Donal Lenihan's new book, My Life in Rugby is out this week, and the book includes some very interesting comments regarding the divide between GAA and rugby, and how those involved in the former are perceived to be somehow, "more Irish".
Lenihan writes in his book that this drives him "mad", pointing out that he played Gaelic football before switching attention to rugby at CBC in Cork city.
Some in the GAA community like to paint themselves as being more Irish than the rest of us - how is it that Joe Brolly refers to them, real Gaels?
During the summer break from rugby I would travel to all the Cork matches, but you would always get some gombeen shouting at you, ‘Aren’t you at the wrong game?’
It would drive me mad that some within the GAA would see themselves as more Irish than we, rugby players, were.
It's an interesting observation. With rugby seen as the bulwark of private schools, and GAA more embedded in every Irish community, perhaps this propagates this idea. Lenihan meditated on this when speaking to Sean O'Rourke on Radio One this week:
Certainly back when I was playing, I think playing rugby for Ireland, you were [perceived as] a little bit elitist. Rugby was played in the private schools.
You had the fantastic GAA community, the club and the spirit that that induces.
At times, maybe because of the interaction with the north when The Troubles were on, we weren’t seen in the same light as some of our GAA counterparts, and that used to annoy me, I have to say.
While anytime an Irish rugby player plucks a ball from the air, many commentators seem contractually obliged to point out that this widely-coached rugby skill is a result of a "strong GAA background", it's a fascinating observation by Lenihan.
