Founding of the GAA

The GAA was founded by a man named Michael Cusack on November 1 1884, 132 years ago. Cusack was from Carran in Co. Clare and was born on September 20 1847. He was a teacher and he opened an academy which prepared students for their Civil Service examinations. His students were greatly involved in sports including rugby, rowing and cricket. In the 1880s, he became more interested in traditional Irish sports, particularly hurling.

Images from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cusack and http://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2015/10/the-irishman-joins-online-british.html

In 1882, Michael Cusack went the opening meeting of the Dublin Hurling Club, which was set up 'to re-establish the national game of hurling'. After weekly games of hurling in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, the game grew very popular leading Cusack to set up 'Cusack's Academy Hurling Club'. The establishment of this club led to the founding of the Metropolitans. the Metropolitans played Killiomor in 1884 in Galway. The teams could barely play the match as they had to keep stopping the game because both teams were following different rules of the game. Cusack felt something needed to be done about this. He wrote an article titled 'A Word About Irish Athletics' which appeared in the United Irishman and The Irishman newspapers. shortly after, Cusack wrote a letter to the two newspapers explaining that there would be a meeting held in Thurles on November 1.

The meeting took place at Haye's Commercial Hotel, Thurles, Co. Tipperary on November 1 1884. A group of enthusiastic Irish men, including Cusack, wanted to make athletics more accessible to the people of Ireland. At this time, only people in the middle of upper class were participating in sports. in an effort to revive traditional Irish sports and past times, Michael Cusack formed the 'Gaelic Athletic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes'.

Within six months of its establishment, GAA clubs had began to set up around the country and people played their sports with more pride than ever before. The GAA has continued to grow and has become the Gaelic Athletic Association as we know it today.




Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GAA_insoco.png