SPOSPO TT and evolution:

THE KERRYR GAA AND THE 1916 RISING

by Dr. Richard McElligott 2 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 24TH APRIL 2016 Foundations

the Prairie Fire The 1916 Rising is the most signifi- After all, Michael Cusack had established cant event in modern Irish history. the Association with the aim of preserving and promoting Gaelic games and culture in It represented a watershed in the political an attempt to reverse the growing popular- 1884-1900and social development of this country. ity of British culture and British sports in The Easter rebellion, though militarily an Ireland. utter failure, set in motion events which From the beginning, the GAA had links would ultimately lead to a successful mass with prominent members of both the pop- independence movement emerging in Ire- ular and politically moderate Home Rule land, culminating in the Irish Free State movement of the Irish Parliamentary Party being established and the island being par- and the radical, revolutionary Irish Republi- titioned in 1921. can Brotherhood (IRB). More than this, the The Rising’s impact on Irish life is hard GAA represented a sporting revolution. Its to overstate. formation gave ordinary Irishmen the chance to participate in organised modern sport en Though the GAA itself had no official part masse. in helping organise the rebellion, hundreds J.P. O’Sullivan of its members did participate. In the months Before the coming of the Association, the and years which followed, the Association organised modern sports which were being sports body to the ordinary people. By cre- and its membership, much like Irish soci- introduced from Britain were mostly con- ating an organisation which tapped into Irish ety at large, became increasingly political- trolled and run by an elite in Irish society. people’s sense of local pride and national ly radicalised. In Kerry, the links between identity, the GAA, almost instantly, became Rugby, cricket and even soccer in this pe- a powerful force in Irish life. the rebels of 1916 and the local GAA were riod, were the playthings of Ireland’s upper considerable and in its aftermath, the Ris- classes. In Cusack’s own words, the Association ing’s effect on the Association in the county spread across Ireland ‘like a prairie fire’. would be profound. Working class men and women seemed By 1889, there were already 777 affiliated condemned to remain mere spectators of Since its foundation in 1884, the GAA had GAA clubs recorded in Ireland in contrast to the games of their social betters. Cusack always displayed a strong affiliation with the mere 124 soccer clubs then in existence changed all that. The GAA was specifically Irish nationalism. in the country. designed to open up a national competitive Michael Cusack MOYNIHAN MAURICE and the establishment of the Kerry GAA Decline inks between Kerry and the Association were quickly forged. Cusack chose Tralee to be the venue for the Lfirst great demonstration of the GAA’s power. He was and Decay as much interested in governing Irish athletics as he was in promoting hurling and Gaelic football. THE GAA WAS now the largest sporting For several years, Tralee had host- However in 1887, the IRB man- organisation on the island. Yet within ed one of Ireland’s largest annual aged to gain control over the GAA’s athletics meetings. Cusack planned Central Council and following this five years it verged on extinction. to fix a GAA athletics event on the Maurice Moynihan, the secretary same day it was being staged (17th of the Kerry IRB, took the initi- In 1890 a massive economic depression, caused by June 1885). At the time, the Tralee ative in rekindling Gaelic games the collapse of the agricultural industry, descended sports ground (now Austin Stack activity there. In November 1887, on Ireland. The dire economic situation triggered Park) was widely regarded as the the Tralee Mitchels GAA club was the return of mass emigration. 716,000 people (15% finest stadium in Ireland having formed. The following February, of Ireland’s population) left in the last years of the recently received a £1,200 refur- the first ever football match under nineteenth century. Most were the young men who bishment to erect new stands and GAA rules in Kerry was played had backboned the Association’s membership. The lay a running and cycling track. at Rathass between Mitchels and impact was devastating as the lifeblood of many clubs the Ashill Alderman Hoppers club Cusack believed that staging a was swept away. from Ballymacelligott in front of GAA event which could mobilise several thousand spectators. popular support at the expense of By 1894 only 118 clubs survived in Ireland, ten this rival and successful athletics As more clubs were established, in Kerry. meeting would secure the future Moynihan, through the pages of success of his organisation. the Kerry Sentinel, issued a ral- No active GAA branch now existed in the twenty-six lying cry to the people of Kerry: On 31st May 1885, the first ever counties and the Association neared bankruptcy. ‘Our county is one of the most, if branch of the Association in Ker- not the most, backward in Ireland ry was formed in Tralee. Shortly Furthermore, the incompetence of both local and in the ranks of the Gaelic Athletic after, Cusack travelled to the town national administrators was constantly highlighted Association ... Shall it be said that to personally oversee preparations. as another major reason for the Association’s woes. when there is a revival of Gaelic The Kerry Sentinel complained: ‘County Boards are The GAA sports, held in Ratho- games all over Ireland, Kerry is the largely responsible for the disappearance of many nane (now the Greyhound track), only county which gives a faint and proved an extraordinary success half-hearted answer to the call! ... clubs which, smarting under the bungling and unjust and upwards of 10,000 people at- I would say to the young men of treatment of the governing body, become disorgan- Maurice Moynihan ised and simply disband.’ tended. In contrast, the rival event Kerry, join the ranks of the Gaelic one in the life of this country.’ (Courtesy of Liam Brosnan, Killarney) was a financial disaster. Following Athletic Association ... Do it be- this propaganda triumph, the GAA cause it is your duty; do it out of On 7th November 1888, Moyni- a year, thirty-three clubs had af- In 1896, the Kerry County Board refused to affiliate swiftly gained control of athletics pride; do it for any motive, because han convened the inaugural County filiated. 1889 saw the first county to the GAA when a decision that Tralee would host in Ireland. it is an association which deserves Convention of the Kerry GAA. At hurling and football championships the Munster Final was reneged on. Within a year, well of the people, and because it the meeting, Kerry’s first County take place with fifteen football the County Board folded and GAA activity in Kerry And yet despite this, GAA activity is at present a great force, and is Board was selected and Moyni- teams and five hurling teams par- in Kerry quickly collapsed. collapsed. bound to become a much greater han was elected secretary. Within ticipating. 21ST APRIL 2016 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 3 Popularising The Game

