By Colm Bradley

Can we begin with a little experiment? I'm going to ask a question and I want everyone to read it and close their eyes and think of an answer. What is the first thing that springs to mind when you think of the GAA in the Six Counties?

OK, did you do it? Good. There are no doubt many different answers. Some probably thought about the sacrifice and commitment given, under difficult circumstances, to promote Gaelic Games. Others may have thought about the innovative training techniques employed by Ulster coaches. There were also, I'm sure, others whose immediate reaction was to think of GAA people in the Six Counties as conservatives, hanging on to ideals and not too keen on change.

But the fact there were different answers is neither here nor there. What I think is intriguing is the fact that most people have preconceived ideas about GAA members from the Six Counties. And I wonder could we say the same about Association members from other parts of the country. Is there anything unique about the GAA membership in Munster as opposed to Leinster? I don't think so.

Even consider that the remit of this article was to discuss the GAA 'within the Six Counties' and we can see that GAA people from Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal are not seen to be comparable, in certain contexts, to GAA people in the rest of the Ulster counties.

This is the reality. The history of this country has dictated that the experience, struggle and journey taken by the GAA in Fermanagh, Tyrone, Armagh, Antrim, Down and Derry is different from that of the rest of Ireland. But while accepting this difference there is a danger that we can fall into a trap of thinking that all GAA people think the same 'up there'. Simply not true.

I find this 'pigeon holing' one of the most frustrating aspects of being a GAA person from the six counties. While there may be common experiences shared by individuals there will be many more unique experiences which contribute to each individual member having their own specific feelings about what the GAA means to them and their own opinions about the best course the Association should chart for itself.

So with that in mind I want to look at how I would like to see the GAA adapt and change in the six counties. So if I would like to share a story with you.

On a team bonding trip to Westport in 2004 I met the girl that I would marry. For that hectic summer Michelle and I made many two-hour journeys between Enniskillen and Kiltimagh as we got to know each other. Only recently I discovered that, after a few weeks of meeting this good looking young fella from Fermanagh, Michelle and some of her extended family had a little chat about me. You know, just the normal chit chat that you have with enquiring relations about the latest love interest; what does he do, what about his family, has he any prospects, etc., etc. Anyway, the fact that I came from Northern Ireland was a curiosity in itself and inevitably the question was asked, 'what foot did I kick with?' The answer was obvious, 'he plays the Gaelic so he's a Catholic.'

On one hand I am quite glad that Michelle did not feel the need to ascertain what church I prayed in, nor indeed which foot I actually kicked with (I tend to prefer the right) before giving me the green light. But on the other hand I can't help but feel a little saddened and frustrated that because I was involved in Gaelic Games, and was from 'the North' it was automatically assumed that I was a Catholic. But unfortunately that is the reality.

While there are some Protestants who play and are involved in the Association they are in the very tiny minority. If 1% of GAA members in the six counties are Protestant I would say that is a generous estimate. In Northern Ireland the term 'unionist community' is freely used to describe the Protestant population, but of course not all Protestants are, or would say they are, unionists. Unfortunately labels carry much meaning in Northern Ireland but but for the remainder of this article I will try to use the one I think is most fitting.

Labels do not mean as much in the 26 counties. And in this respect it is important that a distinction is made between a Protestant in the Republic of Ireland and a Protestant/unionist in Northern Ireland. Jack Boothman, a Protestant and past-president of the Association, is from Wicklow and is held up by those within the GAA when false claims of bigotry are made against the association. "Sure we even had a Protestant president," they say.

But it is clear that Mr Boothman is not comparable to the average Protestant/unionist in the Six Counties."

I think the GAA need to be more pro-active in reaching out to the Protestant community.

I accept that some unionists will never want to be associated with the GAA and no matter what changes we make they may always find us an unacceptable part of life, and because of this we should not worry about their protestations and complaints. However we must also turn a critical eye inwards and ask ourselves some hard questions. Are we doing enough to bring the GAA to others within the Protestant community? Has there been a significant effort made to introduce GAA sports to children in Protestant schools? Of course the GAA will say that all this is being done. But you should judge for yourself. The Ulster Council released their five-year strategy in 2006. Since then a number of Ulster counties have followed suit. Go look at these documents and the strategies that are in place to reach out to the Protestant community and decide for yourself.

There are some broad statements of intent which are to be welcomed such as the following which appeared in the Ulster Council's five year document; "Recent progress towards being more inclusive needs to be broadened and accelerated in the areas of gender; age; and cultural/political conditions."

