and youth club during the winter. There's always something going on it the hall, which suits everyone.

It's not so much a club to which we are members, but a way of life and something which is a part of us all. No matter where we travel, if we wear our club's colours or county tops, we will find someone of like-minded and can start up a conversation.

We are the GAA and the GAA is us.

[Son_of_Sam]

I just love it, I would have a personal preference for Football & it was many years later that I fell in love with hurling too, but what do you expect coming from Mayo. I love the way that even though my friends are FG, FF (God preserve us, the shame), SF, Labour, Hippy (Greens), {NO PDs thank fck} & those who could not give a flying fck about politics or flip all other than beer, women & sport. But while we all have very different views, when we @ a match, going to a match, returning from a match, playing a match, training for a match, boozing talking about a match we all understand each other. My friends that I can insult to their face, call & say anything about them & vice-a-versa are my GAA mates, in 5 minutes its forgotten about. We also all smuggly make comments about Leinster Rugby fans the odd time we go a rugby game involving the D4 crowd 

[Farrandeelin]

I suppose when I was a young child, my dad going to matches and not bringing me. I always wondered when I could go. He brought me to my first game in 1995. Still haven't a clue what the score was but Mayo won. Have been at Mayo matches every year since. I reckon I owe my interest to my dad and I hope Mayo win the All-Ireland some day for him. HE has cut back on the amount of games he has gone to since those mid 90s days but he has left a legacy of having me at most matches wearing the green and red. So that's it, in the blood I suppose.