Who the hell said we couldn’t play in the wet! AFTER BEATING, WATERFORD, Clare, Cork and Mayo, Kerry qualified for the 1903 All-Ireland Final, which due to delays, was played in 1905. In the lead up, a supporter ry leading 0-3 to 0-2. However, wrote to the editor of the Ker- in the second half the Kerry ryman suggesting: ‘There are forwards became dominant. men who should be put off the Kerry claimed its first football 1905-1915 Kerry football team and No. 1 All-Ireland title on a scoreline of is called Arthur Guinness … We 0-8 to 0-2. want to become champions of The victory led to scenes of Ireland … the chance offered to jubilation. us now may not occur again in Before the game, the Kerry- a generation.’ man’s reporter ‘JJ MC’ recorded A staggering combined attend- the anxiety and worry of the trav- Rebirth 1900 ance of nearly 60,000, a figure elling Kerry supporters looking which smashed any previous out the train windows at the n 1900, secretary of the Listow- Mitchels went on to dominate the Kerry Coun- County Championship winners representing record for a sports event in streaming rain and wondering el GAA, Thomas F. O’Sullivan, ty Championship between 1902 and 1910. On Kerry had to change. He persuaded his club Ireland, would witness the draw how their team would cope with began a campaign in the local the back of this success, O’Sullivan and Stack to look beyond their own members and select and two replays it took to sepa- the conditions. I would lay the foundations for Kerry’s rise to the best players from across Kerry. press to revive the Association in rate Kerry and Kildare between As JJ strolled onto the pitch and inter-county glory. The Kerry side which won its inaugural July and October 1905. basked in the glory of victory, he Kerry. Under their effective leadership, the GAA All-Ireland contained only eight Mitchels EXCITEMENT ‘noticed a man coming across O’Sullivan, an active IRB member, was hor- in Kerry quickly became better organised, players. rified at the growing popularity of ‘British’ Ireland’s entire railway network the field after the whistle who I administered and more profitable. In the weeks leading up to Championship sports like rugby in areas like North Kerry was pressed into service to cope knew and at home was much Steadily the disputes which had previously games, Stack organised dedicated training following the collapse of the County Board. with the demand of people trav- respected ... I thought he was crippled local GAA affairs were eradicated. camps and challenge games against clubs as elling from every corner of the under the influence of drink That May, he successfully organised a GAA Affiliated club numbers in Kerry jumped to trials for those players in contention for the country to see the games. but found he was only tempo- Convention in Tralee at which a new Coun- 35 by 1901. Yet on the inter-county scene county team. The matches were played in rarily mad. He struck me on the ty Board was formed with O’Sullivan being things remained bleak. Between 1893 and After Kerry’s maiden All-Ireland victory, the primitive grounds in Thurles shoulder and slung the ques- elected secretary. 1902, Kerry only reached two Munster finals county chairman, Eugene O’Sullivan, declared and Cork which offered no em- tion: ‘WHO THE HELL SAID WE Meanwhile Austin Stack, a young office clerk losing both. that no one had done more to ensure victory bankments or stands and only COULDN’T PLAY IN THE WET?’ from Tralee, helped reorganise the Mitchels Stack recognised that if Kerry was to compete than Stack due to his extraordinary ‘organisa- a rope around the pitch to keep The local press declared: ‘The club becoming its secretary and captain. for All-Ireland honours, the principle of the tional skills, untiring energy and personality’. out the throngs. greatest battle in the history of Yet the speed, skill, intensity the Gaelic Athletic Association and excitement of the games has been fought and won ... astounded journalists and For generations to come the spectators. The pace was so matches ... will be spoken of frantic that at full time in the at our Kerry firesides as one of first replay, the referee collapsed the most interesting events in from exhaustion. Across Ireland, the whole history of the county.’ media and public interest sur- The epic of Kerry’s maiden passed anything ever seen for All-Ireland catapulted the GAA an Irish sporting event. into the mainstream of Irish As the rain poured down, the sport and led to Gaelic football Kerry team entered the pitch for claiming its place at the cen- the third and final game. tre of Irish sporting culture. The The Kerry Sentinel reported: ‘it stage was set for the Association seemed the earth itself shook to become the largest sporting with the ring of ‘‘Up Kerry’’’. A body in Ireland in the decade close first half ended with Ker- before 1916.

