O’Fiaich Library Lecture

What connects William of Orange, Cardinal Michael Logue, the Irish Football Association, the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Great Northern Railway? The answer is that they all feature in the story of ‘Sunday Games and their Opponents in Ulster, 1884-1920′, which is the title of a lecture to be held at the Cardinal Ó Fiaich Library and Archive, Armagh, on Wednesday 4 February.

In the lecture, which is under the auspices of Cumann Seanchais Ard Mhacha, library staff-member Dónal McAnallen will examine the ferocious debate that erupted in Ulster in the late nineteenth century in relation to the rights and wrongs of playing games on Sundays.

Sunday games were technically forbidden by law since 1695, and in most of Ulster Protestant influence ensured that this legislation was closely adhered to. It came under strain, however, with the organisation of sports bodies which catered for the lower classes, most notably the GAA. The Royal Irish Constabulary was put in a particular dilemma as to how best to apply the law.

The lecture will outline the hostility of Protestant and Catholic clerics in Ulster to Sunday games, and the expression of sabbatarian influence in the north through the unionist press and bodies such as the GNR and the IFA.

Of particular local interest will be the sole surviving newspaper accounts of the 1890 Ulster Gaelic football final (Armagh v. Tyrone) – which was reported as a “squabble” between 50 “Sabbath desecrators” – and sabbatarian attacks on the GAA in Markethill and Ballyvarley in the 1900s, both of which were discussed in the House of Commons.

The lecture starts at 8 pm. Admission is free. Refreshments will be provided.