Lightening the sectarian load associated with sport will take more than funding for Casement Park

In June 1953, over 25,000 people attended the blessing and opening of the new GAA ground in west Belfast, Roger Casement Park. The stadium was drenched in a wave of pious republicanism for the occasion. Cardinal John Francis D’Alton, the Catholic archbishop of Armagh and primate of All-Ireland did the honours, accompanied by the Catholic bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Daniel Mageean. The Falls Road area was decorated with papal flags, bunting and Tricolours. At the ceremony, members of the Northern Division of the Old IRA formed a guard of honour. Soil from Thurles Sportsfield (later Semple Stadium) and Croke Park in Dublin, brought to Belfast by relay runners in urns, was mixed with the Casement Park soil. Following the opening, D’Alton was presented with a carved statue of St Patrick by the chairman of the County Antrim GAA Board.

It was quite a day as D’Alton eulogised Casement, knighted for his services to the British Empire in 1911 and executed for Treason in 1916, as “one of Ireland’s noblest sons, who willingly made the supreme sacrifice for his country”. D’Alton also predicted that “in years to come, Casement Park may be destined to rival the glories of Croke Park. It should serve as a rallying ground, not only for the Gaels of Antrim, but also of Ulster. I look upon it as a symbol of your patriotism and loyalty to the proud traditions of our race and the indestructible spirit of our nation.”

The opening was presented as a defiant declaration of the resilience of a suppressed minority. The sentiments expressed would have pleased the ghost of Casement, who in a letter from Belfast to his cousin Gertrude Bannister in 1912, in the midst of intense anti Home Rule protests, described a Protestant parade: “how appalling they look, with their grim, Ulster Hall faces ... I tremble at the piety of this realm- this Ulster so bathed in the self-righteousness so washed in Papish blood... How truly Christian and kindly a spirit inhabits the ‘Ulster’ breast!”

D’Alton’s prediction about a Casement Park to rival Croke Park was not about a Dublin equivalence, but a reminder of the political potency of the GAA in Ulster and its focus as a nationalist well that could be drawn from to bolster the identity of a people oppressed and abandoned. Over the decades it remained a rallying ground for much more than sport; it was the site of the 1966 parade for 70,000 Ulster nationalists commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising and later, the scene of anti-internment protests and later still, commemorations of republican hunger strikes. It was also occupied by the British army, prompting the president of the GAA Pat Fanning to declare in 1973, “the GAA position is clear. Its historical role is not a myth. Our charter proclaims the determination of the GAA to work for a thirty-two county Ireland ... the allegiance of the GAA is to Ireland.”

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A LucidTalk opinion poll for the Belfast Telegraph last November suggested that while 54 per cent of those in Northern Ireland support Euro 2028 football games being played at the stadium (including 94 per cent of nationalists), unionists are firmly opposed

It might be tempting to construct a historical narrative that would present the resurrection of the now derelict Casement Park as a symbol of transformation and reconciliation on the back of this week’s announcement of €50 million in funding from the Irish Government for its redevelopment, but that would be naive. A Northern Ireland Assembly research paper 2001 observed that “a wealth of distinguished research exists regarding the issue of sectarianism and sport in Northern Ireland”.

[ Casement Park redevelopment: ‘People said it will never happen but I was firm believer it would’ ]

A LucidTalk opinion poll for the Belfast Telegraph last November suggested that while 54 per cent of those in Northern Ireland support Euro 2028 football games being played at the stadium (including 94 per cent of nationalists), unionists are firmly opposed, with only 12 per cent of them supportive. It also found that while 53 per cent of nationalists would be happy to cheer on the Northern Ireland soccer team there, 43 per cent of them do not support that team.

[ Complex Roger Casement has avoided cancellation so far ]

It will be a test for the new power sharers to see if they can agree an approach that is not just about closing funding gaps, but lightening the sectarian load associated with sport in Northern Ireland. In June 2016, when both the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland teams participated in the European soccer championships, and their respective fans seemed well disposed towards each other, the French sports newspaper L’Equipe was moved to comment, “for atmosphere, Ireland is unified”.

Translating such a mood to Belfast will be a tall order, not just in relation to two Irish soccer teams, but in finding cross-party consensus. First Minister Michelle O’Neill spoke this week about the potential for sport “to unite us all”. The preferred unionist response was outlined by Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly: all “our decisions”, she said of the Executive, will be guided by “fiscal responsibility”.

That would certainly be a novelty. Given the history attached to Casement Park, it is also an assertion that can be taken with a pinch of stadium soil.