THE KERRY TEAM, ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONS, 1903 (taken in 1905). Back row from left: T.F. O’Sullivan, Hon. Sec. County Board; E. O’Sullivan, President, County Board; R. Kirwan; A. Stack, C. Healy, M. McCarthy; T. Looney; J.P. O’Sullivan. Centre row from left: D. Curran, C. Duggan, D. McCarthy, T. O’Gorman, J. Buckley, W. Lynch, P. Dillon. Front row from left: J. O’Gorman; R. (Dick) Fitzgerald; J.T. Fitzgerald; D. Breen. (Courtesy of The National Library of Ireland)

and became one of the most formidable clubs in Kerry WHAT’S IN A NAME? before they disbanded and disappeared in 1911. Given the overwhelming Catholic and Nationalist ethos SINCE THE ASSOCIATION’S foundation in Kerry, of the GAA and its membership at this time, it is no famous club names such as Tralee Mitchels, Dr surprise that clubs named after Saints and Irish patriots Crokes and Laune Rangers have been synony- were most common. mous with the county’s GAA tradition. But hun- Ironically, given the Listowel Catholic Temperance Soci- dreds of other clubs, most now lost to history, ety club’s origins, the County Board passed a unanimous have all played their role in the development of resolution throwing them out of the GAA after their first the Kerry GAA. Between 1884 and 1934, no less ever county championship game in 1895 ‘in consequence than 436 separate GAA clubs were recorded in of the disgraceful conduct of their players and supporters who have brought discredit on the Association here’. Kerry. In the years before 1916, club names were often cho- The fantastical names of many of these teams tell their sen to reflect members’ opposition to British rule in own rich history. Wonderful names such as the Ballyda- Ireland such as the Killorglin Irish Brigade Transvaal vid Isles of the Sea, the Cordal Wild Rovers, the Tullig GAA, named in honour of a military unit of Irishmen Gamecocks, the Renard Holy Terrors and the Tralee that fought with the Boers against the British in South Gods, pepper the contemporary Gaelic games coverage. Africa two years previously. The powerful Dingle Gascons, exotically named ‘from Meanwhile in a display of sympathy, the Rathmore GAA the Gascony region in France whose inhabitants are su- rechristened their club the Rathmore Pearses in the weeks preme soldiers, strong and quick witted’ emerged in 1906 after the Rising. 4 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 21ST APRIL 2016 Players and Patriots The GAA in War and Rebellion the Kerry GAA, the IRB and the Irish Volunteers HE REORGANISATION OF the James Nowlan, the GAA’s president, recom- Kerry GAA mirrored the national mended that every member should ‘join the vol- resurgence of the Association unteers and learn to shoot straight’. T In Kerry, local GAA officials were immediately at this time. prominent in establishing the movement. In the decade before the Rising, the GAA became Stack, now Chairman of the Kerry GAA, organ- a close ally of the wider nationalist movement. ised the meeting to form the Tralee Volunteers on While the vast majority of its members were po- 10th December. litical moderates who fully supported the Irish Kerry’s star midfielder Pat O’Shea was instru- Parliamentary Party’s campaign for Home Rule, mental in establishing a Volunteer company in by 1916 the Association also contained a growing Castlegregory and used the local GAA club as a number of political radicals who were will- recruiting ground for members, while Dick ing to support a rebellion against British Fitzgerald, the Kerry captain, was an rule in Ireland. officer in the Killarney corps. These members did not represent The Kerry Board also argued for the official view of the GAA. Yet a greater degree of co-operation they did reflect the now growing between the two organisations. In influence of militant nationalism September 1914, it requested the within Irish society. In Kerry the GAA to amend its constitution IRB, in the guise of officials to allow for the affiliation of ri- like Austin Stack, were a con- fle clubs. By June 1914, the Vol- stant influence on the leadership unteers numbered over 180,000 of the local GAA in the years men many of whom had been after 1900. Nationally, the IRB’s drawn from GAA clubs across growing control could be seen in Charlie Duggan Ireland. the Association’s decision in 1903 to ban police and military personnel becoming members. In 1913, the Irish Parliamentary Party’s seemingly imminent success in introducing Home Rule caused the Ulster Unionist com- munity to establish the Ulster Volunteers to oppose its implementation, by force if nec- essary. In response Irish nationalists began to argue for a similar armed militia. Maurice P. Ryle, editor of the Kerry Ad- vocate newspaper, delivered a speech in Tralee and declared, ‘If Ulster can give … 90,000 drilled men, what could not the rest of Ireland be able to give’. Ryle stated that members of the GAA ‘whose prowess have been proved on many a hard fought field’ could easily form vol- unteer clubs and drill in the use of arms.’ The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was equally worried about the potential of such a force, commenting that if it was established, ‘the GAA could supply an abundance of first class recruits’. On 22nd November 1913 the Irish Volunteers were established at a large public meeting in Dublin. Austin Stack (Photo courtesy of Seamus O’Reilly) THE GAA and THE 1916 RISING The GAA THE IRISH PARLIAMENTARY PARTY’s call for the Irish the landing of the German arms occur in Tralee before action was and the Volunteers to assist the British war effort shattered the that coming Easter and ensure their taken in Dublin. powerful unity of the force. distribution among Volunteer units That evening, Stack was arrested First in Munster, while simultaneously 13,500 of its more radical mem- In October, Pearse visited Tralee on a visit to Tralee RIC Barracks. their colleagues in Dublin launched bers split and would come under and informed Stack of the IRB’s Leaderless, and with military forc- World War their rebellion. To assist him, Stack es in the town now on high alert, WHILE THE 1916 Rising would profoundly the control and sway of the IRB. plans to land German weapons in effectively used his local GAA the Tralee Volunteers took the de- affect the GAA, the Great War also had a In Kerry, the GAA clearly aligned Kerry. with this radical faction. Indeed so connections. cision on Easter Sunday morning significant impact on the Association. In preparation for this, Stack used focused had they become on their The former Kerry footballer, to return to their homes, ending Two examples of the contrasting experiences of GAA the All-Ireland Final between Ker- Volunteer duties that the Kerryman ry and Wexford in November 1915 Patrick Cahill, was appointed his Kerry’s involvement in the planned players during the war are provided by Charlie Duggan second in command. Meanwhile, complained that meetings of the as a cover for an operation to smug- insurrection. and James Rossiter. Pat O’Shea arranged for a trusted Duggan, a member of Tralee Mitchels, won an All-Ire- County Board were now falling gle a consignment of rifles from Despite these setbacks, the Mili- land with Kerry in 1903. through. Dublin to Kerry, in order to ade- harbour pilot to guide the German vessel, the Aud, into Fenit when it tary Council launched its uprising A soldier with the Royal Munster Fusiliers regi- In the spring of 1915, the IRB quately arm the local Volunteers. in Dublin at noon on Easter Mon- formed a Military Council under appeared. ment, in August 1914 Duggan was sent with his unit Tadhg Kennedy, a member of the day. to France. Patrick Pearse to prepare an in- County Board, was put in charge However as Easter approached, 302 players from fifty-two sepa- He was wounded at the Battle of Mons but survived surrection against British rule in of a group of Volunteers osten- the Military Council’s plans began the war and returned to Tralee. Ireland using the Volunteers. sibly travelling as supporters to to fall apart. rate Dublin GAA clubs numbered Meanwhile Rossiter was one of the GAA’s rising stars, Pearse sought to use the influence the match. The morning after the On Good Friday, the Aud was in- among the 1,300 rebels who fought a brilliant forward on the Wexford team which lost to the IRB enjoyed among the GAA game, Kennedy’s men secured the tercepted by the Royal Navy off the in the capital. In all, five of the fif- Kerry in the All-Ireland Finals of 1913 and 1914. He to further their designs. weapons which were smuggled Kerry coast. That same morning, teen men executed for their part in enlisted and was killed in action in November 1915. the Rising, Patrick Pearse, Sean Poignantly, the press reprinted his last letter home By now Austin Stack was the aboard the returning supporters’ Roger Casement was captured by in which he wrote he felt more nervous when facing acknowledged head of both the train to Tralee that evening. the RIC after landing on Banna McDermott, Eamonn Ceannt, Con Kerry than about the upcoming battle. IRB and the Irish Volunteers in In February 1916, the Military Strand off a German U-boat. Stack Colbert and Michael O’Hanrahan the county. Council asked Stack to organise had orders that no trouble should had GAA connections. 21ST APRIL 2016 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 5 The Radicalisation of the GAA

