Will the GAA change its brand to increase popularity of its sports?

On Sunday, I went to a Gaelic Football match to see Fermanagh play Down in the preliminary round of the Ulster Championship.  

The ball sails over to give Fermanagh their 8th point

Fermanagh has never won the Sam Maguire Cup (the All Ireland Championship).  We have never won the Ulster Championship either, although we were a whisker away from glory last year losing to Armagh in the Ulster final.   On Sunday, at Brewster Park, we were expected to lose to Down.   Now Fermanagh, when they do win matches, tend to scrape through by the odd point so winning by three points, as we did on Sunday, made it seem as though we had given the opposition a thrashing.   The final score was 13-10

On the subject of the GAA, I have a couple of points of my own.  I am fully aware that I was probably the only person at the match who could be described as a non-nationalist.   Gaelic football, like other GAA sports, have often been described by Unionists as sectarian sports.  I dont accept that it is a sectarian sport.  It does, after all, have a rule in its constitution which is against sectarianism.  It is fair, however, to describe GAA sports as “Nationalist” sports.   Unfortunately, this means that the GAA is automatically associated with sectarianism. 

With peace in Northern Ireland now seemingly well bedded down, I would suggest that the time has come for the GAA to changing its brand to make the sport more popular.   I fully understand the desire to keep tradition but would it be too much to ask if it were prepared to forgo flying the Republic of Ireland flag and playing the Irish National Anthem? (except for the at Croke Park).    Would it consider replacing the Irish National Anthem with a new GAA national anthem at County matches?  

I personally am not bothered by the Anthem or the flag.  However, the GAA might want to consider expanding the popularity of the sport and consider what I have suggested.   Gaelic Football is a great game to watch.  I just wish that more Northern Irish people could enjoy it.

The debate on the proposed Irish Language Act – Part III

In my previous post, I outlined the history of the Irish language up to the end of the 19^th Century.

 As can be seen from the results of census reports in the following table, Irish was heading for extinction.

Year	Irish only	Bi lingual	Total Irish	Non Irish	Total population
1851	319,602	1,204,684	1,524,286	5,028,186	8,076,758
1861	163,275	942,261	1,105,536	4,693,028	6,904,100
1871	103,562	714,313	817,875	4,324,502	5,960,252
1881	64,167	885,765	949,932	4,224,904	6,124,768
1891	38,121	642,053	680,174	4,024,576	5,384,924
1901	20,953	620,189	641,142	3,815,858	5,098,142

In 1871, one civil servant observed 

“The disappearance of this ancient member of the Celtic family of tongues from living speech may be somewhat delayed or somewhat accelerated by circumstances beyond calculation or conjecture but there can be no error in the belief that within relatively a few years (sic) Irish will have taken its place among the languages that have ceased to exist…”  [The Death of the Irish Language (Hindley 1990)]

The 1926 survey, which applied only to the Irish Free State, indicates that the “Irish only” speakers was 12,460 and the number of Irish speakers was 543,511 out of a total free state population of 2,974,553.  Within the latter figure, the Gaelic League’s efforts appear to have impacted on improved figures for the Eastern Counties.   

Some of those who joined the Gaelic League after its formation in 1893 were also members of the Republican movement, including Eamon de Valera and Patrick Pearse.  From that association, Republicans held out a vision that Irish would once again be spoken right across Ireland. That vision was never to be realised but it did result in a sustained official policy to promote the language which continues in the Republic of Ireland to this day.    

In 1938, the Irish Language was given official status as the first language.  It retains that status today under Article 8.1 of the Irish Constitution.  English is the second official language.  Although the status of Irish as the first language seems to have been fully enforced in its written form (all legislation, for example, is written in Irish and English), the speaking of it officially in the business of Government has only been retained for ceremonial purposes and some official speeches.    

By 1981, the number of Irish speakers in the Republic of Ireland had apparently risen to 31%.  Hindley has criticised the methodology of the survey.  He observes that in the questionairre, people are being asked if they are “Irish speaking or not” and no investigation as to the level of skill of those claiming to speak Irish.    The 2006 census indicates that 1,656,790 people (41.9% of the ROI population) regard themselves as competent Irish speakers.  Of these, 538,283 (32.5%) speak Irish on a daily basis (taking into account both native speakers and those inside the education system), 97,089 (5.9%) weekly, 581,574 (35.1%) less often, and 412,846 (24.9%) never. 26,998 (1.6%) respondents did not state how often they spoke Irish [Source: Wikepedia].  Many Irish speakers keep in touch with the language through broadcasts in Irish.  There are TV and Radio stations devoted entirely to broadcasting in Irish.  Up to 24% of the Irish population listen to these broadcasts.

