Greek National Identity

National identity, national icons and popular culture

In this assignment, I will look at how Gaelic sports, and so the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), are examples of national identity being seen as an everyday phenomenon. Gaelic sports are played mostly in Ireland, although with the emigration of the Irish population around the world, they are becoming more widely played.

Background to Gaelic sports:

The Gaelic sports that fall under the umbrella of the GAA are Gaelic football, Hurling, Camogie, Handball and Rounders. I have picked the two most widely watched and most widely played sports, Gaelic football and Hurling to show how national identity can be seen through Gaelic sport.

The GAA was set up in 1884, with the aim of promoting Irish culture and pastimes. Gaelic sports were promoted to the Irish people as a way to rebel against the British Empire, by ignoring the sports the British had introduced into Ireland, such as rugby and cricket. It also provided a venue for Irish men to show that they were not the inferior, weak people that the English had portrayed them as. It is also seen in the history of Gaelic sports, that the rules had been created or changed. This is likely another way the Irish people had overcame the British stereotypes that Irish people were unoriginal, and was have also been used in order to promote their values and ways of showing their strength and manliness.

Gaelic sports are not widely played outside of Ireland, so do not offer the same opportunities to beat rivals that sports such as soccer and rugby do, and so players cannot get the same sense of achievement, pride and fame as they would if playing for their country. GAA players are all also amateur, even at the highest level as they do not get paid and so all players will have some form of job outside of the sport. This shows the level of dedication from the players at all

Instead, Gaelic sports create rivalries between the different counties. The imagined community is particularly evident in the pride that each county have for their team. In the run up to a regional or all-Ireland final, towns throughout the participating counties will be decorated in their county colours with bunting, signs placed on the roadside and flags. These people feel a connection to the others in their county, despite the fact that they will never all meet each other, as even the smallest county in Ireland has a population of over 100,000 people.

The imagined community theory is also displayed at a national level in the playing of Gaelic sports. In the GAA rules, it is stated that the Irish flag must be flown at all GAA matches. The national anthem is also sung prior to important matches such as regional and all-Ireland finals. When the anthem is sung, the players are required to face the flag. In the majority of games though, the flag is not really acknowledged, it is just another part of the sport. The flag could also be seen as an example of Billig’s theory of ‘banal