Advance bid for rare GAA manual

AN AUCTIONEER of rare books has received an advance bid – from Kerry – for a copy of How to Play Gaelic Football which is due to go under the hammer next week.

Dublin fans may smile but the news could cause consternation in the Kingdom.

The paperback, illustrated with black-and-white photographs, was written by Dick Fitzgerald and published in 1914 by Guy and Co of Patrick Street in Cork. Its author was a famous footballer and an All-Ireland winning captain of the Kerry team. The book was intended to be a manual to teach players in other counties how to play the game.

Auctioneer George F Mealy said the book was “very scarce”. It was the first copy he had seen for five years and was “a very desirable item for collectors” of GAA memorabilia.

He said a bid had already been submitted “from a public institution in Kerry”. Asked if the bidder was the Kerry GAA county board, he declined to comment.

Fitzgerald, who died in 1930, was a member of the Kerry senior football team for 20 years and captain for All-Ireland final victories in 1913 and 1914. He was a native of Killarney and the town’s Fitzgerald Stadium is named after him. In the book, he expressed the hope Gaelic football “may never become the possession of the professional player”.

The book will be sold by Mealy’s in its rare books auction next Wednesday at its saleroom in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny.