Parnell Summer School:The holding of a political rally by Sinn Féin in GAA grounds in west Belfast last weekend would not have gained the approval of GAA founding father Michael Davitt, it was asserted at the Parnell Summer School yesterday.
The school, held in the Co Wicklow estate of Charles Stewart Parnell, was told that the legacy of Davitt was an "apolitical GAA", which had flourished as a broadly-based cultural and community organisation but was one which Davitt did not want to see allied to political parties.
Dr Michael Cronin, of the Dublin-based Boston College, said that Davitt had been central to the healing of a split which had occurred in the GAA between Roman Catholic clergy, represented by Archbishop Croke, and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) - even working closely with the IRB to bring about a reconciliation.
But he maintained that while many saw the potential of the GAA to become a national movement and further their own aims, Davitt was in favour of the organisation's political independence. One would guess that Davitt would have been "opposed" to last weekend's Sinn Féin rally, he said.
Dr Cronin said it was curious that the role of Davitt in the GAA had usually been overlooked by historians while the GAA itself had overlooked commemorating Davitt in the renaming of stands in Dublin. In fact, he said, the only stand commemorating Davitt was in Lurgan. He suggested that this might be because of guilt over the non-repayment by the GAA of a £450 (€585) loan he had advanced to send a team to the United States.
Dr Cronin said that the loan arose from Davitt's ambition to recreate the Tailteann Games, a Celtic festival of sport, arts and music which had been held in Ireland from pre-Christian days until 1169.
Davitt realised that the games would be a costly undertaking. He proposed to raise the money in the US, and a team of 50 men was sent out to play demonstration hurling matches alongside American athletes. However, the trip was a disaster as a result of splits in the American athletics world and boycotts by some clubs. Ultimately, 15 of the 50 young men opted not to return home to Ireland, and the remainder were locked in their hotel rooms in New York until someone could be found to pay their hotel bills.
Davitt had put forward his own money to support the trip and when he was declared bankrupt in 1893 the money was still listed as an asset. The GAA, which was in debt itself, took the view that the money and the whole trip were a personal undertaking by Davitt and the issue was wiped off its books when the debt was repudiated by Davitt in 1902.