Do GAA clubs make the best use of their membership?
Collins was clear that unity and commitment were the essential ingredients to the progress of every club. It was not that success was guaranteed when there was such unity and commitment, rather it was certain that success was impossible unless there was harmony and a willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good.
In his secretary’s report for 1909, Collins did not hold back at what he saw were the flaws in the Geraldines’ club:
“An eventful half-year has followed a somewhat riotous general meeting. Great hopes instead of being fulfilled have been rudely shattered.
"Our internal troubles were saddening, but our efforts in football and hurling were perfectly heartbreaking. In no single contest have our colours been crowned with success.
"I can only say that our record for the past half-year leaves no scope for self-congratulation. Signs of decay are unmistakable, and if members are not prepared in the future to act more harmoniously together and more self-sacrificingly generally — the club will soon have faded into an inglorious and well-deserved oblivion.”
Avoiding “an inglorious and well-deserved oblivion” relies, more than anything else, on spirit. But club spirit is something intangible, something that cannot be bottled or bought or faked. It is, instead, something that is fragile and demanding of permanent attention.
At its core, club spirit is something that ordinarily flows from people working for a club rather than talking about it.
It is something that is bathed in the smell of sweat.
Naturally, that work needs to have a purpose, a clarity of ambition that makes it all the more meaningful.
But, more important than the precision of stated ambitions is a sense of collective endeavour. In terms of club spirit, there is a basic reliance — when it comes to work — on the willingness of the members of a club to give of themselves for a greater good.
Within this framework, the importance of treating every member of a club with equal respect is not easily achieved, but it is the bedrock of prosperity. You do not necessarily have to like the person with whom you are sharing a workload (although it does help), but you do have to respect the fact that they, too, are giving of their time and labour.
Every successful club blends men and women whose lineage in a place extends into a history that long predates the GAA with others who have only just wandered in the door.
The great challenge for those who have laboured in the same place for a long time is to create space — in all its meanings — for the newcomer.
This is a matter of decency, of course, but it is also a practical action of those who wish to be successful. After all, the
rejuvenation of every club is reliant on the introduction of new blood.
Indeed, the arrival into a club of people whose families have no previous history can bring a new dynamic, a new energy which makes an enduring difference. It is something essential, something that is the mark of every thriving club.
And there, in a nutshell, lies the challenge: holding on to the best of past, striving endlessly in the present, planning and dreaming for the future. No club that is a real club does otherwise.
Do the GAA clubs of Ireland make the best use of their respective memberships?
Are all members treated equally?
The answer to that question must be an unequivocal ‘no’. There are various reasons for that — possibly, there are as many reasons as there are people. Those reasons are rooted in human nature.
It is true that it is through GAA clubs that people meet their partners, share friendships, make common ground with their families, travel near and far, drink, dance, and sing.
But it is also true that GAA clubs can also be the vehicle for displaying some of the worst aspects of human nature.
Pettiness, aggression, control, arrogance, snide condescension, and more are all to be found in GAA clubs.
It would be fairly wise to set down the rose-tinted glasses when looking at the behaviour in some GAA clubs.
Naturally, this aspect of GAA is something to be found in all manner of other sporting clubs to be found across Ireland. It is a reminder of all the things that happen whenever human beings try to do anything together.
But apart from the inevitable failings of human beings, there is a further aspect which demonstrates the manner in which all members are not treated with equal respect: What is done to create space for those who are limited in their playing talents? How are they catered for?
Apart altogether from the decency inherent in treating all with respect, there is also a practical merit in retaining within an organisation those who may not ever make much of a player on the field.
Agreat example of this comes in the form of Michael Collins. Having taken the boy’s clerk exams in Cork in February 1906, had his references checked, and completed his medical examination, Michael Collins started work with the Post Office Savings Bank in London in July 1906.
He was paid 14 shillings a week to work in the Writing Room of the bank, but — attempting to settle in London — he took to the burgeoning GAA scene in the city.
He joined the Geraldines club in West London — one of maybe a dozen clubs in the city.
Among the men he met through the GAA were Republicans such as PS O’Hegarty and Sam Maguire (who was a brilliant hurler).
Now Collins ended up with a variety of medals won in London, but the accepted view is that he was not much of a hurler or a footballer.
He was deemed to be utterly committed and driven to win but lacking in real skill.
But Collins’ great contribution to the GAA in London was as an administrator.
Building on his wider skills, he became first registrar, treasurer and then secretary. And — according to one biographer, Peter Hart — he proved to be “a dedicated secretary, keeping minutes, writing letters, and organising dances — for which he was often on the door, and once master of ceremonies.”
And all this time, he upbraided those who did not fully commit to the cause. He condemned those who behaved in a way that was ‘disgraceful’, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘heartbreaking.’
And you would imagine that these are words that many club secretaries would dearly wish to use as club AGM season rolls on.
Equally, there are clubs who would give anything to have a member of such skills as Collins to shoulder the administrative burden that grows by the year.
Most of all, though, there is no club that would refuse the type of spirit implicit in the words that he wrote.
