For the last few decades “pluralism” has been the buzzword of Dublin’s chattering classes.
Perhaps Ireland’s greatest ever Pluralist was Myler McGrath who simultaneously was Bishop of many dioceses, not only in the Catholic Church in communion with Rome, but in the Church “by (English) law established in the reign of Good Queen Bess and others. Amongst his Bishoprics was Cashel and he was well remunerated by all of them.
In 1601 on his march to Kinsale. Aodh Ruadh O’Domhnaill took McGrath prisoner and intended to have him executed as an English collaborator but was dissuaded by his ally Aodh O Neill (aka, to the English) as the Earl of Tyrone, presumably on the grounds that McGrath had been, or might still be useful to Ireland’s cause. Catholics and Protestants appeared to have agreed that McGrath was both greedy and untrustworthy, but he lived into his nineties and died from natural causes in his comfortable
bed.
Perhaps Ireland’s greatest contemporary pluralist is Eoghan Harris, spin-doctor extraordinary for an array of opposing parties, parliamentary and paramilitary over many years. I use the word pluralism in its original sense – holding many offices, primarily for one’s own exploitation.
But today it is generally used to denote peaceful and harmonious acceptance of different preferences in religion, politics, music, sports,language, dress and sleeping companions so long as they don’t scare the horses.
I was intrigued to learn from Perkin Warbeck’s Blog, that Corkonian Eoghan Harris felt obliged in a panegyric to Liverpool FC to note that his late father used refer to the game played at Anfield as “SOCCER.”
What else should he have called it. As a Dubliner, brought up on the Hill of Howth I never heard it called anything else. The Gaelic Athletic Association has staged Gaelic Football matches in Howth since the 1880s and the first SOCCER club in Howth was founded in the 1920s. My first visit to a sports stadium was to Landssdowne Road in 1948 or 1949 when I was taken by my father to watch Karl Mullen’s triple Crown Winning team. My father had played Rugby at Christian Brothers’ College Cork in his youth and loved the game. (Indeed his father, who taught at CBC and who came from Cloughjordan Co. Tipperary, was a fine Cricketer.) On the Howth Peninsula, Suttonians Rugby Football Club has prospered for at least a century. I can recall a Garda from the Kerry Gaeltacht who togged out for Ben Edar Gaelic Footballers under his Irish surname
and for Suttonians under its Anglicised version to circumvent the GAA ban. The sole member of Ben Edar’s Vigilance Committee, the presumed enforcer of the Ban on Garrison Games, was a Protestant. not the only Protestant who played for Ben Edars. Incidentally – does Eoghan Harris know that Sam Browne, a fellow Corkonian, was both a Protestant and a Fenian.
Those who recall THE DAY I PLAYED FOR IRELAND – a previous BLOG of mine will have a true appreciation of my SFA football skills. But I can also recall, from my late teens, being roped in by younger players on Howth Summit together with a namesake of my age with similar football expertise. He went on to become a Professor at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, and died tragically of Multiple Sclerosis. Domhnall Crus O Briain ab ainm do, a son of “the Cruiser.”
May he rest in peace.
I first attended a professional soccer game in 1979 in Highbury with my then seven year old son, who had adopted Arsenal as his team, an allegiance he still adheres to. About half the team at the time were then Irish, but I knew nothing about them. That same year I took him to Dalymount Park, the only time I’ve ever been there, though my mother was brought up in Phibsboro, heartland of Bohemians. For him SOCCER is FOOTBALL and he still plays regularly. My grandchildren have not only seen Arsenal play at home but Barcelona FC also – a club with a historic connection with Belfast Celtic, whose most distinguished ex-player was Oscar Traynor, Dublin Brigade IRA commander 1920-22 and Fianna Fail Minister in many cabinets led by ex- Rugby player and lifelong enthusiast Eamon de Valera.
Funny how a champion of pluralism such as Eoghan Harris should want to banish Gaelic Football and Rugby Union and Rugby League beyond the Pale!
Other fashionable pluralists would silence the Irish Language now and forever by acts of cultural genocide.
From the Ocford Dictionaries website:
“The first rule of football is….
…don’t call it soccer, certainly not within earshot of someone who thinks of it as ‘proper’ football. This is probably the most crucial element in giving the impression that you’ve been into this game for decades. Naturally this can be difficult if you are trying to differentiate between two different sports (in the UK it is easy – American football v football). Soccer, the word, comes from an abbreviation for Association (from Association Football, the ‘official’ name for the game) plus the addition of the suffix –er. This suffix (originally Rugby School slang, and then adopted by Oxford University), was appended to ‘shortened’ nouns, in order to form jocular words. Rugger is probably the most common example, but other examples included in the Oxford English Dictionary are brekker (for breakfast), bonner (for bonfire), and cupper (a series of intercollegiate matches played in competition for a cup).
Apart from its origins being decidedly British, you will find plenty of examples of soccer being used by British people over the decades. But in terms of the history of the language, it’s something of a 19th-century johnny-come-lately: by contrast, football has been used since the 1400s. In modern usage, in order to blend in with the diehard fans, it’s preferable to stick to football – and, when speaking to these fans, never, ever call it Association Football.”
Great piece Donal.We had a ChristIan Brother, the formidable Bro. Doherty , a Dublin man, who referred to Association Football” as “soaker”.