The Little Book of Hurling (eBook)

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THE FORMATION OF THE GAA

MICHAEL CUSACK

Michael Cusack was the man who better recognised the perilous state of the game of hurling than anyone else at the end of the nineteenth century. Born into an Irish-speaking family in Carron, County Clare in September 1847, he grew up to be a strong athletic young man and played most of the sports of the day. He became a teacher in Dublin and later opened his own school, the Civil Service Academy in Gardiner’s Place. He was to make an impression on the young James Joyce, appearing as ‘the football fellow in the knickerbockers’ in Stephen Hero, as ‘Michael Cusack the Gael’ in The Portrait of the Artist, caricatured with the figure ‘The Citizen’ in Ulysses and referred to as ‘Sir Micholas de Cusack’ in Finnegan’s Wake.

From his participation in Irish athletics he came to deplore the exclusiveness which debarred workmen from competing. As a result of meeting Pat Nally, a leading nationalist and athlete, Cusack set out to reform Irish athletics. Later, he was to turn his mind to hurling. ‘In my dreams I was living with the men of Erin of pre-Christian times. In spirit I hunted and fished with Fionn’s invincible hosts from Antrim to Kerry. I hurled with the Fianna of sixteen centuries ago from Tara to Killarney. I resolved to bring back the hurling.’

In December 1882 he founded the Dublin Hurling Club. Hurling, of a sort, had been played in Dublin for some time. There was even an Irish Hurley Union in the city which had at least fourteen clubs. But hurley was not hurling. It was a refined version of the ancient Irish game that persisted in scattered areas throughout the country.

Increasingly, Cusack came to the conclusion that hurley was no substitute for the real thing. His first effort to revive true Irish hurling by founding the Dublin Hurling Club, failed. His second attempt, with the Academy Hurling Club and the Metropolitan Club, was more successful. The Metropolitans became a great success and Cusack, who had formed the club ‘to test the pulse of the nation’ stepped up his mission to revive hurling.

THE METROPOLITANS v. KILLIMOR

One of the few places in the country where the game of hurling had survived was Killimor in south Galway. The earliest set of hurling rules to have been adopted was at a meeting of the Killimor club in February 1885, even though there is a good argument that they were in existence since 1869. When Killimor heard of the revival of hurling by the Metropolitan Club, they issued a challenge to play them. A cup was put up by the people of the town and the Fair Green in Ballinasloe was chosen as the venue.

An advertisement in the Western Star screamed: ‘Hurling! Hurling! Revival of the National Game’.

The match was arranged for Easter Monday, 13 April 1884. The Midland Railway issued return tickets to the Metropolitan players and their friends to Ballinasloe at the single-fare price.

Before the game started the Killimor captain, F.W. Lynch, and the Metropolitan captain, Michael Cusack, settled the rules of the match. They agreed to play for four half-hours, no tripping or wrestling to be allowed. The winners were to be the team that scored the greater number of goals during the period. The match wasn’t a great success. A big crowd turned up, which constantly encroached onto the pitch. In spite of the agreed set of rules, the game was a disappointment and it came to a premature end when Killimor scored a goal.

According to the report in the Western Star:

Mr. Cusack lost all heart in the business, and before the second goal was played off stated that his men were not able to the task, but hinted in the blandest manner possible that his opponent’s play was too rough, which not one but himself evidently could see, even most of his own men wished to play out but to no use … Mr. Cusack could not be induced to go on, evidently thinking that it would look better before the public to draw off than be beaten badly …

The Galway men claimed victory and this was honoured by bonfires and lights all the way from Ballinasloe to Killimor.

THE NEED TO CONTROL IRISH ATHLETICS

Following his experience at Ballinasloe, Cusack came to realise the need to standardise the rules of play if hurling were to be revived. During the months following the game Cusack argued the need for a new body to govern Irish athletics and wrest from them the control of the Amateur Athletic Association of England. He also saw the need for support from leaders of Church and State. In an anonymous (but clearly from Cusack’s pen) article in the United Ireland and the Irishman on 11 October 1884, entitled ‘A Word on Irish Athletics’, he argued the point that the social and political development of a nation depended on the cultivation and preservation of its games. Irish athletics were in the hands of people of anti-Irish outlook, who excluded the ordinary person from the sport. Since the best athletes in the country were nationalists, they should take control of their own affairs.

