Gaelic Football History
References to the Gaelic
Games, in particular hurling, go back to 1272BC. The
earliest accounts of football date from county Meath
in 1670. In the 17th and 18th Century both games were
noted to be important to Irish life.
Gaelic Athletic Association
In 1884 on the 1st
November a group of men, between 7 and 14, met in the
Commercial Hotel in Thurles and founded the Gaelic Athletic
Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of
National Pastimes. The foundation appears to be the
culmination of a lot of ground work being done behind
the scenes by Michael Cusack.
Cusack was a native of the Burren in County Clare.
At an early age he played hurling as well as Rugby
Union. He spoke fluent Irish. He trained as a
teacher and eventually settled in Dublin where he
set up an academy to assist in the entrance of
students to the
Police and Civil Service. He was particularly
interested in the revival of Hurling. The Cusack
Stand in Croke park was named after him in
recognition of his contribution.
The stamp at right was issued on
the 23rd August 2006 to commemorate the Centenary
of his death.
If Cusack was the driving force, it was Maurice
Davin, the first President, who nurtured the
organisation through its initial years.
Rules for football and hurling
were drawn up in January 1885 and the first
championship was played in 1887 with eight of the
counties participating in football.
the radical secret society the Irish Brotherhood tried
to take over the association but this was resisted,
with the resignation of Davin. A "reconstruction"
conference restored Davin in 1888.
Politics and the GAA have always
been frequent bedfellows. In 1902 Rule 27 was
passed. It read "any member of the association who
plays or encourages in any way rugby, football,
hockey or any imported game which is calculated or
injuriously affect our national pastimes, is
suspended from the association." It was
deleted in 1971.
Rule 21 prohibits members of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Defense
Forces from participating in Gaelic Games. The
reality is it is probably of little relevance.
The 1934 Hurling
stamp was issued to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of
the GAA while one stamp each for football and Hurling
were issued in 1984 to celebrate the Centenary of the
Archbishop Croke was born in Cork in 1823.
He was ordained a priest in 1847 in Rome and
returned to Ireland during the Great Famine. After
attending the first Vatican Council he became
Bishop of Auckland in New Zealand. He returned in
1875 to become Archbishop of Cashel. He became
involved in social policy and openly supported
home rule and the Land League. His enthusiastic
support of the GAA contributed to its rapid
development throughout rural Ireland. His name is
perpetuated in Croke Park, the Dublin headquarters
of the GAA. He died in 1902.
The stamp at left was issued on
17th September 2002 to commemorate his death.
He was Born at Straide, County Mayo in 1846. He
was the son of a small farmer. He was imprisoned
between 1870 and 1877 for his political
activities. On August 16th,
1879, the Land League of Mayo was formally founded
Castlebar, with the active support of Charles
Stewart Parnell. On October 21st, 1879, the
National Land League was formed in Dublin with
Parnell as President, and Davitt as one of the
secretaries. From that time right on to 1882 the
Land War was fought in earnest.- British Prime
Minister Gladstone at first replied with coercion,
but was finally forced into making important
Davitt served as an MP for County Meath, North
Meath and South Mayo and was a patron of the GAA
from its foundation.
The stamp above was issued on
4th July 1996 to commemorate the 150th
Anniversary of his birth. Another
was issued on 5th September 2006 on
the Centenary of his death.
|Parnell was a
protestant landlord whose family estate was at
Avondale, Co. Wicklow. He was first elected to
parliament in the Meath by-election of April 1875
and joined the Home Rule Party. Parnell was only
twenty-nine when he entered parliament. On 21
October 1879, Davitt founded the Irish National
Land League in Dublin with Parnell as President.
The main objectives of the League were to provide
tenants with a fair rent, fixed tenure and free
sale. The long term aim was that farmers would own
the land (peasant proprietorship).
Trouble loomed for
Parnell however, in his private life. He had
secretly courted a married woman, Kathleen O'Shea,
the husband of whom filed for divorce, naming
Parnell as the co-respondent. He tried to ignore
the scandal and continued his public life. Public
pressure in Ireland and from Gladstone in England
eventually brought his downfall and he died
shortly afterwards, in 1891.
The above stamp
was issued in 1991 to commemorate the Centenary of his
death, while the set below was issued on the 16th
September 1946 to commemorate the birth of both Davitt