Discovering the truth in the GAA’s war effort

Acknowledging that many of its members fought in the British army does not diminish the GAA’s contribution to Irish society or the fact that many others of its members fought in 1916 and in the War of Independence, writes Paul Rouse

For many years, the GAA sought to paint a portrait of its own history that was a false one. This portrait imagined that the members of the GAA had nothing to do with the First World War because they were too busy freeing Ireland.