‘A Discontented and Rebellious Spirit is Widespread’

1916-1919 IN THE DAYS following the Rising, the British Government established a Royal Commission to uncover the causes of the insurrection.

It concluded that the whole affair was perpetrated by the Irish Volunteers and claimed that their entire leadership consisted of radicals drawn from four anti-British bodies, including the GAA. The Commission’s evidence stated that by 1916 the Volunteers had gained ‘practically full control’ over the Association.

In response to this accusation that the GAA was directly involved in helping orchestrate the Rising, the Central Council issued the following response in the national media: ‘The claims that the GAA has been used in furtherance of the objects of the Irish Volunteers are as untrue as they are unjust, we strongly protest against the Commission’s misrepresentations of the aims and objects of the GAA.’

Given the uneasy political climate in the country and the initial hostility of the Irish public towards the rebellion, the GAA’s leadership wanted to dissociate itself as much as possible.

It wished to avoid any further Government crackdowns on the Frongoch Internment Camp, Wales Association itself or its members.

And so the GAA, like every other major nationalist body in Ireland, showed no immediate sympathy with those Frongoch who took part in the rebellion, or their cause. Yet some within the GAA were proud that the Association had been implicated, an act which A University of Revolution seemed to reaffirm its support for the nationalist cause. Maurice Moynihan, the founding father N THE IMMEDIATE hundreds of ordinary members of close contact with men, whom of the GAA in Kerry, wrote to the Kerry Sentinel aftermath of the the Association. we used only hear about pre- that it would have been ‘most uncomplimentary Rising, public opin- On May 9th, large scale arrests viously, was a binding force to the Association if it were omitted’ by the I in the future. John Bull made ion across Ireland con- were conducted in Kerry. Among Commission’s investigation. those rounded up were GAA of- an awful blunder when he demned the insurrection. ficials and county players such put us all together there.’ Due to the Commission’s findings, the author- The Bishop of Kerry denounced as Paddy Cahill, Dick Fitzger- Owing to the number of ities conducted a campaign of harassment the actions of the rebels and ald, D.J. Griffin of Castlemaine, GAA players interned in towards the GAA on both a local and national called on young men not to al- Harry Spring of Firies, Patrick Frongoch, Gaelic football level for several months. low themselves ‘to be drawn in Landers and Michael Griffin of was played to keep up dis- by evil minded men affected by Listowel and J.F. O’Shea, the cipline, fitness and morale On June 4th, a scheduled meeting of the Socialistic and Revolutionary Portmagee captain. amongst prisoners. Munster Provincial Council in Limerick was doctrines’. Yet, the months after Dick Fitzgerald, Kerry’s raided and broken up by the city’s police. the Rising witnessed the GAA INTERNMENT legendary captain, and Mi- and its members becoming in- The majority found themselves chael Collins, who was active By September 1916, the RIC was still forcing creasingly politically radicalised. deported to internment camps in the London GAA, arranged entry into county championship games in Kerry. This was directly due to the Brit- such as Frongoch in north Wales, the games. However by now, public opinion in Ireland had be- ish authorities’ treatment of the which had originally been con- A league competition was start- gun to turn against the British Government. Association in the months follow- structed to house German POWs. ed among four teams, each play- ing the revolt. However far from hindering the ing six matches with two games The Irish people were appalled by the executions of the On April 25th, martial law was Volunteers or the IRB, this policy being held daily. rebel leaders and a growing cult of martyrdom began to proclaimed across Ireland and of mass internment only succeed- The teams were called after the emerge around them. the holding of sports events was ed in increasing their strength leaders of the Rising. The fourth outlawed. and appeal. The detention of so team, nicknamed ‘The Lepre- Dick Fitzgerald (Photo courtesy of T.J. Flynn) The trial and hanging of Roger Casement in London also struck a One victim was the Munster many young men, many with lit- chauns’ due to the small stature powerful chord, particularly in Kerry. championship clash between tle previous involvement in these of their players, was coached players from both counties now Tipperary and Kerry scheduled bodies, brought them into contact by Dick Fitzgerald and won the GAA events provided some of the earliest examples of this growing in Frongoch, it was decided that for April 30th. with the emerging revolutionary competition. A Welsh prison surge of sympathy for the rebels. That July, the Tipperary hurlers Louth and Kerry, led by Dick Over 3,400 people were arrested republican doctrine. Due to their guard watching on remarked: ‘if began their Munster championship campaign by wearing rosettes on Fitzgerald, should play the final in the days following the Rising shared incarceration, many GAA this is what they’re like at play, their jerseys symbolising their solidarity with the executed leaders. there. Kerry emerged victorious for their supposed participation members became politically rad- they must be hellish in a scrap!’ by one point. with the rebellion. icalised. Inter-county contests were also Across Ireland, clubs from Tyrone to Limerick rechristened themselves Frongoch became a school of The vast majority were known As Willie Mullins, an internee organised and the pitch the pris- in memory of the martyrs of 1916. revolution for Irish republicans or suspected Volunteers or IRB and footballer with the Tralee oners used was renamed Croke and the concentration on Gael- Mitchels, stated: ‘The comrade- Park. Soon the RIC were noting that ‘a discontented and rebellious spirit members but many of those tak- ic games by its prisoners was a In January 1916, the GAA had is widespread which frequently comes to the surface at GAA tour- en had little or no involvement ship that developed in Frongoch deliberate statement symbolising organised a secondary competi- naments’. The arrest and detention of many within the Association with the rebellion. Because of and the knowledge we got of each their rejection of British rule and hardened members’ views of the British authorities. The rise of the tion, the Wolfe Tone tournament, the close connection between other from different parts of the culture and their commitment to Sinn Féin party between 1917 and 1918 would provide the catalyst which saw Kerry and Louth qual- the GAA and both organisations, country, the military aspect of the struggle for independence. for the political radicalisation of Irish society and with it the GAA. those targeted for arrest included things and being brought into ify for the final. With so many 6 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 21ST APRIL 2016

The GAA and the Emerging Republican Movement

The Rise of Writers and Sinn Féin Revolutionaries THE CONTRIBUTION OF the HE RISING HAD been greeted with disbelief Kerry GAA during this period and anger by the Irish people. Members was not limited to the playing or Tof the Association overwhelmingly shared battlefields. these sentiments. But the brutal British reaction T.F. O’Sullivan and Dick Fitzgerald would write two of the most important works on the As- swiftly changed public opinion and generated a sociation. renewed hatred of British rule in Ireland. In 1907, O’Sullivan left his position as sec- With popular opinion moving the Sinn Féin programme of retary of the Kerry GAA to join the Freeman’s against the Irish Parliamen- defiance rather than the old Journal in Dublin, serving as its parliamenta- tary Party and its links with Home Rule policy of coop- ry correspondent in London until the paper’s the British Government, Sinn eration. demise in 1924. Outside of journalism, O’Sullivan retained a Féin was able to capitalise Swiftly Sinn Féin became a on the new national mood. deep interest in Irish history and his major mass nationalist movement contribution was the publication of The Sto- In 1905, Arthur Griffith had which the veterans of 1916 ry of the GAA in October 1916. This was the formed the party to campaign rallied to. first ever written history of the Association. In for full Irish independence as By 1917, the Irish political its introduction, O’Sullivan declared that the opposed to the limited free- landscape was being trans- GAA was ‘the greatest athletic organisation the dom that Home Rule offered. formed and GAA events fre- world has ever seen and it has helped foster Though Sinn Féin had no quently showed the earliest a spirit of earnest nationality in the hearts of the rising generation.’ involvement with the Rising, examples of this changing He continued to write for various newspapers for years the British authori- political mood. ties had used the term ‘Sinn and published many works of history before In Kerry, GAA supporters Féiners’ to describe all radical his death in 1950. were being arrested and im- nationalists like the IRB and Meanwhile in 1914, Dick Fitzgerald published the Volunteers. prisoned for shouting Sinn How to Play Gaelic Football. Féin slogans and display- As a training manual of the games skills and When the uprising broke out, ing republican flags during an exposition of Fitzgerald’s own philosophy it was quickly dubbed the on the sport, the publication became essential ‘Sinn Féin Rebellion’. matches. In Clare, the County Board reading for players, trainers and supporters Griffith now set about ex- alike. began the process which saw ploiting this new found, if The book was ground breaking in its extensive misplaced fame, for his small Eamon de Valera nominated use of photographs demonstrating the skills organisation. to contest and win the coun- Fitzgerald wrote about. By the autumn of 1916, the ty’s by-election for Sinn Féin Fitzgerald spent much of the work musing Inspector General of the RIC that July. on the strength and characteristics needed was reporting the widespread The Clare footballers, who, by players in specific positions. belief among the Irish popula- coached by Dick Fitzgerald Therefore a goalkeeper ‘like a poet is born tion ‘that one week of physical reached that year’s All-Ireland and not made’; half backs ‘should be as hard as nails and able to take a good deal of rough force did more for the cause Final, entered their matches under a banner proclaiming abuse’ and the centre forward should be ‘the of Ireland than a quarter of a star of the side, a master tactician and the century of constitutional ag- ‘Up de Valera’. The RIC re- general to the whole team’. itation’. The growing reality ported that Sinn Féin’s popu- The book constantly emphasised the great for many was that political larity was becoming so great Kerry players who lived up to these charac- freedom from Britain could be it now ‘virtually dominates’ teristics while celebrating Kerry’s footballing achieved quicker by adopting the GAA. tradition.

