IF IT IS indeed true that local people know you better than you know yourself, then the foresight of Ollie Reel over 30 years ago was quite something.
He was a mutual friend of both Jarlath Burns, the newly-crowned 41st President of the GAA, and Burn’s life-long friend and team mate through school, college, Sigerson and Armagh teams; Benny Tierney.
“Ollie said to me that someday Jarlath would either be President of the GAA, or President of something. And that was back when we were 17, 18 years of age,” says Tierney.
“There was something about him. Ollie noticed it about him around the ‘Bridge, that he had a flair for leadership. But you would have put money on Jarlath being some sort of a leader.”
When Tierney and Burns they were young men making their way onto the Armagh team, John Martin of Crossmaglen was responsible for transporting the unruly South Armagh element to county training.
His first call, and therefore inhabitant of the front seat, was the diminutive Jim McConville. Into the back would squeeze three men; Tierney who never made any pretensions towards holding back at the dinner table, the 6’ 3” and fourteen stone Burns, and the hulking Martin McQuillan.
The first point of business would be a shoulder barging and door-locking session, determining who would sit in the middle.
Once that was established it was non-stop flatulence, yarns, wind-ups, japery, ignorance and side-splitting laughter.
Martin had one rule – he never stopped the car. Not even if Burns’ size 12 boots went flying out of the Peugeot Estate, as happened.
When Burns launched an impassioned protest, Martin informed him that boots were no use to him, as he wasn’t allowed to kick the ball anyway.
“When we were in that car and I was in college with Jarlath, he was as much a lunatic as the rest of us. While some of it was fuelled by drink for us, Jarlath never drank. He never needed to. He had that capacity to entertain, he is obviously musical as well and engaging in conversation,” says Tierney.
“He loves craic, and probably would be the man up to high jinks before the end of the night.
“So it wasn’t the case that as a young man he was sitting back planning a coup of leadership because he lived the life we all lived, of craic and entertainment. He was never found wanting in that department.”
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The new GAA President arrives into office as arguably the most recognisable figure to ever take the role.
As a player, Burns gained an early taste of glory with St Mary’s College in 1989 when he won a Sigerson Cup alongside Tierney and fellow Armagh man John Rafferty, with other luminaries such as Malachy O’Rourke, Danny Quinn and Pascal Canavan.
Success with Armagh took a lot longer.
In 1993, Armagh played six games in Ulster and didn’t even make the provincial final. But it was during this run that Burns established himself as one of the better high-catching fielders of the ball at a time when that skill had serious currency.
Eventually, he captained Armagh to their first Ulster title in 17 years, in 1999.
Just months after retirement as a player, he was identified by the GAA President, the late Seán McCague and handed a role on the recently-formed Players’ Committee, a body hastily established as a response to the growing influence of the Gaelic Players’ Association.
He made one half of an entertaining duo on BBC Northern Ireland’s GAA coverage along with fellow pundit Martin McHugh and the host Jerome Quinn. In 2002 when Armagh finally won their first All-Ireland title, he was visibly emotional while delivering his post-match analysis before ripping off his microphone to join in the celebrations.
He also maintained an entertaining and provocative newspaper column with Ulster GAA newspaper Gaelic Life, and presented various sports programmes for television, bringing John Inverdale to south Armagh for a football match on one assignment.
Throughout that time he served in a variety of committee roles with Silverbridge Harps. One of his favourite ways to spend a day is working on the club grounds, where he enjoys the mocking that comes his way when he unpacks his power tools.
In 2018, he was still playing for the club at 50 years young, coming on during a reserve championship match against Clann na Gael.
He is married to Suzanne, from Belfast, and has five children: Megan, married to Wexford hurler Diarmuid O’Keefe, Fionnan, current Armagh footballer Jarlath Óg, Conall and Ellen.
Whenever Armagh are playing, he doesn’t sit in the comfy seats. Instead he puts on a hi-vis jacket and helps steward around the Athletic Grounds.
Brilliant to see GAA President Jarlath Burns stewarding in the McKenna Cup.
— Abdullah Al Jumaili (@AbdullaAlJumali) January 17, 2024
A wise man who understands what the GAA is about.
Maith thú Jarlath! pic.twitter.com/r52CNCO76Y
Away from the GAA, he is a regular attender at The Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal. He plays guitar and is fanatical about darts. Every Monday night, he plays ‘45’ with a regular crowd at the Silverbridge clubhouse.
In taking up the role of President, he takes a leave of absence in his working life where he is Principal of one of the largest schools in the north in St Paul’s Bessbrook, with over 2,000 pupils.
In that role, he gained much curiosity and admiration by marching alongside his pupils at a Pride march in Newry in 2014.
He has not been afraid to challenge orthodoxy and has brought pupils on day trips to museums of Orange Order heritage, as well as speaking at various Sinn Féin functions.
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There is an odd expectation attached to this presidency — that, because Burns is an engaging figure and his media contributions always find so much purchase, he is going to grant everybody their wish and run the GAA to their own pleasing.
