Nally’s unique place in GAA history

THE Hogan Stand in Croke Park is named for the Tipperary footballer murdered on Bloody Sunday, the Cusack Stand for the founder of the association and the Davin Stand for the great Tipperary sportsman Maurice Davin.
The Nally Stand is unique. It is named for a man who was probably not even a member of the association. He definitely never took part in any games organised by the GAA. However, his athletic activities were instrumental in spreading the desire for a ‘non-establishment’ group to organise athletics in Ireland.
In the 1880s, there were a number of bodies organising athletics, none of which welcomed the ordinary people of the country. At local level, sports would have been organised by the landlord and only his guests were invited to take part, the ordinary man in the street was not welcomed.
PW Nally was the fourth of eight children born to a reasonably well off landowner and businessman. He was educated at St Jarlath’s College in Tuam, where he became a member of the Fenian Brotherhood and the IRB. He became well known for his sporting achievements, although he never seems to have competed outside of Connaught. His prowess was recognised when he was named Sportsman of the Year by the Irish Sportsman in 1878.
He was equally as prominent in the Fenians and at 22 years of age, was in command of the organisation in Connaught and a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB. Both his interests clashed as, in 1881, the Sportsman announced that he would not be taking part in any athletics events for the foreseeable future. He was wanted by the police and had to go on the run. This eventually led to his arrest and that was why he took no part in the foundation of the GAA.
He objected to the elitism of organised sports and in 1879 he organised the National Sports of Mayo. They were held on his father’s land and refreshments were provided in the family home. The local landlord was always the patron of the sports but Nally arranged that Charles Steward Parnell was patron of the national sports meeting. The event was such a success that they were arranged again for the following year.
That success led to similar events being organised around the country and it was this desire to have an athletic organisation that would cater for the ordinary people of Ireland, which led to the formation of the GAA.
Initially, there was great antagonism between the GAA and the other organisations, so much so that when the GAA was invited to a meeting of all the athletics bodies, Cusack famously replied, “I received your letter this morning and burned it”.
The GAA was founded in 1884 to give a structure to the ideals of  P W Nally but the man himself was in Kilmainham Jail, having been convicted on the evidence of a paid informer and there he remained until his death.
Patrick W Nally, the Fenian and athlete whose ideals inspired the desire for an athletics movement and after whom a stand in Croke Park is named but who never took part in any event organised by the GAA, died in jail on November 9, 1892 – 118 years ago this week.