Antrim hurling legend Terence McNaughton has given a very interesting insight into Brexit's potential effect on the GAA, and what we can learn from the experiences of hurlers during the Troubles.
McNaughton was speaking to Shane Stapleton, and told him about the situation as far as he sees a potential hard border affecting hurlers. This comes after EU officials expressed concern at the impasse between British and Irish governments on the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
"Brexit - I would never have voted for it. I think it goes without saying that I'm Irish and I want to remain Irish, and I mind the days when you had to queue for hours just to get over the border. That would be a disaster if that came back again. Not only for the business world, but the social world, economies, tourism and the GAA.
"I remember sitting for hours in those traffic jams trying to get over that border, getting searched and silly things going on. I could stand here until the cows come home and that tape runs out and tell you stories. It would be a disaster, if there is a hard border."
More cogent to wider society, Terence also had a word of warning for governments on both sides of the border for what can happen when a state is left in limbo.
"If you know your Irish history, when there is a void, Irish men usually fill it [...] Playing in the Troubles was very different, I've said this many times - if I was walking about the street with a hurling stick, I was telling everybody what religion I was, who I voted for and what my beliefs were. If you walked down the street in Tipperary with a hurling stick, you were a hurler - full stop. Up here was different.
"The families that were middle of the road didn't want their children carrying hurling sticks or wearing GAA jerseys because it labels you. And it still labels you - where we are standing at the minute labels us.
"[The Troubles] wasn't tough for me as I lived in a rural part and didn't experience what say Derry or Belfast did, but you were always getting stopped going to matches - the UDR broke my hurls. There was nothing you could do - you just had to sit in and go on.
Despite ongoing concerns with the political situation, Terence also thinks that the culture of millennials has upsides when it comes to the potential to return to the sectarian conflagrations of the past.
"I hope [it doesn't return to armed conflict.] I'd be scared that the void is filled again by young nationalists moving towards armed struggle. I would hate to see that day, but I don't think it will. I think society has changed too much - like the old saying goes, if we went into the trenches now, there would need to be wifi coverage!"