MAURICE DAVIN

One of the people who responded to the article was Maurice Davin of Carrick-on-Suir. He agreed with the views expressed in the article, stated that Irish football and hurling deserved public support and was willing to help any development to revive both games under new rules.

Davin, who was a farmer, was Ireland’s most famous athlete at the time. A ‘big reachy man’, black haired with a full auburn beard, he stood over 6 foot tall and weighed 15 stone. He had dominated Irish athletics during the 1870s. Born in 1842, his first love was boxing but he soon abandoned that in favour of rowing on the river Suir and taking part in regattas. At the age of 29 he began to devote his spare time to weight-throwing, which included shot putting, hammer-throwing and slinging the weights. His brothers, Tom and Pat, also excelled in athletics and in the ten years between 1873 and 1882 between them they won a total of twenty-six Irish national titles and in each event that they contested they set new record figures with one exception. They also represented Ireland in athletic meets with England and Maurice was a victor on a number of occasions. His standing in Ireland as an outstanding athlete had the added prestige that came from having defeated Englishmen.

In his reply to Cusack’s ‘Word’, Davin called for proper rules for football and hurling – ‘I would not care to see either game now as the rules stand at present’ – and noted that there was still a strong residual love of traditional forms of athletics: ‘for one bystander who takes off his coat to run a footrace, forty strip to throw weights or try a jump of some kind.’

THE CHOICE OF THURLES

When Michael Cusack decided to call a meeting for the revival of Gaelic pastimes his first choice wasn’t Thurles. Early on he decided against holding it in Dublin and considered Cork as a possible venue. Then Loughrea became his preferred choice. He had got to know of the strong hurling tradition in south-east Galway from his early teaching days in Lough Cultra School, not far from Gort. An indication of the persistence of the game there was the existence of a set of rules, the Killimor Rules, which dated back to 1869. On the basis of the strength of the game in the area, Cusack brought his Metropolitan team to Ballinasloe for a challenge with the local side.

During this visit he got to know the sterling qualities of the Bishop of Clonfert, Dr Patrick Duggan. Later, in August 1884, when the idea of the new organisation was forming in his mind, he realised that its success would depend on powerful patrons.

Dr Duggan was then 71 years of age and had already offered his resignation to the Pope because of his rather poor health. However, he was delighted to hear of the founding of the Association and promised to do all he could to promote its success. But he declined to act as patron and advised Cusack to ask Dr Croke, Archbishop of Cashel, ‘a fine Gael, young, vigorous and energetic’ to become the first patron of the new body. And so, Cusack came to Thurles and the rest is history.

THE INVITATION

Michael Cusack was sufficiently satisfied with the response to his article ‘A Word on Irish Athletics’ and decided to hold a meeting at Thurles on 1 November 1884:

4,Gardiner Place,

Dublin.

October 27, 1884.

Dear Sir: You are earnestly requested to attend a meeting which will be held at Thurles on the 1st of November to take steps for the formation of a Gaelic Association for the preservation and cultivation of our National Pastimes and for providing rational amusement for Irish people during their leisure hours. The movement which it is proposed to inaugurate has been approved by Mr. Michael Davitt, Mr. Justin McCarthy, M.P., Mr. William O’Brien, M.P., Mr. T. Harrington, M.P. and other eminent men who are interested in the social elevation of the race. The place of meeting will be decided upon at the Commercial Hotel, Thurles, at 2 o’clock on the day of the meeting.

Signed: Maurice Davin, Carrick-on-Suir

Michael Cusack, Dublin, hon. Sec. pro tem.

N.B. – the favour of a reply is requested – Michael Cusack

THE MEETING

The meeting took place in the Commercial Hotel, Thurles, which was owned by Miss Lizzie Hayes.

It proved fully capable of accommodating all who turned up. Indeed, when the meeting commenced at about 3 p.m., the billiard room sufficed. The exact number present is in...