HISTORY PROJECT: Ian O'Riordanreports on a project that is, 'in words and pictures, and in other manual formats, a story of experiences in the GAA, an oral history'

IF YOU'VE ever cycled long distances to Croke Park, ever produced a county programme or even washed a club jersey then the GAA wants to hear from you. After nearly 125 years the time has come to bring it all back home in the first oral history of the GAA.

Details of the project were announced in Croke Park yesterday, and although clearly spurred by next year's 125th anniversary celebrations, the GAA have in fact given themselves four years to complete it.

Boston College, which has had an Irish wing since 2000, is undertaking the actual research operation but effectively there's an open invitation to everybody who has ever had any dealings with the GAA to get involved.

"When we look at the history of the GAA, pick up a book or whatever, it has generally been down to the interest of individuals, who have written our history for us," said GAA president Nickey Brennan. "But as an association, which is now almost 125 years old, we have never seriously invested in our history. So I felt it was necessary that we find out more about who we are, where we've come from, the experiences of people that have reached both the highest offices in the land of the association, and those of what I'd call the foot-soldiers or people on the ground, without whom the association would fall.

"This is invaluable for current and perhaps more important future generations. I would hate to think that when we celebrate 150 or even 200 years of history, the people then would look back and say the people that went before us didn't make a big effort in compiling a lot of what we're about.

"It's not a history of the association. It is, in words and pictures, and in various other manual formats, a story of experiences in the GAA, an oral history.

"It's not all about the good times either. I don't need to elaborate on those, issues that challenged the association.

"This history is also about people that remain unhappy about certain courses of action. We want it to be fair and balanced. We are going to engage with a huge number of people, but are also asking people to help us. Everybody's views are relevant, and the expertise of the team at Boston College will put that into a format that will store it in some way or another."

Brennan was confident that the Boston College research team were the perfect candidates to carry out the work: "We've heard this team from Boston College talk about the GAA many times before, and to say they are passionate and knowledgeable about the association would be an understatement. We have been with them for some time, and we are confident we have people here with the necessary passion, first of all, and secondly the expertise.

"We are also putting in a significant investment, because we want as many people to benefit from this as we can. While it is being done in conjunction with the 125th anniversary, next year, and that is the impetus, it is a four-year project. We couldn't do it justice in one year."

Prof Mike Cronin, who is heading the Boston College team that is undertaking the research, was fully aware of the scale of what he was taking on: "It is the biggest project of its type ever undertaken in the world of sport. Not even Fifa or the IOC have tried to do something this big. The key thing we're trying to do here is not worry about the big games or big personalities. That kind of history is there.

"We're really interested in what makes the GAA work. The members, the volunteers, the people who wash the jerseys, the people who might just watch games on TV.

"Also how their lives have mirrored some of the broader themes in Irish history. Such as the changing technology of transport. If you think a GAA supporter now aged 75 and the different ways he got to Croke Park over the years. By car, by bike, that's a history in itself. And memories around clubs, volunteering, family involvement and travel, social scenes.

"One of the key impetus here is to produce a huge archive which will be housed by Croke Park at the end of the four years."

A questionnaire is being made available to every club, club historian, local history society and junior cert teacher, in hard copy and via the web, to be filled out by or used to interview anyone who has ever been involved in the GAA. This will allow for the recording of the GAA's history at the most personal and local level.

Once completed in its entirety, the project will create a series of books, websites, radio and television programmes, as well as a searchable digital archive which will be permanently housed in the GAA museum.

• To take part visit www.gaahistory.com, email info@gaahistory.com or call 01-6625055.