Admittedly I’m biased. Having worked for nearly thirty years in the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, I cock my ear when some piece of information from that place makes the headlines. So when Jim Allister said there are too many students there wearing Gaelic sports tops, it snagged my attention immediately.
Jim’s reason for objecting is that some students find all those jerseys intimidating. One wit has already agreed with him, saying of course Antrim supporters grow pale in the face of Tyrone jerseys. But somehow I don’t think that’s what Jim has in mind. It’s more that unionist students find UUJ a cold house when they see all these Gaelic tops. An interesting question to explore might be: Why?
Well, since virtually no unionists choose to play Gaelic games (and yes, Virginia, I can think of several reasons why they might not), the presence of these GAA tops remind unionist students of just how many young nationalists/republicans there are in the institution. And so they feel intimidated.
But why should they? I lived and studied in England for two years in the late 1970s. As an Irish student I was in a tiny minority. But it never occurred to me that I should feel intimidated because I wasn’t surrounded by people from my background. The same applied during my eight teaching years in Canada. Had I been faced with aggression because of my background or even given the cold shoulder, I’d have had grounds for complaint. But I encountered nothing of that.
So back in UUJ, it seems reasonable that a majority of nationalist young people (if that’s the case) should study beside a minority of unionist young people. The fact that GAA jerseys identify some of the nationalist young people surely shouldn’t be seen as some sort of threat. “But it marks them out as nationalist/republican!” I hear the cry. Mmm. So they should conceal their nationalist/republican background? I don’t think that’ll gain many supporters. The young people of UUJ may not remember it but their parents certainly will: the time when it was risky to be seen carrying a copy of the VO, or blessing yourself passing a Catholic church, or saying “haitch” instead of “aitch”. Those days are gone, except in the most bigoted backwaters. Gaelic tops don’t work in a negative, antagonistic way: they simply proclaim the pride the wearer has in the club or county they represent.
We’re nearing the end of Lent. At the beginning of Lent is Ash Wednesday, and I’ve been told that UUJ Catholic students (or even students from a Catholic background) cluster to have the ashes marked on their foreheads – a reminder of their own mortality. Given that this would mark them out as different from their unionist fellow-students, would Jim be for banning that too? Difference doesn’t have to mean intimidation, Jim. It can even be a teacher of tolerance.
The President of Ireland will meet with Queen Elizabeth. The Irish tricolour and the Union flag at Windsor represent potent symbols for positive transformation and change. The President has stated that ‘NOW’ is the time for ‘dignified transactions’. Carpe diem.
The thing that got me a beating in the Waterside of Derry many moons ago as I got off a bus to go and play school football was the Probation Pioneer Pin I wore. So as you say Jude people with Jim’s mentality will always find something to complain about.
On the radio, I got the impression that little Jim wasn’t really behind this complaint. He was asked could he quantify the number of complaints and very unsure of himself he said he had spoken to ‘quite a lot’ of people who said that dozens had complained to them. Duirt bean liom gur dhuirt bean leithi …… At any rate, iolar. What ‘dignified transactions’ did you have in mind? Remember that Mr Higgins is president of Ireland which is media speak for the 26 counties.
I agree, you make a valid comment about the role of the media. The Glasgow University Media Group in ‘Bad News’ (1976) made a sustained contribution to our understanding of media culture and the need to be objective and impartial in the context of news reports. The President of Ireland is providing a clear leadership role and he presents a challenge to all of us in relation to a shared present and future. Ireland is evolving into a multi-cultural pluralist society. I wish to contribute to a society based on acceptance, respect and tolerance for diversity.
I guess my “Tiocfaidh ar la” T shirt is out then?
Jude
“Gaelic tops don’t work in a negative, antagonistic way:”
Unfortunately they do though that may not be the intention. We all know the potency of symbols here.
Sports tops used to identify which tribe you belong to, be it GAA N Ireland Linfield Rangers Celtic, all serve to antagonise around here. Who needs it?
I remember complaining about this when I was at an FE college.
I probably looked like a bigot but the point was I wanted EVERYTHING controversial to be ‘discouraged’ (Old Firm shirts, band shirts, NI shirts…)
There was probably a little bit of jealousy too, I was one of a few in my state (read ‘Proddy’) high school that wanted to play GAA.
I remember checking out the GAA section of the Sunday papers with the embarrassment of a teenager caught checking out page three.
Do Unionists have problems with GAA?
Yes
Is it fair that they do?
Up for discussion.
I personally think we’re putting ourselves at a disadvantage for not participating.
Do unionist politicians make it worse?
Of course, anything ‘Irish’ is toxic to our ‘leaders’.
If GAA tops intimidate a portion of the community then it is an issue.
In my opinion a civilised society has a duty to address that issue (YES, same goes for band parades).
Ash Wednesday is a religious affair, even if some people do have a problem with it well then tough titty, they’re up there with people who don’t like turbans.
GAA tops are not a religious affair (calm down Kerry men…)
In Northern Ireland, like so many things (including the words ‘Northern Ireland’) there is an element of unease associated with them.
