Jimmy Geoghegan: Let’s hear it for the unsung heroes of the old Association

Ah, the old GAA. You have to admire it in so many ways. The way it has become such an integral part of Irish life. The way it brings communities together, tapping into a parish's pride and sense of itself. The way it has grown from a fractious, downtroddern organisation in its early days to a powerful, wealthy body with a huge influence.

Anytime you visit Croke Park - as I did again recently for the Meath v Dublin Ladies Leinster SFC clash - you are reminded of the Association's great success; the vast stadium, one of the largest in Europe, a bold statement of how a vision can be turned into something concrete, tangible. A triumph.

Many people have become famous because of the GAA, players, managers, trainers, coaches and so on. Referees and officials too.

Yet the old Associaton would never be what it is today without a whole legion of mostly anonymous folk, down the generations, who have played vital roles in helping to sustain the organisation. People, for instance, who make the tea and sandwiches, who wash the jerseys, put up the nets and mark the pitches or those who pump the footballs. A huge array of tasks carried out by an army of volunteers.

There is another cohort of folk who played their parts in helping the old Association along but whose contributions are now largely forgotten. These are the landowners/farmers who often gave a piece of their farm, free, to local teams so they they would have a pitch; a little area they could call home. A theatre of dreams.

These days clubs own their own grounds and in the vast majority of cases they are splendid playing arenas - but it wasn't always like that.

When we drive into these grounds now and see the manicured pitches, the salubrious clubhouses it's easy to forget that up until the 1960s and '70s, and maybe later, many clubs relied on local landowners to rent them, mostly free of charge, a field so that they could play their games. Many current GAA people can recall the times when cows had to be hunted off a field - and the cowpaths cleared - so that a game could take place. I know that because I've met those people who have told me they did just that.

It was the same for those involved in soccer. In the early days of organised soccer in this part of the world when the Mid-Meath League got up and running in the 1980s I played for a club based in the Clonmellon area. I knew a few of those involved in running the team and was happy to turn out for them. We played home games in a field/pitch which was often occupied by cattle until shortly before kick off. Wembley it wasn't.

The signifcant role landowners (however big or small) had in helping GAA clubs especially has been highlighted in the story of local clubs such as Walterstown. In the history of the club called 'Perseverance Brings Success', author Michael O'Brien, pointed out how at one time the club used to play their home games "in Johnny Boland's field in Johnstown."

This is the centenary year of the foundation of Walterstown GFC but the Blacks didn't secure their own ground until relatively recent times. It was the same with many clubs. Before that teams relied on benevolent landowners. They were just some of the many unsung heroes who have helped to make the old Association what it is today. They all deserve to be remembered.