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07130 March 7, 2007
A whole new ball game
A PC(USA) mission worker letter from Northern Ireland
by Doug Baker PC(USA) mission worker
BELFAST - In Ireland, even what sports you follow can be a division thing.
Not which team you support - but which sports. Whereas all sections of the community play and take an interest in following football (soccer), other sports are often associated with one ethnic/religious tradition or another.
Cricket, field hockey and rugby have been associated with English immigration, imperialism and influence: games from outside Ireland introduced by those who came as conquerors.
In 1884, as part of the rise of Irish nationalism, the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed to promote sports native to Ireland - Gaelic Football, hurling and camogie.
GAA rules not only promoted Irish sports but barred those who played them from playing foreign games competitively. They also barred members of the security forces in Northern Ireland (police or army) from participating in the GAA (however, as part of the peace process, that ban was lifted by the GAA several years ago). And, most emphatically, foreign games were barred from being played in GAA grounds.
The tension between different sporting traditions was hugely acerbated in one horrific incident in 1920, during the war for independence being fought by the IRA against British military forces in what is now the Republic of Ireland. On the day that a GAA championship final was being held in Dublin's Croke Park, IRA members ambushed and killed fourteen British Army Intelligence Officers.
Later that same day, British army vehicles drove into the Croke Park stadium and, in retaliation, opened fire on the teams and spectators. Fourteen people were killed, including the hugely popular captain of the Tipperary team.
One of the stands in Croke Park is named Hill 16 because it was built out of rumble created during the 1916 uprising. Years later when the stadium was rebuilt, the main stand was named the Hogan Stand for that famed Tipperary captain killed by the British army during that retaliatory raid in 1920. Croke Park has huge significance for Irish nationalism.
A special exception was made several years ago to the ruling not to allow foreign games to be played in Croke Park, the home of GAA games, so that some of the Special Olympics could take place there when Dublin hosted the games.
Then in 2005, after much debate, the GAA agreed to another temporary change to this ban because the Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin, home to Ireland's Rugby team, was due to be closed and rebuilt and so would be out of operation for two years and some other venue was required for their big international matches.
The first game against France was held in Croke Park on Feb. 11. There was huge hype about the symbolism of this breakthrough and a terrific atmosphere. Sadly, a last minute try by France denied Ireland a victory - but the real winner was sport.
Then on Feb. 24 came an even more symbolic match. Ireland played host to England in Croke Park - something that was absolutely unimaginable just a couple of years ago. Something the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern acknowledged could not have happen during The Troubles.
For weeks in advance there was speculation and concern about whether there would be protests, or even violence, by dissident Irish Republican groups. In particular, there was speculation about whether or not the GAA would allow the English national anthem to be played before the game and, if they did, how it would be received.
Come the day the stadium was packed with over 83,000 (nearly double what Landsowne Road held for Rugby matches.) The atmosphere inside and outside the grounds was electric. God Save the Queen was played and sung by English supporters while Irish supporters respectfully kept silence. And then when it ended, there was rapturous applause by Irish supporters - north and south, Catholic and Protestant - strongly signaling a desire to move on and not let history hold sport or relationships back.
When Ireland's anthems* were then sung, the emotional build up of the day was palpable. Tears were streaming down several Irish players faces. The volume of singing by the massive crowd was phenomenal.
Then, in what was a very exciting match (for Ireland supporters like us!) Ireland took to the field and brilliantly outplayed England to a 43-13 victory - their largest ever over an England team.
After centuries of conflict between Ireland and England and decades of conflict between those of British ancestry and those of Irish ancestry in what is now Northern Ireland, the road to a new future and the healing of relationships takes many forms. In Coke Park on Feb. 24 another big step forward was taken and there has been huge affirmation for it.
* The Ireland Rugby team is one of those all-island institutions that pre-dates partition and has continued in spite of partition. Hence the team has players from both the Republic of Ireland and from Northern Ireland. Most players from Northern Ireland come from a Protestant / Unionist background, since that is primarily who plays rugby in Northern Ireland. However, most southern players come from a Catholic/ Nationalist background, since they comprise 95% of the population in the Republic and since rugby is played in many Catholic schools in the Republic. For decades when the team has competed against other nations such as England, Wales, Scotland or France the national anthem of the Republic has been used for the Ireland team and northern players have mostly stood in silence not feeling able to join in singing it. Several years ago Irish musician Phil Coulter was asked to write a new inclusive rugby anthem - Ireland's Call. Hence, two anthems are now sung for the Ireland team at the beginning of each match.
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