REFERENCE NO. (OFFICE USE ONLY): AR/1/38
GAA Oral History Project Interview Report Form
Name of Joe Jordan Interviewer
Date of Interview 2nd Feb 2011
Location N/A
Name of Charlie McGuinness Interviewee (Maiden name / Nickname)
Biographical Summary of Interviewee
Gender Male
Born Year Born: 1936
Home County: Armagh
Education Primary: Middletown PS
Family N/A
Club(s) Middletown GAA Club (to 1958) [Armagh]; Madden GAA Club (from 1958) [Armagh] Occupation General labourer
Parents’ Labourers Occupation
Religion Roman Catholic
Political Affiliation / SDLP supporter Membership
Other Club/Society Indoor bowling Membership(s)
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Date of Report 21 July 2012
Period Covered 1940s - 2011
Counties/Countries Armagh Covered Key Themes Travel, Supporting, Grounds, Facilities, Playing, Fundraising, Covered Education, Religion, Media, Emigration, Role of Clergy, Role of Teachers, Role of the Club in the Community, Volunteers, All-Ireland, Club History, Earliest Memories, Family Involvement, Childhood, Socialising, Relationships, Economy / Economics
Interview Summary Charlie McGuinness opens the interview by reflecting on life and football in Middletown, Co. Armagh in the 1940s and 50s. His entry to Gaelic games came using improvised footballs in Primary schools. This was prior to playing his first competitive match in 1953, after which he didn’t play for another five years. McGuinness recalls the origins of a football club in Middletown in 1954, the early success they enjoyed and the impact of emigration thereafter. McGuinness reflects also on the experience of travelling to games in the 1950s and contrasts the organisation of GAA activity in the 1950s with that of 2011, especially in the provision that is made for underage players. Issues of fundraising, demographics and land are also discussed in the interview.
0:00 Introduction to Charlie McGuinness, who is said to have been born, reared in the Middletown area.
0:25 Early memories of the area. Things were ‘rough enough’, not as good as they are now. Mentions neighbouring families and the number of houses in the area.
1:15 Attending Midldletown primary school. Mentions using improvising balls (stuffed socks). Says that a ball was ‘scarce commodity’.
2:30 Talks about playing out on the road and scarcity of cars.
2:47 Picking two teams and playing against other. ‘It was rough and tumble’, he says.
2:55 First match he played was in 1953, with the Madden Minors against Pearse Ógs in the championship. It was five years before he was involved again.
3:10 Mention of Middletown being started in 1954 and
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winning the league in 1955. Says that in 1956, five or six players went to England and the whole thing ‘folded’. Refers to some players representing two clubs for the end of 1956.
5:00 Recalls a bus which went to Armagh on a Saturday evening and being asked to play again for Madden.
5:50 Discusses the fields used by Madden: Rafferty’s, McKeown’s, Taggart’s.
6:30 Reflects on 7-a-side games at Middletown sports in the 1950s.
7:05 Recalls taking a bus to games due to the absence of cars. Mentions paying for the bus, getting money off his mother and the cost of the journey to different locations in Armagh – Tullysaran, Ballymacnab, Poyntzpass.
7:45 Fundraising and sharing money with Fr. Corry.
8:40 Discusses players he played alongside. Paddy McCardle, Owenie McDonald, Gabriel McGarry, Peter Markey, Sean Barrret and others are mentioned.
9:30 Donie McDonald was the only one from the ‘state’. McGarry was ‘more or less’ a local man. Talks about Paddy McCardle and where he was from.
10:20 Perspectives on the modern GAA: contrasts the starting of football for 7 and 8 year olds with the absence of underage football in the past. Says there was no ‘underage stuff’ and you were lucky to gather up a minor team from two or three clubs.
11:05 Reference to Peter Makem and Brendan Connolly in Derrynoose.
11:25 No population to sustain club minor teams.
11:30 Interviewer refers to the problems of the 1980s with fielding teams and to three local teams – Madden, Middletown and Derrynoose – coming together to field minor teams.
11:50 Says there is a minor team in every club now – and ‘a decent one too’.
12:25 Interviewer refers to the difficulty in keeping a senior team going in Madden in the 1960s.
12:40 Reference to, amongst others, Harry Toner and Boylans from Mullagbrack. Pat Casey. Reference, too, to
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players who ‘fell out’ with Keady.
13:45 Interviewer refers to the holding of plays in the ‘hall’ and the fact that the parish priest was ‘partial’ to the GAA.
13:50 Talks about the ways in which Madden GAA raised finance - plays in the local school. Talks about how cheap everything was in the past and contrasts it with today’s costs.
15:20 Refers to kicking football down by ‘Lappin’s bridge’ and elsewhere prior to the founding of Middletown club. Mentions Francie Grimley, Peter Grimley, John Grimley, Seamus McCann, Gerry McKenna – from the early 1950s.
16:00 Says he didn’t play in parish league in Middletown in the late 1940s.
16:05 Interviewer refers to working on a history of Middletown and the number of ‘wee pockets’ of players around the area – the bridge, Barney McGuigan’s meadow and other locations. Says that even when there were no formal teams, the GAA survived.
16:40 Agrees that the GAA survived in ‘bits and pieces’, waiting to be pulled together.
16:50 Speculates that the GAA will survive into the future because of the population.
17:15 Talks doing the lotto in the Madden club ‘every Sunday night’.
Involvement in Supporter Player □ Manager □ Coach □ Steward GAA
Chairperson Committee Member □ Grounds-person
□ Caterer □ Jersey Washer □ Referee □ None
□ Other (please specify): ______
Record as a Player 30 years - roughly equally spread between two Armagh (Titles won; Length clubs- Middletown and then Madden of time played) Record as an Currently President of Madden GAA Club Administrator (Positions held; how Held a variety of positions in both Middletown (to 1958) and long for) Madden (after 1958), Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer
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Format □ Audio Audio-Visual
Duration Length of Interview: 17:44
Language English
To be filled in by Interviewer:
I hereby assign the copyright of the content of the above to the GAA Oral History Project on the understanding that the content will not be used in a derogatory manner. I understand that I am giving the GAA Oral History Project the right to use and make available to the public the content of this interview.
Signed: Joe Jordan
Date: 2nd Feb 2011
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