Up Antrim!: The Glory of Gaelic: Hurling: Lá Breithe Shona Duit Abdullah Ócalan: Six months of Hell

 

Up Antrim!  

24 yearsago  I wrote a short piece for Antrim 2000. I discoveredit this week when I was clearingout threedecades of accumulated books, newspaper clippings andassorted  pamphlets. The 2000 reflection on Gaelic games isreproduced below. Since then much has changed in the  Gaeldom. Themost important change is probably the growth of womens football. Until recenttimes women were confined to Camogie. Now Ladies Football is the fastestgrowing Gaelic game. 

I look forwardto the outworkings of the Steering Committee for Integration chaired byMary McAleese. 2027 has been revealed as the year that the GAA , the CamogieAssociation and The Ladies Gaelic Football Association will come together asone.  More needs  done in the meantime to give womenGaels parity with their male contemporaries. 

2027 will alsosee the emergence of  the new Casement stadium. Anotherpositive. 

Televisioncoverage has improved also. Mighty work is  being done by punditsincluding some great  podcasts and local print media columns. The BBCas a public service has more to do to bring in parity with other sports. Somecounty club finals have capacity attendances. That needs reflected incoverage.  The RTE blockage of northern access to some fixtures isdownright insulting. So too with the lack of local Council  playingfacilities.  There is much more to be done by all concerned. 

In Belfasthurling remains under pressure. Country clubs continue to stay ahead of cityhurlers. That’s to their credit. This is despite the mightywork of Gaels at all levels of the Association in Belfast.

 Localclubs and their legions of voluntary  helpers, committees, players,coaches,mentors, fundraisers and supporters remain the back bone of the Gaeldomacross the county, the nation and the diaspora. Our county boards do mightywork. So do local schools including Colaiste Feirste which is progressingnicely. Connections between schools, clubs and county will pay dividends indeveloping our player base. 

We are lucky tohave such a living popular tradition. Last Friday’s Late Late Showwas a great celebration of this and a fitting testimony to An Cumann LuathcleasGheal as  more than sporting organisation. It is a family. It isus at our best.

There was a timewhen Irish culture, including our games, was banned. In our own timecarrying a hurling stick in Belfast was illegal. So the last twenty five yearsof gaelic games have been amazing. We can look to the next twenty five yearswith confidence. 

 

The Glor y Of Gaelic 2000.

“My first love is hurling. Thatincludes Camogie. Although there are those who will argue that the camógs playa different game. I think they play a better game. Then comes football which ismainly a kind of sport to keep hurlers fit. Handball is much under-rated and Iam too out of condition now to even think of competing, though I know some agedBelfast men who are still up to championship standard.

Recently, I was told, though I can’tvouch for this, that rounders is also a Gaelic game. Maybe some of your readerscould confirm this.

So what does it all mean? Howimportant are Gaelic games? What part do they play in our lives?

To suggest that one particular sportis better than another simply because it is a native game borders onxenophobia. So, Gaelic games are not necessarily better than other games simplybecause they are Gaelic. They are better simply because they are better.

Soccer is a pedestrian sport, hypedby big money, more entertainment than athleticism. An odd time you would see agood match. Rugby isn’t too bad. In fact it can be very good and I wouldn’tmind getting more time to learn about it. Croquet and tennis and ice skatingare okay so far as they go but they are not exactly team sports. Golfing isless elitist than it used to be and I presume that even bad hurlers could begood golfers and that a half decent hurler could be a great golfer. TigerWoods’ people come from Dunloy.

There is merit in all sport and Ican’t think of one that I would be against. Not on principle anyway thoughpoorly managed boxers battering each other’s brain out has never appealed tome. At the same time Muhammad Ali is one of my sporting icons. Him and SamboMcNaughton.

Cricket is popular in Derry City. Theleast said about that the better. It just goes to show that everyone has theirown taste. And that is how it should be.

But Gaelic games are special not onlybecause of their skills, the degree of athleticism, team work and sheercommitment involved. In this context even a sceptic would concede that theycompare favourably with any other sport and a neutral would agree that theyoutclass all alternatives. I know other ball players who have been amazed athow far and how accurately a senior footballer can kick a dead ball and hurlingstill bewilders visitors from other disciplines.

But Gaelic games are special becausethey are firmly rooted in local communities and open to all who support theGaelic code. Because they bring drama and excitement, craic and huge enjoymentto players and spectators alike. Because everyone can be an expert. Becausethey are part of what we are. Uniquely Irish. No better on that basis thananyone else but special nonetheless.”

 

Hurling

Antrim in Cú Chullain mode

Cheers me up

On the long road home.

Hurling is the victor.

Losing is no shame.

The joy is in playing

This warriors’ game.

 

 

 

 LáBreithe ShonaDuit  Abdullah Ócalan

The Good Friday Agreement was 26 years old on Wednesday, 10 April.For almost all of that time Abdullah Öcalan, a founder of the KurdistanWorker’s Party, has been in prison in Turkey. There is a mural to Abdullah onthe international wall in Northumberland St. April 4 was his75th birthday.

Held in solitary confinement for years, denied family visits for much ofthat time, he has nonetheless become a voice for peace, a leader willing tooffer the hand of friendship to enemies.

There  arealternative ways to resolve long-standing differences. It takespatience and leadership.

Öcalan has demonstrated that leadership. Despite incarceration, hehas forged a road map to peace that commits the Kurdish people to democracy andfreedom and tolerance. He has said that it is time to “silence the weapons andlet the ideas and politics speak.” Öcalanwants a “new beginning” that willbring the Kurdish people’s struggle into a new phase in which they can throughnegotiation create an equal, free and democratic country for “all peoples andcultures.”

I commend Abdullah for his leadership and vision and urge the Turkishgovernment to release him.

Six months of Hell

This week marks six months from theattack by Hamas on southern Israel and Israel’s vengeful genocidal response tothat. October 7 was wrong but it didn’thappen in a vacuum.

Since 1948 when Palestine wasforcibly partitioned and three quarters of a million Palestinians were forcedto flee their homes, the Israeli state has further occupied the west Bank, fora time the Gaza Strip, built illegal settlements on Palestinian land andimposed a brutal apartheid regime.

In the decades since then scores ofresolutions condemning Israeli behaviour have been passed by the UN SecurityCouncil and General Assembly. Israel has ignored them all. 

Six months on almost 35,000Palestinians, including 15,000 children, have been killed by Israeli bombs andsnipers and now by starvation. Scores of UN aid workers and now several foreignaid workers have been targeted and killed. Rafah remains under threat. Inaddition, Israeli forces attack Southern Lebanon and last week bombed theIranian Consulate in Damascus. These actions have increased concern that Netanyahuis trying to provoke a wider war to bolster his own position which is now underincreasing pressure within Israel and internationally. 

So what can we do? Increase pressureon the Irish government and its new Taoiseach to take firm action against Israel.And continue to demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages –Israeli and Palestinian – an end to the genocide; humanitarian aid for Gaza;the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; displaced Palestinians to be ableto return home and the lifting of the illegal blockade of Gaza.