Tyrone send out wrong signals

There are times when even those closest to the GAA, those whose instinctive reaction is to be protective when the detractors come to call cannot find it in themselves to defend its actions. This past week has been one of those occasions.

Up until last Friday evening the Tyrone County Board was adamant that the senior hurling final and the junior football final would be played next Sunday, the first anniversary of the Omagh bomb. The justification, if it can be described as such, was that all county finals in Tyrone must be played on a Sunday and that there were not enough free days left in the calendar to reschedule the games. One can only assume that none of this was intended to be a calculated insult to the memories of those 29 people who died a year ago. But this is certainly how it was interpreted by the relatives for whom this will be the hardest of weeks. In the event, the decision was only reversed on Friday night after Kevin Skelton, a long-serving referee and senior official within Tyrone who lost his wife Philomena in the bomb, had threatened to resign his position in disgust if the games had gone ahead. Given all the disastrously poor publicity that this would entail the County Board backed down and new dates were found.

But why did the Tyrone officialdom bring Kevin Skelton and everyone else to the brink? It is as if in the space of one short year there has been a collective amnesia as to the immense tragedy that the Omagh bomb was for the wider Tyrone GAA family. The connections and the synergies between those who died and the association of which they were part and to which they contributed so much ran incredibly deep. Gareth Conway was a keen footballer with the Tattyreagh club. Brenda Logue was the goalkeeper for her local women's football team and had represented her county at minor level. Jolene Marlow played football and camogie for her club in Eskra. Each of those families had close and enduring links with the GAA in Tyrone. Brenda's brothers are all players. Jolene's father, Joe, was an office-bearer with the Eskra club. And yet the people who administer the games saw nothing particularly problematic in carrying on association business as normal on a first anniversary. To attempt to do so was disgraceful and an affront not only to those who died but also to those who have been left to live on without them. In a strange sort of way, the whole sorry episode is just one more example of the GAA's Janus-headed approach to the Omagh tragedy. There are jarring juxtapositions everywhere. Last August it saw fit to go ahead with the All-Ireland

hurling semi-final just 24 hours after the bomb and yet the association's president, Joe McDonagh, provided an appropriately dignified presence at many of the funerals just a few days later.

When the idea of staging fund-raising soccer friendlies between Omagh Town and various Premiership sides the GAA refused to make the local gaelic ground available and then a few months later it made the single largest contribution to the bomb fund when it handed over u750,000 £750,000 to the trustees. Given the seesaw nature of this response over the past 12 months, it is hardly surprising that the positive nature of a lot of what the GAA did has been lost on the general public. Yes, the huge financial contribution was a fantastic gesture and yes, it puts some of the other responses into perspective. But the mere act of giving money does not separate you from other responsibilities. At a poignant time like this when emotions inevitably run high, symbolism counts for an awful lot and the signals that were sent out last week did much to ruin a lot of the good work that had gone before.

Compare and contrast with the second of those Omagh Town friendlies which went ahead at the club's St Julian's Road ground last Tuesday night with Manchester United the visitors. From start to finish this game was an object lesson in organisation.

In something of a contrast to Chelsea, the visitors the week before, Alex Ferguson and United went out of their way to oblige every media and supporter request. The end result was a game from which everyone involved could take something positive. Ferguson, in particular, proved to be outstanding. Relaxed and totally at ease, he posed for photographs and answered question after question with unfailing grace and an easy charm. It was immediately apparent that he had tapped into the mood of the occasion. It was the small things that made the difference. The commercial demands of the big business that is Manchester United meant that the Treble trophies from last year were kept in the museum at Old Trafford rather than travelling with Ferguson and the players. But when the museum closed on Wednesday evening, the trophies were escorted by security staff on a flight to Belfast and from there were transported to Omagh.

The upshot was that when the players paraded around the ground after a game they won by 9-0, they did so with the European Cup, the Premiership trophy and the FA Cup. For the faithful who had made the pilgrimage to Omagh this represented that little bit extra which transformed a special occasion into a memorable one. The manager and his players then went further than they would reasonably have been expected to by staying in the town and attending a high-profile charity dinner. Again, the raft of requests for media interviews and photo opportunities were graciously accepted and everyone connected both with Omagh Town and the bomb fund have been profuse in their praise for what Manchester United contributed to the evening.

Ferguson, himself, seemed visibly moved when he met Claire Gallagher at the dinner. Claire lost the sight in both her eyes in last August's bomb. A talented musician, she was asked to play the piano after the meal. It is hard to imagine anything more poignant and no one in that Omagh hotel function room could have been left in any doubt about the worth of what they were doing and who it was helping.

After a summer in which they have threatened to mutate into football's version of the Harlem Globetrotters, last Wednesday night was Manchester United's reality check. They passed it with consummate ease. And as they rolled out of town and into a Premiership season, Manchester United left positive and enduring memories in their wake. In real terms, the gate receipts from the friendly match and the money generated by the charity dinner will have been much less than the £750,000 u3/4 million raised by the GAA for the Omagh bomb fund.

But the events of the past week have proved that contributing to the process of regeneration and recovery is about more than pounds and pence. Kevin Skelton and so many others feel let down by the GAA and that leaves a sour taste.