I (genuinely) want the GAA to be accessible to all in NI in the true Northern Irish sense of the word, not a box ticking exercise.
If it is to be open to all then there are particular hoops to be jumped through (damn it, even the word ‘hoops’ has connotations in NI and Scotland!).
The sooner they are jumped through then the better.
It might be too late for me (shin splints) but it’s not for thousands of others.
Think of where we want the GAA to be perceived by people and think of the (unpalatable) things that may have to be done to make this the case.
I apply this to many things in NI: the pipe band association, the ‘ulster Scots’ (I prefer the term ‘Scotch Irish’ myself), the BB, the Scouts, the GFS, and even (theoretically) Loyalist bands (as in Loyalism should be a political doctrine, not a religious one, but let’s leave this lunacy for another day)
I’m sorry Dr C, but some of your recent posts have had the mirror image element of the Orange argument of ‘it’s only a group of men walking to church’.
Yes they are ‘walking to church’ but there’s much more to it than that.
Same goes for GAA and a few other things besides, which I will point out should the occasion arise (if you don’t ban me first, I promise you I’m not trolling, but your website caught my eye as you’re an academic who’s seen the world)
negative antagonism is in the eye of the beholder
Excuse my glib response earlier. In a ‘shared future” each side should be able to express themselves( wear jerseys). GAA jerseys, Ranger jerseys, Celtic…each can be offensive to someone else. If they are banned, when does the banning stop.
Somthing about removeing the branch in one’s eys before comminting on the splinter in mine
Jude et al:
The hard reality is that people like Jim will get annoyed at the drop of a hat.In his case , to make political hay and keep his voice prominent if there’s little else to carp about on that particular day.
Never mind gAA shirts and various tribal football jerseys, there is always some paranoid ne’er do well sitting in a bar with that paranoid ..”You lookin’ at me?” query on his face , spoiling for an any excuse to fight .
I well remember this incongruity from my youthful days, when as one of those old hippies, myself and my then -girlfriend were dressed in the current long-haired bell-bottomed cross between escapees from Lord of the Rings and the the Three Musketeers ,when as was the usual thing back then, we were stopped and searched and questioned by two stout-hearted members of the local police force for no real reason at all.We certainly weren’t terrorists or whatever.
These two red -faced custodians of all that was sacred , bursting out of their ill-fitting uniforms were totally unaware of the irony of their question when they asked , “What do call this , then?” as they breathed in the fragrant bliss of patchouli oil and stared at my fancy hand-tooled cowboy boots and my girlfriend’s multi-coloured poncho…..
There’s always some poor bugger waiting to be upset…….
In August 1997 (how time flies!) the Students Union in Queens University, in a despicable act of spinelessness, removed the bilingual signs from the Union building. This was done at the instigation of the FEC, the then equivalent of the Equality Commission, without any consultation with the Irish speaking community in QUB or at large. The ostensible reason for this was, according to the FEC, that students from a Protestant background felt unwelcome because of the signage (This from a body which purported to promote tolerance and multiculturalism!) No written or scientific evidence was produced to prove this hypothesis and no-one questioned whether third level students offended by another language might themselves need education in tolerance.In the event the removal of the signs had no effect whatsoever; the percentage of Protestants opting for QUB continued to fall. This line of reasoning was followed up when Aer Lingus came to Belfast. The Equality commission advised them not to use the “cupla focail” when welcoming passengers aboard; Aer Lingus duly complied.A Talkback (Davd Dunseath) programme interviewed Protestant passengers and found no hostile feedback whatsoever. However now that the obscurantists are on a roll expect GAA jerseys, hurls and sliotair to come under increased pressure.
Before I address the substantive issue, the particular physical lay-out of UUJ would make a ban impossible to implement in practice because the sports building is physically integrated with the rest of it (it’s like being in a brutalist space-ship, that place). Thus you can’t tell someone they can wear the official UUJ blue GAA jersey at this point of the corridor, but not several feet away.
On the substantive issue, I respectfully disagree with Am Ghobsmacht, though I greatly admire his contributions. The GAA isn’t a good comparator with the Orange Order. Surely the ‘green’ version of the Orange is the Hibernians, whose New York version currently seems intent on analogous narrow backward exclusionism.
The GAA doesn’t have that character in either letter or spirit, and unionists believing it does does not make it so. Yes, we must be very sensitive to the power of perception in NI, but only up to the point when it actually supplants the truth.
Hence the wise maxim is “let justice be done, and be percieved to be done”, not “the perception of justice is more important than justice”.
Thomas
A reasonable argument and you might be right. I had rather assumed the problem related to the wearing of such tops in lectures, student union etc, where it might be possible to enforce restrictions in the same way that pubs and clubs do.
Has the issue been raised at the UUJ in the past, do you know?
Gio, I think it has been raised on & off for years.
On the (less important) practical level, there’s also the colourful massive GAA kit-bags some of those with beautiful rural accents are wont to carry their voluminous books in….. Methinks m’learned friend Jim hasn’t thought this proposal through at all at all
Jim is an old school anti Nationalist dinosaur, he will never change. Mind you, he is one of the most entertaining politicians in the north so anything he says is usually good craic. Just be grateful it`s not 1964, he would probably be a Minister in the old Stormont and then where would we be?