Thomas Ashe (Photo courtesy of The National Library of Ireland) The Death of ThomasAshe THE DEATH OF Thomas Ashe would further inflame nationalist opinion and, particu- home to Kerry. larly in Kerry, lead to a huge upsurge in support for the republican movement. In the weeks that followed, Ashe toured Ireland, eu- Born in Lispole in 1885, Ashe was heavily involved two Volunteers. It represented the most successful logising the Sinn Féin message and imploring young with the Association locally as both captain and military action during the Rebellion. men to reform the Volunteers and make it a powerful force again. In August, he was arrested for making chairman of the Lispole GAA. With Pearse’s surrender, Ashe’s forces also capit- seditious speeches in public. While incarcerated in In 1908, he took a teaching position in Lusk, Co. ulated. Mountjoy, republican prisoners began a hunger strike Dublin where he also became president of the Lusk At his court-martial, Ashe was sentenced to death GAA, playing in goal for the club’s hurlers. on September 20th. On the fifth day, Ashe died due but this was commuted to life imprisonment after the to internal injuries sustained while being force-fed An active member of the IRB, with the formation British government bowed to public and international by prison officers. of the Irish Volunteers Ashe established a corps in pressure to stop the executions. nearby Fingal. Nationalist public opinion was outraged. He was later appointed commander of the Fifth HERO Those within the GAA were similarly appalled Battalion, Dublin Brigade. Like the other surviving Dublin Volunteer com- by the death of their former member. As a mark of respect, the Kerry County Board conducted no On Easter Monday, Pearse instructed Ashe to de- mander, Eamon de Valera, Ashe was sent to Lewes business at its next meeting and passed a resolution stroy enemy communications in the north Dublin Jail in Sussex. While there he became a popular lead- deploring his killing. His public funeral in Dublin area and disrupt the movements of British reinforce- er and spokesman of the rebel prisoners. As one of was the largest ever seen in the city with over 30,000 ments coming into the city. the senior surviving members of the IRB, Ashe was now appointed president of its Supreme Council. taking part. Ashe’s death was a major factor in the Leading sixty men, Ashe attacked a large RIC con- huge expansion of the Sinn Féin movement. By No- In June 1917, the British government commuted the voy of 50 officers in Ashbourne, Co. Meath on Friday vember, it had forty-four branches and over 3,200 sentences of those still imprisoned after the Rising. April 28th, killing ten officers, wounding a further members in Kerry. How to play Gaelic Football eighteen and capturing the rest with the loss of only Ashe was given a hero’s welcome on his return (Photo courtesy of T.J. Flynn) 21ST APRIL 2016 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 7 AELIC GSUNDAY BY 1918, THE Kerry GAA was in dire finan- cial straits. Restrictions on rail travel siveen and Portmagee was due to the War meant only falsely advertised to take one county championship place in Ballinskelligs. had been successfully While the local RIC were completed since 1914. busy dealing with a decoy In order to raise funds game there, the real teams for the County Board, the contested their match at a Central Council decided to pitch in Portmagee. organise a national tourna- Outraged over the inter- ment. ference with its games That May, the Kerry team and emboldened by the qualified for the final of widespread demonstra- the competition. Yet on tions which had defeated 14th June in Tralee an the attempt to introduce attempt was made on the conscription, the GAA be- lives of the RIC officers gan to orchestrate its own responsible for the deaths mass, peaceful protest. of the two Volunteers at On 20th July, the Associ- Gortatlea. In response, ation was informed that no the town was declared a GAA event would be al- ‘Special Military Area’ lowed unless permits were and was effectively sealed granted from the police. off by the military. With its In response, the Central Tralee contingent being Council ruled that ‘no unable to leave, a weak- member of the Associa- ened Kerry side was well tion shall take part in any beaten in the final. competition where such a Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, October 1917 Faced with growing po- permit has been obtained. (Photo courtesy of The National Library of Ireland) litical unrest and renewed Anyone that disobeys this Volunteer activity, Lon- rule will be automatically don introduced Emergen- and indefinitely suspend- The cy Rule to Ireland in July ed’. 