101 Things You May Not Have Known About Gaelic Football

DT White John

Description

101 Things You May Not Have Known About Gaelic Football is the definitive guide to All-Ireland Senior Football in Ireland. In this e-book the reader will be taken on a magical journey back in time with the formation of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884; the first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final; the history of the famous Sam Maguire Cup; a look at the man considered to be the father of the GAA, Michael Cusack; All-Ireland Senior Champions; GAA All-Star Awards; GAA Team of the Century; GAA Team of the Millennium; the American All-Ireland Final; bans; Croke Park; Bloody Sunday; Tim Clarke Cup; Tommy Markham Cup; Railway Cup; Tommy Murphy Cup; All-Ireland Minor Champions; historic sides; legendary players and so much more. No matter what County you hail from this e-book will test your knowledge and that of your friends to find out just what you know about Ireland's No.1 sport.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 12 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781908752710
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
101 THINGS YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN ABOUT GAELIC FOOTBALL
By
John D. T. White
UNOFFICIAL AND UNAUTHORISED




Publisher Information
First published as an eBook in 2012 by
Apex Publishing Ltd
PO Box 7086, Clacton on Sea, Essex, CO15 5WN, England
www.apexpublishing.co.uk
Digital edition convertedand
Distributed in 2012 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2012 by John DT White
The author has asserted his moral rights
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition, that no part of this book is to be reproduced, in any shape or form. Or by way of trade, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, without prior permission of the copyright holder.




Dedication
I wish to dedicate my book to my Mum, Rosaleen Elizabeth Doherty White, and to my mother-in-law, Ruth McWilliams.
Thanks for everything.
I would like to thank Martin Dempsey for his brilliant cover design
www.m-jd.co.uk



In The Beginning
The earliest known record of Gaelic football is contained in the Statutes of Galway of 1527. The first reported Gaelic football match was contested in Slane, Co. Meath in 1712 between Meath and Louth. Today more than 250,000 people play Gaelic across Ireland’s 32 counties through their local GAA club.
Did You Know That?
The Statutes of Galway allowed football but banned hurling.




Sam Maguire
The Sam Maguire Cup is named after Sam Maguire who was a former footballer and later a very influential person in the Gaelic Athletic Association. Samuel Maguire was born into a Protestant family in 1879 in the townland of Mallabraca near the town of Dunmanway in west Cork. When he was 20-years old Sam passed the British Civil Service examinations and got a job working for the London Post Office. When he moved to London he joined the London Hibernians despite the fact that he never represented his home team, Dohenyes, in Dunmanway. During this period the All-Ireland final was contested by the clubs who won their county championships whilst the London champions got a bye into the final. Consequently there was a “home final” and an “All-Ireland final”. Maguire played for London in four consecutive All-Ireland finals (1900-1904) captaining the side in 1901 and 1903. London lost all four finals with Kerry defeating them 0-11 to 0-3 in the 1903 final at Jones’ Road (later Croke Park).
In 1907 Sam was appointed the Chairman of the London County Board and delegate to the annual congress of the GAA. He became a trustee of Croke Park. Ironically Liam McCarthy was the Vice Chairman of the London County Board in 1907 and the All-Ireland hurling senior trophy is named in his memory. Around this time Maguire joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) rising to the rank of Lieutenant -General and director of intelligence in Britain. When Michael Collins became the new leader of the IRB Maguire was one of his Chief Intelligence Officers. In 1921 he moved to Dublin and worked for the newly established Irish Civil Service only to be later dismissed by his employer.
Following his death from tuberculosis on 6th February 1927 a group of his friends formed a committee in Dublin that was chaired by Dr. Pat McCartan from Carrickmore, County Tyrone for the purposes of raising funds to purchase a permanent commemoration of his name. The committee chose a cup and presented it to the GAA. The cup is modelled on the Ardagh Chalice and was sculpted by Hopkins and Hopkins of O’Connell’s Bridge, Dublin. When it was made it cost £300 which today equates to approximately €25,400. In 1928 Kildare became the first county to win the “Sam Maguire Cup” after defeating Cavan 2-6 to 2-5 at Croke Park. Following Meath’s 0-13 to 0-9 victory over Cork in the 1988 Final the cup had to be replaced with Meath’s Joe Cassells becoming the first man to lift the new “Sam Óg”. Sam Maguire is buried in the Church of Ireland cemetery of Saint Mary’s Dunmanway.



