Racism in the GAA - Off the Ball

Off the Ball talk to Joey Cunningham

In December of last year Aaron Cunningham, a gaelic footballer playing with Crossmaglen, was racially abused during the Ulster club final against Kilcoo. It came shortly after Wexford dual player Lee Chin had publicly talked about racist abuse he faced while playing football.

Chin was racially abused several times before he spoke out about the issue, and then only when an umpire reported two opponents, playing for Duffy Rovers, for racially abusing Chin.

Chin spoke on Off the Ball last November and told Eoin McDevitt he had received racial abuse for years, from both opponents and spectators and the abuse was worse in the GAA than in soccer.

Aaron Cunningham’s father, Joey Cunningham, was the first black man to play inter-county football in Croke Park. Cunningham was on Off the Ball last night and told Eoin about his own experiences of racism and about the incident at the end of last year.

Cunningham wondered if the GAA have a full understanding of the seriousness of the situation, and questioned whether they are dealing with the problem in as strong a fashion as they claim.

You can listen to the full interview with Joey Cunningham below, plus the November 6^th interview with Lee Chin about his experience with racism in the GAA.

Picture: Aaron Cunningham of Crossmaglen ©INPHO/Presseye/Andrew Paton

http://www.newstalk.ie/racism-in-the-gaa-off-the-ball

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eoin Brennan

@_EoinBrennan www.facebook.com/newstalkfm

Sports Journalist