1918. All public gatherings PARTICIPATION and political rallies were Next they ordered all banned along with Sinn County Boards to arrange Féin and the Volunteers. an extensive programme of Conscription Crisis The GAA escaped being matches to be held across caused a huge uptake in enlistments to the force proscribed, a decision the every parish in Ireland on HE RISE OF the Sinn Féin movement was paralleled by the re-organisa- British press called a grave Sunday, 4th August, a day tion of the Irish Volunteers. The mass release of their members from and membership swelled to over 100,000. The RIC reported that there were now twenty-two error as the Association quickly dubbed ‘Gaelic TBritish jails in 1917 provided the impetus for the re-establishment of companies of Volunteers active in Kerry. In the was undoubtedly ‘an eager Sunday’. the force across Ireland. While Sinn Féin developed as the political wing of north of the county, hurling matches were being and lively organisation of The Association’s de- the republican movement, the Volunteers evolved as its military component. used to mask the assembly and drilling of local revolutionaries’. cision initiated a trial of Volunteer units. However, the Govern- strength between it and Following the death1918 of Thomas Ashe and his On Saturday 13th April, seven members of the ment’s restrictions were the Government. own electoral victory in Clare, Eamon de Valera Ballymacelligott Volunteers attacked the nearby Meanwhile on 18 April, the leadership of Sinn framed to include GAA Preparations were exhaus- was now seen as the rightful heir to the repub- Gortatlea RIC barracks hoping to secure rifles Féin called a national conference to co-ordi- matches. Within a week, tive. At 3pm on the day in lican movement. and ammunition to fight any attempt to conscript nate public resistance to conscription, while the games in counties like question between 1,500 local men. Two of the Volunteers were killed Catholic Church now gave the party its formal At Sinn Féin’s Ard Fheis in October 1917, de Down and Offaly were with their public funerals in Tralee attracting a backing. Five days later, Trade Union leaders and 1,800 games involving Valera replaced Arthur Griffith as president being broken up as the massive crowd of mourners. organised a massive general strike across Ireland anywhere between 45,000 of the party while Austin Stack was elected police baton-charged the and the country effectively ground to a halt. In and 100,000 players threw onto its ruling executive. Shortly after at the Following Gortatlea, a spate of similar arms assembled crowds. To the face of such overwhelming public resistance, in concurrently. Practically Volunteers’ national convention, de Valera was raids were carried out by Volunteers across circumvent the law, the the British government was forced to postpone every affiliated GAA club formally elected president of the organisation, Ireland. The attempt to enforce conscription county championship the implementation of conscription indefinitely. on the island participated ensuring that from then on both bodies would match between Caher- and matches were even run in tandem under the same leadership. organised among Sinn The GAA also hoped to capitalise on the new Féin prisoners incarcer- patriotic spirit that was inflaming Irish public ated in Belfast Jail. In opinion. Kerry, a large programme of events was mapped out That same month the Association’s Central but torrential rain forced Council issued letters to all County Boards ‘to the cancellation of most take advantage of the present feeling throughout games. the country with the object of wiping out soccer Faced with such mass dis- and other foreign games’. Many GAA members obedience, the authorities also became prominent in the reformation of were powerless to resist. the Volunteers. By the following weekend, Inevitably the commanding officers in local GAA events had resumed companies were young men of local stature, as usual. To emphasise often the captains of the parish GAA club. One the point, the Castleisland example in Kerry was Michael Leen, captain of branch of Sinn Féin held the Castleisland hurling team who reorganised a football tournament in the town’s Volunteer corps. the town. As play opened a large force of military In April 1918, an enormous German army of- fensive on the Western Front forced the British arrived at the ground but Government to attempt to introduce conscription made no attempt to inter- to Ireland. Once news of their intentions broke, fere. political opinion in Ireland was outraged. A spe- Gaelic Sunday repre- cial meeting of the Central Council unanimously sented the largest, most declared: ‘That we pledge ourselves to resist by widespread and success- any and every means in our power the attempted ful act of public defiance conscription of Irish manhood and we call on against British authority all members of the GAA to give effect to the in Ireland during the en- terms of this resolution.’ tire independence struggle. It clearly demonstrated the In an editorial, the Kerry Sentinel warned the growing resistance to Brit- authorities that if they tried to enforce the meas- ish rule by those within the ure it could only end in ‘bloodshed and disaster Association. hitherto unknown in the history of Ireland’. (Photo courtesy of Dermot Cotter) 8 SPORT AND REVOLUTION - THE KERRY GAA AND THE 1916 RISING 21ST APRIL 2016 The Embers of Easter

