Still lots to learn from field of athletics

When Michael Cusack founded the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884 he had two main aims: to re-establish hurling as the national game and to promote athletics throughout the country.

Athletics was the main focus in the formative years but Gaelic football was to sweep the nation and resulted in athletics moving away from the association — now a single body in the form of Athletics Ireland in the present day.

While athletics is no longer part of the GAA, the sport’s influence on football and hurling, and indeed the rest of the sports throughout the country and abroad, is impressive in the form of therapists and fitness trainers.