The number of native Irish speakers declined still further after partition.  Today, the number of Monoglot (Irish only) is now confined to some elderly people and children under 3.  Within the 1956 borders of the so-called Irish speaking (gaeltacht) areas, those parts where the Irish language is still alive has shrunk.  The gaeltacht areas owed their earlier survival to the fact that they are rural and remote from the infection of English speaking.  It was suggested that any kind of economic activity which betters the lives of people living in these areas also has the effect of diluting native Irish speaking.  In recent years, however, the decline of the Gaeltacht seems to have been arrested.  In the latest census indicates that the Gaeltacht areas are holding up with perhaps the numbers of people speaking Irish most of the time increasing.  According to the 2006 Census, the number of people in the Gaeltacht regions is 91,862.  Of those, 70.8% aged three and over speak Irish and approximately 60% speak Irish on a daily basis.  It seems that people living within the Gaeltacht are practically all bi-lingual but are very aware of the need to continue speaking Irish in order to keep the language alive.  The language is also a vital part of the economy of these regions since thousands of students spend their time in camps there learning to speak Irish.

Irish as a compulsory subject in Education has provoked negative reaction to the language by many Irish people.  This may be, in some part, as a result of the way it has been taught.  To some, it has become a symbol of elitism. Others are resentful where it is a compulsory qualification.  There are many Irish who actually hate the language while others, particularly in the business community have treated it with contempt or prejudice.  As Andrew Carnie writing his thesis “A Case Study in Language Revival Failure” (1995) observes,  

“For many “outward-looking” Irish speakers, Irish is viewed as a “useless” language. Very few people both inside and outside of Ireland speak it; international commerce and trade are much more likely to be conducted in English.”

 Irish in Northern Ireland

“Before partition, Irish speakers accounted for 2.3% of the population of the six ocunties (Antrim o.4%, Down 0.3%, Derry 1.8%, Armagh 2.4%, Fermanagh 0.8%, Tyrone 3.9%).  Even Belfast had a 0.4% Irish speaking population” .  There was little or no revivalism of Irish in Northern Ireland.  Here, it is no longer a living language.  The last native Irish speaker, a man from Antrim, died in 1983.    

Irish was never a compulsory subject to be taught in schools across Northern Ireland.  It is now taught in many of the Catholic schools.  Irish has it ever been an official language in Northern Ireland, yet there is pressure from Sinn Fein and the SDLP to make it one.   

The next and final part on this series of posts will discuss the legacy of the Irish Language, the political drive to promote Irish and to include it as an official language in Northern Ireland.  The author’s conclusion will also appear in that post.

DUP and the Irish Language Act

On the DUP Website on a post dated 4^thFebruary, the First Minister, Peter Robinson made the following remark about the recent draft Irish Language Bill put forward by the SDLP. 

He said this (quoting Diane Dodds):

“It is now Republicans who are on the back foot.  Look at the record – we have binned the Irish Language Act…..”

The words, particularly “binned” are words of contempt.  They are clearly not intended to be endearing in any way.

Mr. Robinson may feel that he is First Minister to only one section of the community.  Though we are used to this kind of political division in Northern Ireland, there is still something rather repugnant about his conduct.

As first minister, Mr. Robinson is obliged to act in the interests of all Northern Ireland people.  As the premiere holder of public office in Northern Ireland, one would expect that even If he is in disagreement with a particular proposal, he would still treat it with respect.  

In addition to that, he and the rest of the Executive have a statutory duty in relation to the Irish and Ulster Scots Languages.  Section 28D of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 reads as follows:

“(1) The Executive Committee shall adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to enhance and protect the development of the Irish language.

(2) The Executive Committee shall adopt a strategy setting out how it proposes to enhance and develop the Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture.

(3) The Executive Committee—

must keep under review each of the strategies; and

may from time to time adopt a new strategy or revise a strategy.”

Neither Mr. Robinson nor anybody else in his party has so far come up with any strategy for the enhancement, protection and development of the Irish Language or the Ulster Scots Language and Culture for that matter.  Whether he likes it or not, Mr. Robinson’s party will have to address this issue.  It will not go away simply because he is making full use of his wastepaper basket.

I do not agree with the SDLP draft bill which goes beyond the remit of section 28D.  I have no desire to prevent promotion of Irish Heritage, including the Irish Language.  It is quite the opposite.  My wife is a college lecturer in charge of languages. The delivery of Irish is part of her brief.  My reasons for opposing the imposition of the SDLP’s bill are practical. 

Although I have already provided some of my opinion about the Irish Language Bill in comments on other weblogs, this is a “hot” political issue.  In order to do justice to it, I intend to write and publish a comprehensive post on the subject.  This will appear on this Weblog in the next few weeks.