Freedom and the FREE STATE 1919-1922 ETWEEN 1916 AND 1918, Ireland ed commander of the Ker- witnessed an upheaval in its political ry IRA No. 1 Brigade in Tralee.1919-1924 Tadhg Kennedy of landscape. B the County Board became Following the Rising, pop- baton charged by the RIC. the Kerry IRA’s senior in- ular support for Home Rule Four Mitchels players were telligence officer and re- was washed away, replaced severely injured. ported directly to Michael by mass backing for Sinn By the spring of 1920, the Collins. Under Kennedy’s Féin’s demand for an inde- IRA’s successes forced the direction a counter-intel- pendent Irish republic. British Government to sup- ligence network was built The general election of plement the overstretched up, often supplied by sym- December 1918 saw Sinn RIC with units of ex-Brit- pathetic or disillusioned Féin capture 65% of the ish Army officers and ser- RIC officers. popular vote. In Kerry, the vicemen dubbed ‘the Black In January 1921, Con party was returned unop- and Tans’ and Auxiliaries. Brosnan, the future Kerry posed with Austin Stack Their campaign of indis- captain, commanded a unit being elected for West criminate violence and de- of the Moyvane IRA which Kerry. In January 1919, struction effectively put a killed RIC District Inspec- The Kerry football team which suffered defeat at the hands of Dublin in the All-Ireland Final in Croke Park in 1923. The match drew Sinn Féin established Dáil halt to GAA activity across tor Tobias O’Sullivan in enormous crowds. (Photo courtesy of The National Library of Ireland) Éireann and re-proclaimed most of Ireland. Listowel. the Irish republic. That The IRA force which at- same day, the first shots of REPRISAL tacked the Headford rail- the Irish War of Independ- This terror campaign way junction in March (the ence were fired when an reached a crescendo with largest action undertaken the Civil War RIC patrol was ambushed the attack on Croke Park in by the Kerry IRA during at Soloheadbeg, Tipperary. November 1920. In repris- the War) included Hum- As the Volunteers, now al for a series of assassina- phrey Murphy and John and its Legacy renaming themselves the tions carried out by the IRA Joe Rice both senior IRA in Kerry, following the in five years. The Ker- Irish Republican Army in Dublin that morning, a HE ANGLO-IRISH TREATY signed in officers and former Kerry December 1921 bitterly split the repub- IRA’s ceasefire in May ryman reported: ‘On en- (IRA), began their guer- force of Auxiliaries en- players. lican movement in two. In Kerry, public 1923, GAA activity there tering the field the Kerry rilla campaign, 1919 iron- tered the stadium during a The only IRA fatality was T quickly resumed. team proceeded to the spot match between Dublin and opinion largely supported Austin Stack’s asser- ically proved to be the Jim Bailey of the Ballyma- In October, Kerry defeat- where Hogan was shot on. Tipperary and began firing most successful year for celligott GAA. That same tion that the Treaty was ‘an unmitigated disas- ed Tipperary to claim the They knelt in silent prayer into the crowd. Twelve peo- the Kerry GAA in this en- month William McCarthy, ter’. Tadhg Kennedy also asserted that ‘99%’ of 1923 Munster champion- on the fatal sod while the ple were killed and another tire period. Kerry claimed a high-ranking IRA officer the Kerry IRA rejected its terms. ship. spectators maintained a its first provincial football seventy wounded. Among in North Kerry and pop- In April 1922, the Kerry for the GAA would have Nevertheless the Kerry- respectful silence. This ac- title in four years before the dead was the Tipperary ular hurler with Lixnaw, GAA held its first annual been disastrous. Therefore tion was warmly appreci- losing to Galway in an right corner back Michael man noted that many of was infamously shot dead convention since 1920. they took the only viable Kerry’s stars were absent ated by the crowd. As the All-Ireland Semi-Final Hogan, shot as he ran for while in police custody in course open to them and from the team, most hav- Kerry team walked to the Replay in Croke Park. Yet cover. Tralee Town Park. On 15th However the eruption given the overlap between Given the close links be- April, John Joe Sheehy, of the Civil War in June remained strictly neutral. ing been interned by the centre, the cheering was GAA, Sinn Féin and IRA tween the GAA and the commander of the Boher- put an end to any planned Legislation was intro- Free State for IRA activ- long and loud.’ members in Kerry, the au- republican movement in bee Company of the Tralee GAA activity. The Civil duced to ban the selling ity. Many saw huge signifi- thorities continued to har- Kerry, members of the As- battalion and Kerry’s star War could have easily of political literature and cance in this simple ges- fractured the Association’s gate collections for polit- OPPOSED ture. ass GAA events. In June, sociation there were prom- forward, oversaw the as- With their release from ical purposes at its games. The sight of a new Kerry players and supporters of inent in the struggle for in- sassination of Major John national membership into jail in December, a group Mackinnon, the notorious team, composed of play- the Dr Crokes and Tralee dependence. In early 1919 pro and anti-Treaty fac- Though the Civil War of Kerry players who were Mitchels teams entering a Patrick Cahill, the former local commander of the ers from across the bitter tions. The consequences was most brutality fought former internees issued a match in Killarney were Kerry player, was appoint- Auxiliaries. political divide, kneeling challenge to the Kerry team. The County Board united in prayer symbol- decided to use the game ised the unifying power as a trial to select the of sport. team which would play While Kerry would end Cavan in the All-Ireland up losing the 1923 All-Ire- Semi-Final. Those on the land to Dublin, less than internees’ fifteen were nine months later, in April deeply opposed politically 1924, they defeated the to many on the Kerry side same opponents in the such as the Kerry captain 1924 final. It marked the Con Brosnan, a serving beginning of perhaps the Free State officer dur- most successful period ing the recent Civil War. in Kerry’s GAA history. In the circumstances, it Over the next decade, Ker- came as little surprise ry won six All-Irelands, that the Kerryman found ten Munster champion- the match to be ‘robust ships, two Railway Cups and at times too much so, and four titles of the newly marred by a large number created National League. of fouls, ensuring the ref- For a society still reeling eree was kept busy.’ The from the horrors of Civ- Kerry team won 0-5 to il War, the successes of 1-0. this Kerry team became a Their pride dented, the metaphor for the power of internees sought a replay Gaelic games to transcend which they won con- political divisions. vincingly. As a result, a Out of the embers of much changed Kerry side Easter 1916, perhaps the contested the All-Ireland greatest team in the his- Kerry’s great four-in-row side from 1929 to ‘32. Semi-Final - Kerry’s first tory of the GAA would The core of that same team which of course went on to win Kerry’s first four in a row between 1929-1932, and would become the most dominate side in the history of the GAA appearance in Croke Park emerge in Kerry. up until the point. They are often lost in the shadow of Micko’s team from 75-86, but I for one would argue they could easily be considered the greatest Kerry team of all time. The photograph is courtesy of Seamus O’Reilly and TJ Flynn.