The real value of the GAA

The GAA can often become unsure or paranoid about its role in society but if you ever want to see its true value in a community then witness the way it deals with a tragic event. Time and again over the years I have found it remarkable and reassuring the way a community is drawn together by the GAA club when there is a tragedy to be handled.

The deaths last week of four young students on the Galway-Mayo border emphasised the value of a strong GAA club in a community with the Naomh Anna club in Leitir Móir having to deal with two of their players being taken away on the cusp of their adult lives.

Teresa Molloy from Leitir Moir and Marie Stephanie Conneely from Baile na hAbhann had both played for Naomh Anna and in the midst of grieving for the unimaginable loss of such talented young people, the GAA club came out in force to help the community deal with the tragedy and handle the funerals.

An tAthar Míchael O Braonain, parish priest in Leitir Móir — and a man who did not mince his words about who was responsible for the appalling state of our roads — remarked on Sunday how there had been such joy in the area a week earlier when Naomh Anna won the Connacht intermediate title and how, just seven days later, the community was again at one, but this time in grief.

As often happens in such cases, it is the GAA club members who open up fields for car parking, organise stewarding, serve endless cups of tea and sandwiches in community centres or GAA clubs, and so many other things that make tragic funerals pass with a little bit less difficulty for the families concerned.

In Connemara at the weekend, they had to endure ferocious weather in carrying out basic functions, but they did it for no better reason that they felt it was their duty. Time and again it is the GAA, more so than any other club or local organisation, who take it upon themselves to show leadership and rally the community.

It is a role they carry out up and down the country and one which hundreds of families touched by the heavy burden of grief have been very grateful for. It isn't all about winning matches.

THEY SAID IT: "We will give it a real go at Norwich. People need to see shots, action and attacking football" — Paul Merson, Walsall caretaker manager, on his first match in charge in 2004. They lost 6-0.

IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY: 25th November 1914: Baseball star Joe DiMaggio, who led the Yankees to nine World Series titles, was born. He hit safely in 56 consecutive games in 1941, an all-time record. He retired in 1951 but came back into the limelight in January 1954 when he married Marilyn Monroe. Nine months later she filed for divorce.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment