Pádraic Mac Coitir ✒ I was at the Aontroim v Port Lairge hurling match in Páirc Corrigan two weeks ago and saw Neil McManus remonstrating with Iarla Daly. 

Being on the far end of the pitch I couldn't hear what was being said but when the final whistle went I walked on to the pitch. I asked a few people what happened and was told Daly called McManus a 'British bastard'. 

I've heard of a lot of derogatory comments levelled at players from the 6 counties but the one thing they most definitely aren't and that's 'British bastards'. It's stinking that GAA players lower themselves to that level and it's something that needs addressing. 

I was also talking to a Dublin hurler who played against Aontroim in the recent match and he told me he was called a 'Free State bastard'. That's also stinking. Players will get excited and do their best to win but they shouldn't lower themselves to that level.
 
After speaking with my friend, Colum Mac Giolla Bhéin, about it he wrote the following poem - a poem that should be read by people who would never tolerate abuse on the playing field.
 
Partitionist Mind Games
For a Waterford player

I don’t want to fight with you , fall out with you
I have had for a long time a certain
Grá for Port Láirge
Brought about by watching John Mullane
Now there was a man
Played with his heart on his sleeve
Gave it his all with nothing to leave
But when you call Antrim players British
You deeply insult me and all Gaels
I’m truly glad that I’m able say
That you no doubt, had little to worry about
Whilst going around
Wearing your gear with nothing to fear
Your identity displayed
From your toes to your head
What was your greatest worry?
If it would be cold and raining
when you got on the pitch
ain’t life just a bitch
or that your team mates would have eaten
all the sandwiches
by the time you got back to the club house
For Gaels in the occupied six counties
There was a lot more to worry about
and fear, just being here
but it never deterred them from
proudly displaying that same identity
players were shot dead by trigger happy
British soldiers on their way to games
They were killed
In their clubs
Outside their clubs
In their homes
At their places of work
By the forces of the British state
And their death squads
Supporters murdered on their way
To and from games
According to your logic another Brit
Seamus Heaney wrote a poem about it
When his cousin and another Gael
Were murdered by members of the UDR
A regiment of the British army
You see the common denominator here?
The word you chose to use
I feel sure it was never your intention
To hurt or insult
But merely to wind up your opponent
If so find another way to do it
But if indeed it was your intention
To hurt and insult
Then hang up your boots
You don’t have what it takes to be a Gael
You don’t know what it means to be a Gael

Colum Mac Giolla Bhéin

Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican
prisoner and current political activist.

Partitionist Mind Games

Pádraic Mac Coitir ✒ I was at the Aontroim v Port Lairge hurling match in Páirc Corrigan two weeks ago and saw Neil McManus remonstrating with Iarla Daly. 

Being on the far end of the pitch I couldn't hear what was being said but when the final whistle went I walked on to the pitch. I asked a few people what happened and was told Daly called McManus a 'British bastard'. 

I've heard of a lot of derogatory comments levelled at players from the 6 counties but the one thing they most definitely aren't and that's 'British bastards'. It's stinking that GAA players lower themselves to that level and it's something that needs addressing. 

I was also talking to a Dublin hurler who played against Aontroim in the recent match and he told me he was called a 'Free State bastard'. That's also stinking. Players will get excited and do their best to win but they shouldn't lower themselves to that level.
 
After speaking with my friend, Colum Mac Giolla Bhéin, about it he wrote the following poem - a poem that should be read by people who would never tolerate abuse on the playing field.
 
Partitionist Mind Games
For a Waterford player

I don’t want to fight with you , fall out with you
I have had for a long time a certain
Grá for Port Láirge
Brought about by watching John Mullane
Now there was a man
Played with his heart on his sleeve
Gave it his all with nothing to leave
But when you call Antrim players British
You deeply insult me and all Gaels
I’m truly glad that I’m able say
That you no doubt, had little to worry about
Whilst going around
Wearing your gear with nothing to fear
Your identity displayed
From your toes to your head
What was your greatest worry?
If it would be cold and raining
when you got on the pitch
ain’t life just a bitch
or that your team mates would have eaten
all the sandwiches
by the time you got back to the club house
For Gaels in the occupied six counties
There was a lot more to worry about
and fear, just being here
but it never deterred them from
proudly displaying that same identity
players were shot dead by trigger happy
British soldiers on their way to games
They were killed
In their clubs
Outside their clubs
In their homes
At their places of work
By the forces of the British state
And their death squads
Supporters murdered on their way
To and from games
According to your logic another Brit
Seamus Heaney wrote a poem about it
When his cousin and another Gael
Were murdered by members of the UDR
A regiment of the British army
You see the common denominator here?
The word you chose to use
I feel sure it was never your intention
To hurt or insult
But merely to wind up your opponent
If so find another way to do it
But if indeed it was your intention
To hurt and insult
Then hang up your boots
You don’t have what it takes to be a Gael
You don’t know what it means to be a Gael

Colum Mac Giolla Bhéin

Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican
prisoner and current political activist.

8 comments:

  1. It extends beyond sport. Free Staters have called me British or English and denied anyone in the 6 counties are Irish. I see it as part of their guilt complex because meeting northerners reminds them of their cowardice. It doesn't happen so often now days but my Ex, once described the level of hostility as a form of racism against people from the 6 counties. Unfortunately the Free staters will be lining up tomorrow to grovel before their aspirational masters, the Royals, who commence a 3 day visit to Ireland. It is cringe worthy how many love the Royal family down here.

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    Replies
    1. Conversely I and others from PUL communities get on well with the Free Staters, especially when we meet them overseas at soccer tournaments. Plenty of stories of both looking out for each other there too. And I couldn't give a monkies about the greco-german lot from over there.

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  2. There should be no racial, religious, homophobic or any other type of abuse of sportspeople by other sportspeople on the pitch. Period.

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  3. There was a Protestant GAA player in County Fermanagh called Graham whose three brothers were killed by PIRA. He eventually had to quit playing football because of sectarian abuse on the pitch by fellow Gaels. Would Padraic MacCoitir care to comment about that egregious harassment?

    To underline my earlier comment; any sportsperson guilty of abusing another one on the field of play on racial, sectarian or any other discriminatory ground should receive lengthy bans such as the eight match ban that former (thank goodness cos he was crap as well) Leeds United keeper Kiko Casillas rightfully received for racially abusing an opposing player (Jonathon Leko).

    I would propose similar punishment for the miscreants mentioned in Padraic's piece.

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    Replies
    1. why would he need to comment? I imagine it is obvious from the piece he wrote that he sees no grounds for calling people derogatory names on the pitch. He did not make an exception for those who had brothers in a terror regiment.
      The poem touches on a point that was made by Ruud Gullit: opponents will call you a red bastard on a pitch if they think it will put you off your game. He did not subscribe to the notion that all the abuse is done out of authentic racist sentiment.
      I don't get caught up too much with the virtue signalling that passes for anti-racism today. I think woke culture has created an OTT attack dog which has a false bottom. For me racism is when we hold to a view that some people are lesser humans than the rest of us, regardless of skin colour, and therefore are to be excluded from the same human rights we expect for ourselves. I used to see this quite a bit on the far left - seeking to impose a hush rule on criticism of how women are treated by some Islamic cultures on the grounds of a spurious cultural relativism.

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    2. Barry, you take life far too serious at times. Lighten up and every now and then get rubbered at the weekend.

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  4. Anthony

    "For me racism is when we hold to a view that some people are lesser humans than the rest of us, regardless of skin colour, and therefore are to be excluded from the same human rights we expect for ourselves"

    And is racial abuse on the pitch and from the terraces not evidence of holding to a view that some people are lesser humans than the rest of us, regardless of skin colour. I do agree about the far left and cultural relativism. The Respect Party that grew out of Stop the war Coalition was just such an example.

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    Replies
    1. there is never just one meaning. I used to work with a Romanian guy. He called another guy an Irish bastard. Was he a racist? Not in my view. He was a firm friend of mine. Used a silly expression that did not capture the essence of the guy. As the Jewish comedians often say, there are no racist jokes, just racists that tell jokes.

      Racism by omission is as rarely addressed. Recent writing has flagged up how loud the protests are over white European Ukrainians being subjected to war crimes but silence when olive skinned Palestinians and Yemenis are subjected to war crimes.

      If we are to do something effective about racism, we could take a real stand against it where it has a much harsher effect. Millionaire soccer players should not be subjected to racist abuse but their pain is just not as severe as others.

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