He has warned against that. Last year when he secured the necessary votes to become the 41st President, he warned, “I am really going to be clear on this is, I do not want a legacy. Three years in an organisation like the GAA – forget about legacy.”
That advice is likely to go in one ear and straight out the other. He might rue his approachability.
At St Paul’s, he has to manage over 100 staff members. Then, there are over 2,000 pupils. And around 4,000 parents. All who want to tell you what to do and how to do it.
“If he can control that dynamic at work…” says Tierney.
“And he is a very good listener but he is not a nodding dog. Jarlath will do what is good for the GAA and what he thinks is best.”
If we want to make a guess at what he wants to achieve, then we will refer to his statements when he was canvassing in early 2019.
There is a paradox that, around that time, he toured the country extensively, setting out his ideas and vision for the GAA. And while he won the first-count on votes, transfers proved his undoing.
This time, he kept everything low-key and got over the line.
Back then, he said, “I think we are at a crossroads really with the GAA. With where we are and where we want to go to in the future.
“I think we need a Strategic Review of the Association. We had one under Sean McCague. I was heavily involved in that.
“And I think we need to go down that road again of asking all the difficult questions of ourselves. What are we? Who are we? Why do we exist and how do we see ourselves going into the next 20 years?”
He pointed out that the Association was essentially divided along the lines of being a heavily competitive sport, and being one that galvanises communities, draws the best out of them, creating the ‘Big Society.’
Although he spent his playing days in one, he is more excited by the other. The GAA as a means to change society or influence policy is a space to watch.
Given his previous remarks about outreach to Unionist communities, this will prove interesting.
Burns has kept a constant dialogue in interviews around issues of identity, one that is constantly evolving. At one point he wondered aloud about whether removing the Irish tricolour and Amhrán na bhFiann might be worth it if it attracted more from a Unionist background.
This was Jarlath Burns two weeks ago. Asked some very uncomfortable questions in this podcast. He answered them.
— Thomas Niblock (@thomasniblock) February 17, 2023
The new President of the GAA pic.twitter.com/7CqRLN82YE
At a later stage, he has felt that regardless of these gestures, there might be too many diametrically-opposed to the GAA to ever join under any circumstances.
“You look at my own county, there are places like Richill, Hamiltonsbawn, vast areas, almost two-thirds of our county where we have no footprint whatsoever,” he said.
“In order to achieve that, that will be a very long-term plan. There is a lot of antipathy and disrespect shown towards the GAA from sections of Unionism which is very disappointing.
“There is an awful lot more sections of Unionism that will say the GAA is what it is; specifically Irish identity. There is nothing subversive about that. It’s a perfectly valid perspective to have.
“The GAA is based on love of place – of your parish and your club. So that is definitely a challenge but the GAA shouldn’t be seen as having to be the main driver in that.
“But inclusion is one of the six values of the GAA. There isn’t one element of the constitution that should bar anybody ever from playing our games.”
With population shifts, he has said that more clubs should consider amalgamations in rural areas. But there has to be a purpose to it.
This was borne from experience. He watched Silverbridge minor teams, with a panel of 17, get to a county final only to be stuffed by a three-club amalgamation with a 40-strong panel.
The development of hurling is something that Burns, a football man from a strongly-football county, will certainly hope for. It’s something he was keenly aware of back in 2019. That position is likely to have sharpened with some righteous anger among the hurling fraternity that the GAA have, in ways, failed the sport.
“If you look at what the National Hurling Development committees were focussing on, is meaningful games,” he said.
That work, carried out by Martin Fogarty among others, established the Tain Óg and Cúchulainn Leagues for developing clubs north of hurling’s Mason-Dixon Line between Dublin and Galway. Foundations have been dug.
He is not ignorant of hurling, his sons Fionnan and Jarlath Óg both being fine players themselves for Craobh Rua when their schedules allow.
But the low-profile of hurling makes it less attractive among young players. It’s an inescapable truth.
Leaving aside the 360-degree experience Burns has of the GAA, it is one thing to have that, and another to re-imagine where the Association might be in a decades’ time.
Strategy is one area he will be putting resources into. A knowledge of structures and strategy will be a help. He acknowledges that the most important person in all of this is the GAA’s Director-General.
At present that is Tom Ryan. His term is due to end in 2025 in the middle of Burn’s Presidency.
“The GAA President is the leader of the Association,” said Burns.
“The biggest moment I might have is something which crops up that I have to answer and respond to on behalf of the GAA. It’s the time when you need good leadership off the cuff and to give the correct type of leadership. Maybe that’s something I have in the job which I have here. You are constantly responding to events as well as having a strategic mind.”
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If it were just leadership, planning and strategy then that would be a busy job. But being the GAA President is also a, by turns, ambassadorial, political and economical role.
You will be expected to visit most corners of the globe to wherever balls are hurled or kicked, you will make small talk with hundreds and hundreds. And not all of the people can be fascinating all the time.
You will deal with criticism and be asked testing questions. Mis-speaking is not an option and memories are long.
In so many ways, it is an impossible job. Whether the profile matters any, we are about to see.
