Why GAA must break the link with alcohol
He seems to argue that, because other sports bodies have not been censured publicly for accepting alcohol sponsorship, then the GAA should not be.
His remark about “a kick in the backside” meriting “two kicks back” I shall set aside as being an unhappy and regrettable joke.
(If it was indeed intended as a joke, I might be tempted to rejoin that no such undignified crack can be applied a posteriori.)
But if it wasn’t a joke, I find it passing strange that the president of such a distinguished sports association should seem to champion, and even to encourage, physical retaliation which is properly frowned on in any sporting circles.
The whole passage was inelegant. And talk about noblesse oblige!
The president seems to have forgotten that, unlike those other sports organisations, the association he leads is more than a sporting body.
So it is, in fact, a mark of credit and a tribute that the Minister for Health has called on the GAA to set a headline.
The president is new to his office but he has not, I am sure, forgotten that the GAA is by its own charter “committed to the welfare of the people of Ireland, through the promotion of Gaelic games”.
Both those prepositions, and their juxtaposition, are important. So there is a something called idealism involved!
To cut to the chase, I present here my argument against any alcohol sponsorship by the GAA. It is based on the concept of responsibility.
To spare valuable space, I put it in logical format, a chain of reasoning. The real purpose of such a chain of reasoning is that, if any one link can be broken, the whole chain collapses. Here is the chain with, in this instance, its four premises and a conclusion:
1. Anyone engaged in promoting a social evil is not acting responsibly.
2. Overuse of alcohol is a social evil.
3. Sponsorship by alcohol firms promote that overuse.
4. The GAA is now engaged in such sponsorship.
5. Ergo, the GAA is not now acting responsibly.
Thoughtful readers will agree that every one of these premises is already evident in today’s society.
But which of them does the president care to refute and so break the chain? Just one link!
Leon Ó Mórcháin,
Cluain Cearbán
Co Mhuigheo.
