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.