Banning British sports contrary to spirit of Good Friday
To suggest that the association deserves 10,000 from the government for every single euro given to soccer confirms the superiority that the GAA feels over other non-Irish sports.
To suggest that Croke Park should continue to be used to wear our "Gaelic badge" against the soccer-playing Brits in the North is an attitude best left behind in the bad old days of the Troubles, and not in the post-Good Friday Agreement days.
The GAA deserves much credit for the development of their sports, but the fact is that Croke Park would not have been built without the generous grants from government. While the current bully-boy tactics of the government may be unsavoury, it is understandable that they would expect some return on their investment in the national stadium, with co-operation from the GAA for the 2003 Special Olympics and the 2008 Euro championships bid.
The hosting of these events is an achievement for the country as a whole and should not be disrupted by the GAA's anti-Garrison Games mentality.
Despite the traditional affinity which Fianna Fáil has with the GAA(and Catholic Church), the failure of the association to play ball over Croke Park has highlighted the disaster facing the government over the Bertie Bowl. It is the government, and not the FAI, that has been driving the "open Croke Park" issue.
If the GAA does not make a generous and sporting gesture, then serious questions will be asked about the decision to give substantial grants to a sectarian and anti-sporting association the type that Cormac MacConnell wants to see survive into the future.
That any sporting organisation would try to ban another sport from its ground is against the very inclusive nature of sport. That sport is be used by the GAA to make nationalist/republican statements is disgraceful. That our national sporting body bans British sports from its grounds is contrary to the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement and may even be illegal. Hopefully the views expressed by republican traditionalists like Cormac MacConnell will disappear from the GAA in the near future.
Joe Matthew,
Ashdene,
Douglas,
Cork