Further to my point that (unionist) perception (GAA is exclusive) must not be allowed to shout louder than truth (the GAA isn’t exclusive), I concede that you might reply with Pilate’s famous Easter question ‘What is truth?’
Fair enough, if we have to accept that there are competing ‘truths’, you have yours & I have mine, then there’s something else we must also accept: that we express these, and we interact, with civility, on both an interpersonal level, and, on the macro level, subject to the same rule of law.
Unfortunately political unionism continues to spurn both
a) Interpersonal civility (Jim Allister can’t bring himself to treat Gerry Kelly as he treats Billy Hutchinson, DUP still refuse handshakes with SF but shake UDA hands, etc etc)
b) The rule of law (parades determinations, loyalist paramilitary flags, street protests,providing over for anti-Agreement loyalist paramilitaries, excusing loyalist violence, etc etc).
Outstanding article.
Well stated Mr Russell. I find it irritating that Robinson and the DUP have this air or moral superiority when it come sto the violence of the past. neither side is blameless. I have heard one side attempt to state that they regretted the deaths caused by their struggle. I am waiting for DUP/Loyalism to do the same.
Allister willing to shake Hutchinson’s hand but not Kellys’s sums it up quite nicely, violence is wrong(unless it is our violence)
Sounds like an invasion of Papists turning the Poly into a coven of the ungodly. Ain’t that right Jim.
Beautifully eloquent and pithy observations from Mr Russell in the comments above. I’d like to hear more from you. Do you write or blog anywhere?
RJC, thank-you for your encouragement. I appreciate it.
I don’t write elsewhere, but have intended to for a while. Now it’ll be partly your fault!
I think that the Sagely Seamus Allister should remove his head from his posterior. As an ardent opponent of anything traditionally Irish (doubtless the fleadh will be next), I would spurn anything that comes out of his bigoted mouth. Thomas is right when he adroitly points out the duplicity of Allister and the leadership (or lack of) of unionsm’s pointed refusal to face down dangerous Paramilitary loyalism, instead choosing to court them as equal fellow travellers in their irrational belief that they ate being culturally eclipsed…His contribution to these irrational tendencies is far from innocuous. His sinister vying for position as Allistersaurous Rex, champion of rejectionist Unionism is not just reflecting the political mood of the unionist family, butdangerously moulding it in a way aimed at upsetting the apple cart. Much as such a Hate figure should be spurned, he should not be ignored in his efforts lest his growing dissafected constituency in militant loyalism revert to type. Equality of the two main traditions in Ireland means he will have to get used to GAA tops and recognize them as the innocuous expressions of club and county pride that they represent. Anything less is to give irrationalism a free hand to contest all things Irish among nationalist in the north, who emerging wirh renew confidence, are playing sport bereft now of the charge of being Sectarian. What will Jimmy cite next. He must have been watching east enders with Frazer recently and thought a new potent front for continue his odious campaign.
Thomas Russell
Some good thinking there.
Let me clear up something though, I didn’t actually mean to draw a direct parallel between the OO and the GAA (you’re absolutely correct in that regard, the AOH is a much more fitting example), what I was getting at was the ‘technical’ argument that surrounds NI’s many controversies.
A parade: “sure they’re only walking to church!” – True. But not.
GAA shirts: “sure they’re just proud of their club” – True (even more so than the above example), but still it can have adverse affects on some of the population.
Union Flag: “It’s the flag of the country!” – True, but c’mon….
One one hand, perhaps unionists should dry their eyes and stop being so offended by everything (are we becoming ‘MOPEs’? I would figure so if I listened to Frazer and Bryson)
I sometimes we think need a Haass 2.0.
A nasty Haass.
A cross between Haass, Simon Cowell and Vinnie Jones (and the Dragons’ Den)
Someone who can spell out where we’re all going wrong, tell us how to fix them, reward us if we do fix them and take us round the back and give us a good doing if we don’t fix them:
“OO, are you still tolerating drunken behaviour, sectarian music and provocative antics outside of places of worship?”
“Aye, what’s it to ye?!”
*CRUNCH!”
“GAA, have you managed to remove all intimidating imagery, flags and wot not from your otherwise fantastic and impressive organisation?”
“Well, ye see….”
*CRUNCH!*
“Politicians, have you bothered to integrate some schools in areas where the schools are under subscribed but without damaging the performance of Catholic Schools?”
“No, we decided to stick them on campuses, so the can learn together. In a segregated fashion”
*Crunch!*
“Willy Frazer, Jim Allister and Peter Robinson”
“yes?”
*CRUNCH!”
So on and so forth.
Some way of properly addressing the sore points we have amassed over the decades.
It’s no one group’s fault.
Perception compounds the matter.
The question is what to do and what price are we willing to pay to sort them out?
BTW, is it true Jamie Bryson attempted to spark a boycott of companies that sponsor GAA teams only to have the rug pulled from under him when it was discovered that Buckfast sponsor a GAA team in London? (Or is it an urban myth?)