North-South divide cast shadow over 70s and 80s

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Being a Gaelic footballer or hurler wasn't easy in the '70s and '80s in the Six Counties. We were automatically associated with trouble by the security forces, who had their own ways of making life as difficult as possible.
The most common form of harassment was the 'boot and bonnet' routine. You would be asked where you were going and once you mentioned Gaelic football or hurling you were told to pull the bonnet, open the boot and stand on the side of the road for as long as they deemed fit. The checkpoints were annoying, but there were more sinister forces at work too. The threat from loyalist paramilitary organisations was constantly there.

One particular incident scared the hell out of me. I was driving out of Lurgan after training one night when a car came right up behind me. It was so close that I sensed something wasn't right. I knew it wasn't a police car, so I decided that under no circumstances would I allow it to overtake me. If I let it get ahead, it might block the road and I could be forced out of the car. After that, who knows?

It followed me for several miles, trying to get past at every opportunity, but I held my ground.
I was terrified, but felt that my best chance was to stay ahead, which I managed to do until we came closer to Crossmaglen, at which stage my pursuers veered off on another road at high speed.

I told the county board what happened and it was decided to split up training for a while. The boys from the south of the county trained in Carrickcruppin, while the rest went to Lurgan or Armagh.

It was a tough time being a GAA man in the Six Counties, which made Armagh's advance to the All-Ireland final in 1977 such a newsworthy event. We saw ourselves as being the same as every other county and never sought to play the victim card. For all that, a lot of people in the South didn't understand us.

Very few county teams from the South overnighted north of the border when they came up for League matches, instead staying in Monaghan or Dundalk and driving north on Sunday morning. It was understandable, I suppose, but it did tend to create a 'them and us' situation. Attitudes changed over the years, but the North-South divide didn't disappear for everybody. One of the few times as Armagh manager I really lost my temper as manager was in a league game against Laois in Portlaoise.

A bit of a scuffle broke out near the sideline with players and officials becoming involved. It wasn't anything too serious and ended fairly quickly, but not before one Laois man, who was part of the official party, had a right go at us.

He squared up to John Rafferty and called us 'orange b*****ds'. Now, on a league table of stupidity that would take some beating and, while I should have laughed at it, I was infuriated. I felt like laying him out with a punch, but managed to restrain myself.
In fairness to Liam Kearns, who was managing Laois at the time, he came to me afterwards and apologised. He didn't have to, because he hadn't done or said anything wrong and could hardly be blamed for someone else's stupidity.

It was an isolated incident, but it showed that even in a new century there are still people who have no real grasp of the relationship between North and South.
- Joe Kernan

link

millhouse (Meath) - Posts: 892 - 18/10/2011 16:37:51    1054186

Thanks for that article millhouse. It gives us a glimpse into what our fellow Gaa people had to endure in the North before the peace process.

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 3027 - 18/10/2011 16:54:48    1054197

no point for posting that for half the partitionist boys on this board. Not only do they not understand they dont care. Many a similar story from east tyrone, south derry, south antrim, north antrim, belfast, down would sound something similar. There is a club in Belfast St Endas were many members were murdered because of their association with the GAA and closer to home in Coalisland we'd a young lad shot dead by the brits outside the pairc in that town. Sparked a furious response from the parish priest there.

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 18/10/2011 16:57:01    1054205

Nice story but very much exaggerated to make it more entertaining. Certainly wasn't as bad as Joe makes out

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 18/10/2011 16:59:59    1054209

CheFinny you've got to remember that the Republic of Ireland had it's Civil War in the 1920's. Instead of the British doing the killing it was our own. Obviously after 90 odd years we've moved on as a society, and I've no doubt that ye will as well.

ringo (Wexford) - Posts: 384 - 18/10/2011 17:04:08    1054214

How the Hell do you know that p.p. Were you in the car with him?.

corkcelt (Cork) - Posts: 4388 - 18/10/2011 17:07:02    1054216

he was in the car behind;-)

tonto21 (Donegal) - Posts: 181 - 18/10/2011 17:12:32    1054219

I was driving down the Donaghmore Road the other day and a driver came up right behind me. He didn't get a chance to overtake as I pulled off and thank God I did, imagine what could have happened if he had overtaken me. Doesn't bear thinking about. Worst thing is the Police didn't seem interested when I told them that someone had attempted to overtake me

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 18/10/2011 17:15:40    1054223

WOW p.p. obviously sees himself as a braver man then Joe Kernan. All of the article stresses that Joe is talking about a particular time at which stage assassinations were rife. But the brave p.p.thinks he can denigrate the man by posting a silly response that is neither clever nor funny. Anyhow p.p. is irrelevant to the thread which gives us a little cameo to what life was like then and I have nothing but respect to the GAA fraternity of the 6 Counties for how they coped during that period of our history.

corkcelt (Cork) - Posts: 4388 - 18/10/2011 17:53:41    1054263

In fairness pplocals post was funny!!

Sure it was probably some lad with his mot pregnant in the back of the car and they took the turn off at Bessbrook for the Daisy Hill hospital in Newry!!

Regards,

Snufalufagus....Laochra Gael

Snufalufagus (Dublin) - Posts: 8100 - 18/10/2011 18:04:33    1054274

It was a time of numerous attempted overtakings but the brave men and women of the wee six valiantly held on. I must send that story of mine into the Independent, seemingly such stories are now news worthy. I even have many where I was overtaken but thankfully each time the car drove on. I know this is extremely rare and in the vast majority of cases the driver blocks the road and forces you to get out of your car

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 18/10/2011 18:06:04    1054277

PP and his modern day student buddies, ahem, are too busy wrecking Belfast Holyland to know what reality what like for many of us in the North in the 70's and 80's. They have the gall to wear GAA tops, getting full drunk, annoying residents all night long and behaving like spoilt brats while in total ignorance as to what Ulster Gaels lived through when the likes of him wasn't even around. His immature, childish, ignorant rantings should be treated with the contempt they deserve as they insult those Gaels who were murdered because of their involvement with the GAA. That is of course if pp is genuine and some on HS have exposed him as not.
Joe is spot on, the Ulster GAA was a constant target for the RUC/UDR/British Army and their Loyalist satellite death squads. I remember a UDR patrol stopping our car in the 80's outside Antrim; we were on our way home from a hurling match. They saw the hurls in the boot, pulled the car into a layby, kept us for over an hour, took all the seats out then threw the hurls into a ditch while spewing sectarian anti-Catholic abuse the entire time. We also had to remove broken bottles that had been placed upside down in pitches before games after so called middle class Unionists made complaints because we played games too near their homes. We didn't have public parks to play our games in Belfast while Protestant soccer clubs had 100's of pitches all over the city.
Likewise some Southern Gaels too should hang their heads in shame at their total denial and ignorance at what went on in the North. Ardoyne, St. Endas, Pearses, Bellaghy, Crossmaglen are just some of the clubs that suffered dreadfully at the hands of Crown Forces and Unionist murder gangs and yet many Southern Gaels join forces with these and have a go at Ulster and the North all the time. Tyrone and Armagh took some awful partitionist abuse when they won their SAM's and there is no doubt that there is a lasting resentment in Ulster at the rest of the country and the GAA at their foolish naivety when it comes to the North. They take their cue from a shockingly revisionist broadcasting and print media that has championed a partitionist mindset in the South which in turn has led to many there looking down their noses at 'Nordies'. It is disgusting; Ireland lost it's soul a long time ago and is now a cold, unfriendly, partitionist, selfish, greedy, gombeen, corrupt 26 county state. Well done Joe for speaking out, it's long overdue.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 18/10/2011 18:25:35    1054288

tonto21
County: Donegal
Posts: 6

1054219
he was in the car behind;-)

classic

hurlinspuds (Cork) - Posts: 1494 - 18/10/2011 18:31:51    1054294

I certainly hope your man behind him wasnt in a rush because he was late for work.

TheRoad (Galway) - Posts: 1339 - 18/10/2011 18:41:21    1054300

PP obviously thinks the murders of Ulster GAA members is humourous but I don't recall too many laughs at the gravesides as their relatives cries and screams pierced the air. It is totally disgusting that a so called GAA person would make light of those dark days which further makes me wonder who pp is or whose agenda he is operating to. Go and visit Ardoyne GAA, St. Endas, Pearses, Bellagy, Crossmaglen etc pp and tell the members how funny you find it all. Furthermore SOME Southern Gaels should hang their partitionist heads in shame; out of sight out of mind for many of them. They really don't have a clue or indeed care what Ulster and Northern GAA people suffered which makes the current wave of revisonism and rewriting of history in the South even more stomach churning. TAKE IT DOWN FROM THE MAST!

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 18/10/2011 18:52:08    1054310

Excellent points in your posts there Ulsterman. There are some, not all in the Southern media who have a partionist mindset. It can be seen in the reaction to Martin McGuinness as a presidential canditate. The constant harping on about his IRA past, as if the IRA was the cause of the troubles and not a sympton of a gerrymandered, Unionist sectarian six counties.

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 3027 - 18/10/2011 19:18:24    1054333

here's the truth of it laid bare and lads it didnt end in the dark ages of the 70s it is very much alive and there was a recent incident involving a young lad in derry city, and two involving our dear friends Patrique's club in antrim

shame on the partitionists and revisionists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/aug/22/northernireland.rosiecowan

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 18/10/2011 20:49:32    1054395

I don't really get the point here. A lot of Catholics were killed during the Troubles. A lot of Catholics are involved in the GAA. Therefore it is safe to assume that a lot of GAA members were killed during the Troubles. Everyone knows this. These deaths were tragic as were all deaths during the Troubles. Unlike Ulsterman and Che though I won't condemn some murders while condoning others. The one thing I will take from this thread however is that the simple act of overtaking someone is an act of aggression. God knows how many people I've scared the living daylights out of

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 18/10/2011 21:35:31    1054438

PP local you are a bit of an idiot, how do you know what happened joe kernan that night?? I think joe has earned the respect of gaels up and down the breadth of ireland and i cant see why the man would make up stories. A lot of gaels did suffer throughout the troubles as che finny already said a young boy was shot in cold blood while playing in the grounds of our club, a headstone is erected in our grounds in his memory, and it was a highly dangerous time for members of the gaa in the north, if you look in every county you will find cases of murder targeted at gaa members, look at bellaghy club in derry they had their chairman sean brown murdered outside the gates of their own club the list is endless

fiannablue (Tyrone) - Posts: 326 - 18/10/2011 21:52:56    1054453

Well said Ulsterman, I agree with everything you say. The media is predominately revisionist and anti-republican down here. It's pretty sickening how one sided most of our newspapers are actually, and how dismissive they are of the nationalist point of view. And of course, the Republic was consumed by greed circa 1995 - 2008. Our beautiful countryside littered with unsightly, badly built ghost estates. We have lost our souls, you hit the nail on the head.

offalyfaithful (Offaly) - Posts: 120 - 19/10/2011 08:25:36    1054471