IT SEEMS THAT Sunday’s pulsating All-Ireland football final between Cork and Down managed to attract a following beyond these shores.

Perhaps drawn to the match by the presence of the Northern Irish Secretary of State, Owen Paterson – the first time that anyone in that role has attended an All-Ireland – the Guardian yesterday wrote an editorial in praise of gaelic games and the GAA, and condemning moves by the Gaelic Players Association which it says was in favour of professionalisation:

On Sunday about 80,000 football fans gathered in Dublin’s Croke Park to watch Cork defeat Down. There was no segregation of supporters, no need for stewards in high-visibility jackets or even police officers. It’s a sport without agents or stars driving Ferraris. Moreover, 85 cents out of every euro that the devotees put into the game is reinvested in grassroots clubs.

Football is supposed to be the people’s game in the UK. But the real “people’s sports” are those across the Irish Sea. The Gaelic sports of hurling and Gaelic football represent a real link between people, players and the governing association. Although Gaelic football attracts tens of thousands to its national championship, the players who turn out for Down, Cork and the other 30 counties of Ireland do so on a voluntary basis.

A few have formed the Gaelic Players Association in an effort to extract more payments. But the GPA has generally been unsuccessful in creating a professional wage structure. Some stars earn money advertising everything from milk to fertiliser, but the overwhelming majority will turn up for training after a day at the factory or working on the farm.

The Gaelic Athletic Association has had many proud achievements of late: the construction of Croke Park stadium, the end of its ban on members of the security forces playing its sports in Northern Ireland, and the generous decision to allow Ireland’s national rugby and soccer teams to use its HQ as a temporary home.

But the most notable is the survival of its amateur status. Long may it continue.

Next week, the North Korean news agency asks: Could Benny Coulter succeed Kim Jong-il?