The balance has been decided by the GAA and Nationalist community here by their silence.
Until they at least give a credible reslonse we have to take Joe and patrick at their word.
If none of this haplened and it was made up you wouldnāt be long being told about it.
Allow the IRA to walk all over them. At one training session, people arrived in and gave handouts. Thatās the only reported action, a one off event, youād swear the club organised it or something
Silence?
They allowed the IRA go in and ontimidatr their members
Yes silence.
How did they allow them?
They entered dressing rooms. Thats allowing them
Does your club run a security checkpoint at the club?Do ye have a barrier at the club gates and a doorman at the dressing room entrance?
Joe should have a read of some of his own tweets from a week and a half ago. They destroy what heās now arguing.
Offffft.
i despise the fact that wasters like @ChocolateMice and @Sidney spend so much time assuming the fight for the GAA and GAA clubs in shitty instances like this one when neither seem to have the time to be an actual club member
quick one Kev from an earlier point you made.
who did you mean would be terrified in situations like this? Would the club and members of it not be terrified by the RIRA? And as it turned out, justifiably terrified considering the heinous act they did indeed carry out.
Does it make what they did right or morally correct? Probably not. But its not as simple as saying you are a man of principles and that you would stand up to the Ra. You cant definitively say either way how you would react, you would only hope to act in a certain way if you havent been in that situation. I dont think the club are without fault on this. As I said earlier, there is probably an in between point on this on the club doing nothing whatsoever and not supporting him to members actively staying friends and supporting him and the family.
I do think Brolly has a point in the whole conversation and it probably could be levelled at a number of clubs there. He could have expanded on clubs ringing looking for challenge games with the implicit aim of taking out Heffron. That was accounted for on both sides. That is a despicable act by GAA clubs. Not that I dont believe Heffron nor dismiss his claims in any way, but he obviously still has a huge amount of anger towards the club which may well cloud his current judgement. Thats his right. He has suffered hugely and felt like he got no support from close friends and his team. It is up to Brolly to ensure that everything said is 100%, and to me, I dont think it was.
Another point too is that the people of the area were wary and afraid of the PSNI and its potential collusion. Even in this very same case, they were proven right on that. That too should be a factor.
Brolly made the point that the club are only condemning the attack now. Well, why would they have to condemn it back then? Does every club condemn atrocities or heinous acts on their members? I cant say I have ever heard of anyone condemning attacks. They were essentially forced into confirming they condemned it as they were being vilified over it. Could they have done more at the time. Absolutely they could. However they had just seen someone get blown up by one of their own, no one was safe from being targeted. Again, is it right? No, but I can see why it happened and Iām not going to go on my highhorse and condemn them in a situation that is utterly tragic in all aspects.
???
What do you think the GAA was set up for?
This is true, absolutely
Hopefully airing such stories can have a positive effect and can form another part of the healing processā¦ Joe had a piece up not so long ago about the violence in the north and GAA clubs during the troubles and the naming of clubs after IRA men ā¦ If this country is ever to be united institutions like the GAA will be very important and the need for clubs in the north to distance themselves from the past is important and from the sounds of it Creggan have been doing this ā¦ this story throws them right back to a different time and they probably feel cornered. Maybe Joe could also have gone about this differently and approached the club and tried to reconcile both and then share the storyā¦
Iāve no issue with your general argument but youre judging from the here and now largely.
Iād only love for the GAA to move forward up north and for some clubs to even rename their clubs and be more open to getting prods involved in more middle class areas. As Joe points out, we still have a bit to go tho and itās not all one side as ugly Unionism is still king and thatās why opinions are till entrenched up there.
Dunno mate, itās not that simple Iād say and it doesnāt negate the right to an opinion, Iām sure you have opinions on organisations that you donāt belong to.
You said āisā sid. Not āset up forā.
I directly quoted you.
Thereās a big fucking difference, as you well know.
When was the founding aim of the GAA abolished?
Why does the GAA play Amhran na bhFiann before matches?
Why was Rule 21 in place until November 2001?