Theme: Women
gaa oral history project
The captain of the Scoil Mhuire Camogie Team,
Cashel, is carried shoulder high by supporters.
Courtesy of Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael.
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Founded as it was, by men, and at the height of the nineteenth-century obsession with masculinity and fitness, it is unsurprising that those meeting in Hayes Hotel in 1884 gave little thought to the women of Ireland. The early years of the GAA was dominated by male players and officials, and the rare times that women appeared in newspaper reports were as spectators (and with the journalist usually making some comment about their dress and appearance).
All this began to change as women started organising themselves and began carving out a space on the playing field. While the two main women’s games still remain officially independent, camogie and ladies football have become part and parcel of the world of the GAA. ... More
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Fiona McConnell, 25, Cavan |
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Blaithín Fitzgerald, 49, Dublin |
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Patrick 'Musha' Maher, 47, Connecticut |
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Elizabeth Flynn, 26, Galway |
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Nollaig Cleary, 40, Fermanagh |
‘I couldn’t imagine my mother ever attending a match. Now there are women who are officers of clubs. It’s for the better also. The mother is usually the one who is bringing the players to training/matches, so her input is vital. If she is not on the GAA club’s side, then the whole thing will fall down.’
—Adrian Hession, 31, Mayo
© GAA Oral History Project
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