Kerry Gaa
The Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (Kerry GAA) was founded in 1888 and is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. Kerry GAA is responsible for Gaelic Games in County Kerry whilst the County Board has also the responsibility for the Kerry inter-county football, hurling, camogie and ladies football teams.




The Father Of The Gaa
Michael Cusack was born on 20th September 1847 in the parish of Carron, County Clare. During his boyhood days the young Cusack played hurling and actively participated in athletics. He attended Carron National School when it opened in 1858 with Irish being his native tongue and he went on to become a teacher at Blackrock College, Dublin. The ruling Protestant establishment at the time did not approve of playing sport on a Sunday which was the traditional holiday of rural Catholic Ireland. Added to the latter the rules drawn up by the various sports organising bodies were almost mirror images of those adopted in England. However, this smacked of an Anglo-Saxon take-over of sport in Ireland to Cusack and fellow nationalist athletes.
In 1877 Cusack established his own cramming school, “The Civil Service Academy”, to prepare students for examinations into the British Civil Service. Pupils at “Cusack’s Academy” as it was affectionately nicknamed were encouraged to get involved in all forms of physical exercise and, as an Irish language enthusiast, Cusack was troubled by falling standards in Irish games. In 1881 he openly criticised the governing bodies responsible for athletics and rugby in Ireland and raised the idea that the organisers permit a “strip of green across their colours”. Cusack, a fierce nationalist, was worried by the falling standard in Irish games (the ancient Tailteann Games) and set about reviving hurling and football and to obtain control over athletics in Ireland.
On 1st November 1884 Cusack and Maurice Davin of Carrick-on-Suir called a meeting in Hayes’s Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary and founded the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Within a few weeks of the foundation of the GAA, Archbishop Thomas Croke of Cashel gave it his approval and became its first patron. Other patrons included Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell. Although an excellent administrator and organiser Cusack, the GAA’s first General Secretary, was a difficult person to get along with and within eighteen months he was obliged to resign as a result of his failure to submit accounts for auditing. Cusack was also one of the primary movers involved in restoring the Irish language and he was editor of the weekly newspaper “United Ireland”. He also founded and co-edited “The Celtic Times”, a weekly newspaper dedicated to “native games” and athletics and to Irish culture in general.
Michael Cusack, also known as “Citizen Cusack” has been identified as the model for “The Citizen”, the bigoted nationalist character in James Joyce’s “Ulysses” died on the 27th November 1906 aged 59. The “Cusack Stand” in Croke Park is named in his honor.
Did You Know That?
Cusack specifically chose the 1st November for its mythological significance. According to legend, Samhain (1st November) was the day when the Fianna’s power died. Consequently Cusack’s choice symbolised the rebirth of the Irish heroes.




All Star Brothers
Six sets of brothers have won All Star Awards in Gaelic football, namely:
•Matt and Richie Connor – Offaly.
•Tomás and Liam Connor – Offaly.
•Dermot and Paul Earley – Kildare.
•Seán and Brendan Lowry – Offaly.
•James and Martin McHugh – Donegal.
•Mick, Pat & Tom Spillane – Kerry.




The Ban
In 1885, one year on from its formation, the GAA introduced a ban prohibiting its members form playing or watching “foreign” sports (namely cricket, hockey, rugby and soccer) thus resulting in a split in Irish athletics. The ban was revoked in 1971 although its traditions had not been adhered to for a considerable time prior to this.




The Kingdom Rules
Kerry is the most successful team in Gaelic football having lifted the Sam Maguire trophy on 34 occasions and Kerry also holds the record for most appearances in the Senior Football All-Ireland Final with 52. Kerry is also the only county to have won the Sam Maguire on four consecutive occasions twice (1929-1932 and 1978-1981).
Did You Know That?
Wexford was the first county to win the Sam Maguire on four consecutive occasions (1915-1918).




Top Counties
The following table lists the Top 10 victories by a county in the Senior Football All-Ireland final including the year they last lifted the Sam Maguire.


Did You Know That?


Kilkenny holds the unique distinction of being the only one of the 32 county associations that does not enter a team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.




Early Rules
In 1886, two years after the GAA was formed, County Committees were established becoming the units of representation for the new All-Ireland Championship. Following this a new set of rules for Gaelic football and hurling were drawn up by the Association and were published in the United Irishman newspaper. Then in 1887 the inaugural All-Ireland Championships were held in both football and hurling with 12 of the 32 counties of Ireland participating; however, only 5 competed in hurli