Belfast Newsletter's latest attack on the GAA

[camanchero]

'we should take a leaf out of rugby's book' - the Irish rugby team when playing in dublin at least fly the Tricolour and sing the national anthem.
Thats what the GAA already do - so whats the difference.
Or do people want us to be different to what the Irish Rugby team do?

unionist/loyalists dont like playing rugby under the Tricolour and A NaBhf.
However they swallow their sillyness and get on with it.
Same should apply to the GAA.

for those of you who dont realise, these lads will find offense at every turn if you start pandering to them.
they play rugby for Ireland because they want to play - they dont care about the symbols then.
same for playing GAA.
if they want to play it, they will.
this will happen all in good time.
we cannot and should not force the issue.

[BennyCake]

I'll not even reply to this. Unbelievable.

...but just to add. If Uniting Ireland is the objective then we need to bring people in, not keep them out! Think about it.
To take the next step the GAA needs to take the lead, and if that means changing club names or taking down a flag, why not?
I'm all for Irish unity, in fact I'm passionate about it. But using the strategy of Irishness over everything else with only ever guarantee that the border remains!

What's uniting Ireland got to do with it? It's not been mentioned on this thread.

By the way, I've nothing against Protestants/unionists playing GAA, and I said so earlier.

[Milltown Row2]

'we should take a leaf out of rugby's book' - the Irish rugby team when playing in dublin at least fly the Tricolour and sing the national anthem.
Thats what the GAA already do - so whats the difference.
Or do people want us to be different to what the Irish Rugby team do?

unionist/loyalists dont like playing rugby under the Tricolour and A NaBhf.
However they swallow their sillyness and get on with it.
Same should apply to the GAA.

for those of you who dont realise, these lads will find offense at every turn if you start pandering to them.
they play rugby for Ireland because they want to play - they dont care about the symbols then.
same for playing GAA.
if they want to play it, they will.
this will happen all in good time.
we cannot and should not force the issue.

I'd love to see a lot more Prods playing, especially in Antrim, we'd have a serious pool yo pick form if that were the case, but I can't see it happening. News Letter?? I didn't even realise they still printed the thing, as bad as the Republican News for horseshit propaganda

[BennyCake]

'we should take a leaf out of rugby's book' - the Irish rugby team when playing in dublin at least fly the Tricolour and sing the national anthem.
Thats what the GAA already do - so whats the difference.
Or do people want us to be different to what the Irish Rugby team do?

unionist/loyalists dont like playing rugby under the Tricolour and A NaBhf.
However they swallow their sillyness and get on with it.
Same should apply to the GAA.

for those of you who dont realise, these lads will find offense at every turn if you start pandering to them. 
they play rugby for Ireland because they want to play - they dont care about the symbols then.
same for playing GAA.
if they want to play it, they will.
this will happen all in good time.
we cannot and should not force the issue.

Spot on.

[Hardy]

I'll not even reply to this. Unbelievable.

...but just to add. If Uniting Ireland is the objective then we need to bring people in, not keep them out! Think about it.
To take the next step the GAA needs to take the lead, and if that means changing club names or taking down a flag, why not?
I'm all for Irish unity, in fact I'm passionate about it. But using the strategy of Irishness over everything else with only ever guarantee that the border remains!

What's uniting Ireland got to do with it? It's not been mentioned on this thread.

By the way, I've nothing against Protestants/unionists playing GAA, and I said so earlier.

That's big of you.

[qubdub]

There are elements that have been and will continue to be hostile to the GAA regardless of what it ever does.

The best way for this organisation to progress is to (continue to) be an open and inclusive grouping that encourages everyone to join no matter their background.

The added bonus of course is how much more this will piss off the aforementioned elements.

[Rossfan]

and Rule 42 should be next to go IMHO

?

It's true, Rule 42 has not gone. It is still officially in force with only Croke Park excepted. I agree that it should be removed but perhaps there should at least be a limit placed, such that permission has to be sought by the central committee, or provincial council, or even the county board (depending on how serious you take it). I favour permission from the county board. And it should be a default case that permission will always be granted unless there is a good reason not too, as opposed to only being granted if there is a good reason to do so.

Do you want the GAA to become some sort of generic sportsground providers for all other sports?

[trileacman]

I don't think this just applies to the prods, the GAA is almost exclusively played by white, Irish Catholics and is strongly linked to the Catholic church, Irish nationalism and Irish culture. None of that is a bad thing and I'm not advocating getting rid of it any of it but if we are to seem more open to an increasing mixed race, agnostic, multi-denominational population on the island then we have to become more exclusive.

