‘Democrats’ block path to sporting ecumenism

THE GAA is often touted as a most democratic organisation.

Why, on the odd occasion I've even reckoned it was probably too democratic, with its vaunted annual Congress, where every individual club member through every individual club through every individual county, through its county delegates to that big meeting, got to have their little voice heard.

Oh, such annual bullshit. All of that reckoning on my account was before I got to actually attend Congress. Not, I hasten to add, as a delegate, but as an observer from the media. What I observed was this: the GAA is democratic, but not related to democracy as we are supposed to know it. It was the Congress of the famous non-political non-interference non-committal offer of tens of millions of badly-needed punts by our innocently altruistic Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, co-incidentally on the eve of a crucial Croke Park usage vote.