Jack Boothman: "He was a people person before that phrase was ever invented"

My first memories of Jack Boothman are of him always having a camera and I would have seen him in the most unusual places. 

He’d turn up at a county final in Longford or he could be at a county final in Down or an ordinary championship game in Louth. He loved the club and the club activities — that was what attracted him more than anything else.

I would have also come across him at events in Wicklow and he struck a chord with me from an early stage, being so open-minded, humorous and generous.

He had an unusual perspective on quite an amount of GAA activities. I always found that very interesting and challenging as he looked upon things in a different way than most.

I felt from an early stage he was so well known and so popular within the GAA that the presidency was going to be his to refuse at some point. The fact he was Church of Ireland was never an issue. If anything, it probably helped him because it was another aspect that made him unusual. But, Jack hated that being mentioned. He felt he became president on his own merits and I would agree.

If I was to have a criticism of him at all it would be related to his kindness. It was that he often favoured bending a rule if it meant being able to do a favour for someone he felt was being hard done by. He really was an exemplar in terms of showing charity for people. He was a big-hearted person in every sense and especially if someone was in trouble. Jack was always likely to show sympathy if sympathy could be shown at all.

When he first ran for the presidency in 1990 I felt he got a very respectable vote, but he was very disappointed that he wasn’t elected. It took him a good while to come around again. Of course, Jack bounced back and became a very popular president when he was eventually elected.

He was a strong advocate of clubs facilitating the playing of camogie and ladies football. That was true to his nature — that he was so inclusive. You would have expected that from him because he hated anything that was exclusive.

In that sense, his attitude towards Rule 42 — in relation to the playing of other sports in Croke Park — was very much out of character with everything else he stood for in GAA. To Jack, there were certain principles he couldn’t be moved on and that was one of them. He made no secret of the fact he had been a former rugby player himself at school and in his student days and that he loved the game and took a keen interest in it.

That didn’t prevent him from feeling that the rule was there for a purpose and that purpose should be understood and respected. Even as views changed within the GAA and it became very much a question of a toss-up as to what way opinion was going to go, Jack was very steadfast in his views in that regard.

He was always very supportive of the redevelopment of Croke Park, of the attempt to improve standards. As Jack saw it and he often said this, the GAA person deserves the very best that we could afford to give them and nothing was too good for our supporters.

He was always in favour of what he referred to as Croke Park being a cathedral for the GAA and he wanted it to be something that everyone would be proud of.

His wife Nuala is a remarkable person in that she was so supportive of him. On occasions, Jack’s sense of humour wouldn’t be appreciated by everyone and he might say things that could be hurtful at first hearing, but Nuala was always ready with a few kind words and the smiling face to take away any damage done.

She was a perfect foil for Jack in that sense. The other thing she had was a tremendous memory for names and family occasions.

Jack Boothman (right) at the opening of the new Cusack Stand in Croke Park on May 5, 1996 with (from left),Liam Mulvihill, Ard Stiúrthóir, GAA, and Bernard Allen, TD, then Minister for Sport. An active member of Blessington GAA club in Wicklow, where he remained club president, Boothman was elected president of the association in 1994, becoming the first protestant to assume the role. Boothman served for three years and championed the abolition of Rule 21, which debarred members of the British security forces from joining the GAA.

Jack led a very active life as a veterinary surgeon. He had a practice in Wicklow in the early years before he became involved as the supervising veterinary surgeon in a meat factory in Kildare and that took up most of his time. He loved going to Kildare and meeting the men at the factory and the farmers coming in with their cattle.

In his dealings with ordinary people he gave them a completely new impression of the GAA, in that he was a person who had no airs or graces whatever and was just so generous with his time in terms of talking to and listening to people.

In that sense, he did a remarkable amount for the GAA in terms of showing people that it was an organisation that cared and that it was made up of people and was for people.

That’s really what he stood for more than anything else. He was a people person before that phrase was ever invented and that I would think was the great legacy he left the GAA.

He was a caring person and made the GAA a more caring organisation because of his involvement with it.

I want to extend my sympathy to his wife Nuala and all the family. Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

The author is is a former Director General of the GAA.

Here’s a little more sport. The BallTalk team ask where did Roberto Martinez fail at Everton?