Looking forward to our GAA past

Boardsmill GAA club has just published a history of Gaelic games in the area from 1912 to 2012. It’s a project that has been 30 years in gestation, since the club celebrated its golden jubilee and Peter Flood and Michael Mooney were appointed to get the ball rolling. The late Peadar Lehane came on board, recruiting Patricia Guy as his ADC, and after many changes in personnel over the years, it was Patrica alongside Michael Leonard, Eamonn Cosgrave and the legendary TJ Reilly who finally brought the project to a fine, hardback, 568 page, illustrated conclusion, launched at Co Meath Golf Club, Trim.

The book is a “living history” to quote Fr Paul Crosbie, PP, at a Mass in St Brigid’s Church earlier to remember club members who had gone to the great playing pitch in the sky.

Those who worked on the project, carrying out research in various libraries and archives, spoke of the back issues of the local newspapers, the Meath Chronicle and the Drogheda Independent in particular, as vital to providing information on Gaelic games and activities in the area, from matches to meetings, and even the rows at both!

It was the same when Donie Mooney and friends hosted Jarlath Burns, the GAA president, in Summerhill, to launch their GAA history last year. Burns evoked the memory of one of his predecessors, centenary president of 1984, Mick Loftus, who encouraged every club to record its history.

There were some excellent works produced at the time, including the late Brendan Cummins’ work on Dunsany, or Jim Gilligan and the late Patsy McLoughlin’s ‘Black and Ambers’ in Dunshaughlin.

But in 50 or 100 years’ time, where will a club go to research its history? In this changed media landscape, clubs are no longer using the traditional form of media, the local newspaper, to spread information about their activities. They are relying on social media and online platforms. This is fine in the moment, but will it provide an enduring record?

So, in the absence of a regular feed to local media, I suggest that a position of archivist should be created in every club. This person would ensure that even if they are not submitted to a newspaper, that the club itself has a record of who played what and when, all its secretary’s reports are filed safely (not ending up in the fireplace in the local pub in as happened the Bective minutes book many years ago), and any other achievements or projects. This would ensure that when the club does go to research and record its history, the primary source is there.

Perhaps some of those clubs like Summerhill, Boardsmill, or Drumconrath, who have recently published histories, could bring this suggestion to the Co Board, whose chairman Jason Plunkett would no doubt support, and maybe it could even be brought by Meath to national congress. It would be a fantastic legacy as the association’s 150th anniversary is less than a decade away, in 2034.