Aussie rules/ American football does not prosper outside of its host nation when compared to athletics or soccer. Soccer, that no one country can claim as its own creation, is now the most successful world sport and exists as a multi-faceted organisation which means different things in different regions.

The last point is this, lads on here are giving out about "suffering" because the GAA is trying to cater for other religions/races and "their own ones" are losing out. You sound exactly like the "fleg" protesters who believe that equality and respect for others encroaches upon their previous right to drive their culture down your throat.

Making the GAA more diverse doesn't mean it will have to mean something else to you. It means you can hold onto your interpretation of the organisation whilst it can mean something else to John Bull, Jose or Ivan.

[trileacman]

if they want to play it, they will.
this will happen all in good time.
we cannot and should not force the issue.

Meh, the English could use that same mantra to eradicate racism in soccer. "A minority of dinosaurs are ruining the sport with racial abuse. We should wait until they die and there is a more tolerant society in the future. For the mean time, we'll do nothing and take no active measures against, it'll work out grand if we do nothing."

That was government policy before the civil rights marches; "the minority don't like our Protestant dominated state, however by holding out long enough they'll submit to our way of thinking and someday will come to accept our beliefs. In the meantime we should continue said policy of Protestant supremacy and unwavering loyalty to the Union."

[Eamonnca1]

Do you want the GAA to become some sort of generic sportsground providers for all other sports?

I want the GAA to have a sensible policy on the use of its grounds. Gaelic games will always get first dibs, naturally. But if a GAA club can make a bit of money by renting otherwise idle space out to a local soccer club who needs to borrow it for a few hours then why not? That's what we do in San Francisco. We make a good income from renting the fields out to lacrosse, soccer and other activities. We have to keep that facility occupied just to pay the bills on maintaining it. We get hardly any rain from April to about November, so there's a massive bill for irrigating the fields. The money has to come from somewhere.  If Rule 42 were being enforced we'd be screwed.

[theticklemister]

Do you want the GAA to become some sort of generic sportsground providers for all other sports?

I want the GAA to have a sensible policy on the use of its grounds. Gaelic games will always get first dibs, naturally. But if a GAA club can make a bit of money by renting otherwise idle space out to a local soccer club who needs to borrow it for a few hours then why not? That's what we do in San Francisco. We make a good income from renting the fields out to lacrosse, soccer and other activities. We have to keep that facility occupied just to pay the bills on maintaining it. We get hardly any rain from April to about November, so there's a massive bill for irrigating the fields. The money has to come from somewhere.  If Rule 42 were being enforced we'd be screwed.

Why is it not forced upon ye Eamonnca1? The distance I suppose.

[stew]

I'll not even reply to this. Unbelievable.

...but just to add. If Uniting Ireland is the objective then we need to bring people in, not keep them out! Think about it.
To take the next step the GAA needs to take the lead, and if that means changing club names or taking down a flag, why not?
I'm all for Irish unity, in fact I'm passionate about it. But using the strategy of Irishness over everything else with only ever guarantee that the border remains!

What's uniting Ireland got to do with it? It's not been mentioned on this thread.



By the way, I've nothing against Protestants/unionists playing GAA, and I said so earlier.

I doubt anyone has anything against Prods playing our games, most, if not all would think it great if they did.

I think the association need to stop naming clubs after fallen IRA men, that would help things along as the unionists tend to beat over the head with that!

[stew]

Do you want the GAA to become some sort of generic sportsground providers for all other sports?

I want the GAA to have a sensible policy on the use of its grounds. Gaelic games will always get first dibs, naturally. But if a GAA club can make a bit of money by renting otherwise idle space out to a local soccer club who needs to borrow it for a few hours then why not? That's what we do in San Francisco. We make a good income from renting the fields out to lacrosse, soccer and other activities. We have to keep that facility occupied just to pay the bills on maintaining it. We get hardly any rain from April to about November, so there's a massive bill for irrigating the fields. The money has to come from somewhere.  If Rule 42 were being enforced we'd be screwed.

I was dead set on opposing foreign sports right up to the point where they allowed rugby and then sawker to be played in Croke Park, that said the second they did this they were and are right to take every cent off the sawker/rugby heads that they can!

[Eamonnca1]

Why is it not forced upon ye Eamonnca1? The distance I suppose.

Technically the fields don't "belong" to the GAA, it's a lease we have on them, so I suppose there's a loophole there. But even if we owned them it'd be madness to enforce the rule, it'd put us out of business.

[Hardy]

How very typical of us - enforce the rules (however silly) unless, of course it would cause us inconvenience.