 |
The Nellie McCausland All-Ireland Cup
During all the shootings, the pipe bombings, the petrol bombing of Catholic homes, the arson attacks on Catholic churches and GAA properties, and the terrorising of four-year-old schoolgirls by unionist voters in North Belfast, the man with his finger on the pulse has to be local DUP Councillor Nelson McCausland. Nelson telephoned BBC Radio Ulster's 'Talkback' programme, the day after Galway defeated Meath in the All-Ireland Final, outraged that the premier trophy was named after Sam Maguire, 'a terrorist', and linked Sam Maguire, who died in 1927, with Bin Laden and the bombings in the USA.
Many listeners at first thought it was April 1st, then realised that Nelson was serious. When the presenter, David Dunseith, pointed out that surely this wasn't just a priority at the moment, Nelson said he wasn't on to talk about North Belfast in ruins but Sam Maguire, the well-known terrorist.
Clearly, if unionist voters are not to be provoked into bombing school kids and shooting at their own RUC officers then the Fenian kids are just going to have to go into Holy Cross School by the back door. And if the GAA is to be acceptable to unionist voters it's going to have to name its championship cup after someone who doesn't offend their sensibilities, such as Henry the Eighth, Oliver Cromwell or Bomber Harris.
Hill 16, built from the rubble of Sackville Street (O'Connell Street), will have to be renamed Hill 1690. Hogan Stand, named after Tipperary team captain Michael Hogan, killed by Black and Tans in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, 1920, will have to be called Heath Stand, after Teddy, British prime minister during the second Bloody Sunday in 1972.
Councillor McCausland, himself, would like to strenuously point out that he was not named after that renowned terrorist Nelson Mandela but Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, that well-known boater who was struck down by a sniper's bullet just as he was winning his greatest victory at Trafalgar.
There have been ecumenical gestures in Ireland before to woo unionists. Back in 1966 it was decided to re-name the Finn McCool All-Ireland Toss the Caber Cup after the hero of Trafalgar. But this didn't get off the ground, after it got off the ground, so to speak. That is, somebody blew up Nelson's Column in O'Connell Street. Tossed the Caber away, so they did.
But who was this man Sam Maguire for whose cup boys kick ball? West Cork-born Sam Maguire was no priest. In fact, he was a Protestant. He went to London in 1899 with his brothers where he took a huge interest in the GAA scene. He led the Senior London County to the All-Ireland finals from 1900 to 1903. He worked in the Post Office and it was he who recruited 16-year-old Michael Collins into the IRB in 1909. After the split he remained loyal to Collins and was the IRA's Senior Intelligence Officer in London when Collins - having signed a truce and treaty with the British - ordered the execution of General Henry Wilson, and then denied it. Wilson, who had been involved in the Curragh mutiny, was chief security advisor to the unionist government at the time of the pogroms against Belfast Catholics, including attacks such as that in Ardoyne in January 1922 when a bomb thrown by unionist voters seriously injured six Catholic schoolchildren in Herbert Street.
As we are all aware, half the streets in Belfast are named after the British monarchy. Or battles fought by the British army. Or former colonial possessions of the British (which is a bit like going around with all the names of your former girlfriends or boyfriends pinned to your chest. 'Look at me! I've been everywhere but Purdysburn!'). In this city one wouldn't know where to avoid offence. British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury presided over the Boer War and the invention of the first concentration camps in which between 18,000 and 28,000 men, women and children died of starvation and disease. Five streets memorialise his great acts. The first person to use gas against civilians was Winston Churchill in Iraq in 1923. Churchill Park is named after him, just as Craigavon is named after Sir James Craig, who in 1912 plotted defiance of the British government and was the first unionist prime minister here during the pogroms. Norbury Street in Andersonstown is named after a judge who hanged United Irishmen.
To the people of Glenbryn and their kids the union, the state of Northern Ireland, has brought nothing but bunting and flags, UDA party packs of e-tabs and heroin. To look at their houses, they are not rich people. The local Protestant school is dilapidated. Whoever they elected over the years to look after their interests did not do a good job. Especially when you consider that the burning issue of the moment for Nelson isn't those Catholic houses on fire or the daily abuse of school kids, but the name of the All-Ireland cup.
[ back ]
© 2007 Irish Author and Journalist - Danny Morrison