Christy O'Connor: Why fresh roots matter for the GAA's future

Some of the largest GAA clubs are draining talent from the less successful clubs around them. How big is too big? Is a certain threshold on membership necessary before a new club is required in that area?

Dave McGreevy and Richard Maguire thought they might found East Belfast GAA club with an U12 team but within two weeks they had teams in football, hurling, camogie and ladies football. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

The GAA’s biggest challenge

During lockdown in May 2020, Dave McGreevy texted his friend Richard Maguire one Sunday at 7am about possibly setting up a GAA club in East Belfast. Maguire texted him back. ‘What are you smoking?’ If Maguire thought the idea was far-fetched, it was fully understandable. A predominantly Protestant, certainly unionist and in some cases loyalist hotbed, East Belfast hadn’t been home to a GAA club in half a century.