JOURNALISTS AND THE MAKING OF THE GAELIC ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION, 1884–1887

Abstract

Sports organisations and the media have been intimately bound together since the making of the modern sporting world in Victorian times. The relationship between the media and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) during the formative years of that association was heavily influenced by the nature of Irish politics and society in the 1880s. In many respects, the early development of the GAA was a triumph of propaganda. From its very first meeting, the GAA presented an image of itself as a democratic and nationalist association open to everyone. Many of the most important GAA officials worked as journalists and one even established his own newspaper. On top of that, almost every GAA county board and many GAA clubs used the press to further the GAA. This paper documents the importance of the press and of journalists in the early years of the GAA.