GAELIC GAMES/CROKE PARK ROYAL VISIT:GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney has written to county boards asking officials that any comment on next month's visit by the queen of England to Croke Park should come exclusively from him. The historic visit was announced last week, and, whereas so far there has been little discernible controversy, the association is anxious this should remain the case.
According to Croke Park sources, the move has been made partly on the grounds an extensive press release was issued when the visit was confirmed and also because, having accepted the request to receive the queen, the GAA doesn’t want to fuel any controversy that could embarrass President Mary McAleese, who extended to the British monarch the invitation to visit the country.
This stance was echoed at the weekend by an influential GAA figure in Ulster. Fermanagh businessman Peter Quinn, a former president of the association and formerly a member of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission, was asked on RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme how Ulster clubs would view the visit. “I don’t know that, but as I said the Ulster clubs are very realistic and know when change is necessary the same as the rest of the island does.
“I know a lot of people consider the GAA to be very conservative, but when major decisions were made, we took those decisions when they were right. The same applies now.
“The queen is coming at the invitation of the President of Ireland, who came from a part of North Belfast that was heavily deprived and where there was a very great volume and depth of feeling and hurt. She became either the first or the second member of the GAA club at Queen’s. Her husband played GAA for his university and school, his club and his county. They know the GAA inside out
“I don’t think it’s a question of what the queen says. The queen is making a very symbolic gesture in going first of all to the Garden of Remembrance, which I think is probably the greatest icon of our military and political past, and coming to Croke Park, which . . . I believe is probably the most important icon in our culture and sport.
“She’s visiting them – that’s not by accident; it’s possibly at the prompting of the President – but I am quite prepared to accept that if President McAleese and her husband, Martin, think this is good for Ireland and good for the GAA, I’m quite prepared to accept that.”