But when the same document talks about how these changes will be brought about the only referencethat I can see being made to the Protestant community is when it says to, 'Develop an appropriate common bond with the Ulster Scots movement.'

The Fermanagh five-year document has eleven different strategies which fall under the heading 'Including others' but not one of these strategies deals specifically with the Protestant community. One does however deal with the inclusion of 'New Irish' into the GAA in reference to the non-nationals who have moved to the county.

Now, don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that GAA people want to reach out but there seems to be a paralysis of real action due to a fear of making the first step. But we have to do it. It is the GAA who should be looking to entice people to play our games so it is the GAA that have to make this first step.

But aside from actually trying to get the Protestant community involved has our association tried hard enough to educate the unionist community as to what the GAA's is all about? Have we even tried to educate our own members as to our history? Believe it or not, when the GAA was formed it found a comfortable bedfellow with many within unionism. Marcus De Burca, in his book 'The GAA, A History Of', makes the following interesting observation; "Another now forgotten achievement of the early GAA was the extent of unionist and Protestant support it got. Cusack later acknowledged the assistance he got in founding the association from colleagues in the Gaelic Union, some of them Protestants or unionists or both. Among leading members of the Metropolitan club, the backbone of the early GAA in Dublin were several Ulster Protestants."

The GAA was formed due to a desire to halt the anglicisation of Irish games while at the same time opening up sporting activities to all classes and all the people of Ireland. It has at its heart a social doctrine, and was never meant to be a political movement. In fact the man who was the main driving force behind the foundation of the Association, Michael Cusack was quoted as saying, under oath, that 'the GAA was in no way connected to politics.'

Du Burca wrote of Cusack; "It is clear from his writings that Cusack envisaged all along that in sporting activities the GAA would cross political and sectarian boundaries."

That many of the early unionists members left the association when it acquired an extreme Nationalist nature with the infiltration of the IRB in 1887 is another fact of history. It is also fair to say that the desire to keep the GAA, an organisation that was established to promote Gaelic culture, separate from politics in 19th century Ireland, while noble was ultimately naive. It seems that on this Island many things, including sport, are inevitably tainted by politics.

But, the question we must ask ourselves now is how complicit we want to be in that tainting? In this respect I would suggest that there are sections of the GAA rulebook which need to be re-assessed. For example let's look at the 'Basic Aim' of the association, or rule two. It is often held up as a rod to beat the GAA's back with. It states; "The association is a national organisation which has as its basic aim the strengthening of the national Identity in a 32 County Ireland through the preservation and promotion of gaelic games and pastimes."

Unionists often quote this rule, in particular the line about 'strengthening of the national identity in a 32 county Ireland, as evidence that the association precludes them from joining.

Considering that that this rule itself only came into existence in 1971 could we not perhaps reword it, without tampering with the ethos or ideals of the association, but with a view to being more accommodating?

You're surprised that the rule is so young? Don't be. In 1971, after a nationwide debate the members of the GAA (Including five of the six counties) had clearly signalled that they wanted the deletion of rule 27 (which imposed automatic suspension on a member playing, attending or promoting rugby, soccer, hockey or cricket). To placate the small but powerful minority who were opposed to this deletion the then President, Pat Fanning, proposed a need for a new charter which would copperfasten the GAA's loyalty to a national culture. This new charter brought about a change in the basic aim. Prior to 1971 the rule referred to "the preservation of Ireland's national games and pastimes".

A lot less political I'm sure you will agree, yet it encapsulated perfectly what the GAA is really about. This is the nub of my argument. I believe that as far as possible the GAA needs to disentangle itself from the political baggage that its rulebook carries. People often misquote rule seven by saying the association is non-political. Not true, rule seven says that it is non-party political. A subtle but telling difference.

I am not advocating a dilution in the association's Irishness. Far from it. We should celebrate who we are and be respectful and proud of our history. But we can drop the political language. We need to accept that there are other cultures on this Island. And from a political viewpoint we need to realise that every major political party has signed up to the principle of consent and accepts that only the people of Northern Ireland will decide their future.

So couldn't we, the biggest sporting organisation in Ireland, follow suit?

The GAA was never supposed to be about politics. It should be about promoting a way of life, a Gaelic culture and it should be about preserving the games that are indigenous to this Island.

We can do much more to reach out to the unionist community, to show them that the GAA is something that they can ascribe to, something that is unique to this Island, that is the measure of it's members, a community asset and something that they might eventually be proud of, just as we are.