“If I can see they are trying to do that I will definitely go back.”
An Irish Times report notes Darren Graham’s response to the statement from the Fermanagh GAA County Board, “If I’m selected I will turn out. But I will also be wanting to see what progress they make on the whole judgement around it, and if they are taking a stand.” County Board Chairman, Peter Carty, also said on the BBC’s Newsline that no individuals or clubs had been identified by Mr Graham in the meeting this week and that “There was no official complaint” – which will probably mean that there will be no sanctions against clubs or individuals. Also in the Irish Times, earlier this week, Fintan O’Toole had an interesting article on the background to the abuse. [subs req]From the Irish Times
They got Ronnie Graham first, while he was delivering coal not far from his own house in Lisnaskea. He was 39, writes Fintan O’Toole
After the killing, the IRA left the guns to be moved by a 13-year-old boy, who had been recruited into its youth wing by a teacher at his school.
Five months later, in November 1981, Ronnie’s younger brother, Cecil, was visiting his wife and their newborn baby at her parents’ house. She had gone to stay there because the baby had been born prematurely and needed constant attention. But Cecil’s wife was a Catholic, and the house she was staying in was in a nationalist area. Cecil was spotted going into the house. As he left, he was shot 16 times.
It took them more than three years to get the third Graham brother. They had tried to get Jimmy in 1980, but he had fought them off, and been given a medal. Perhaps his escape had annoyed them, or perhaps, as many Protestants believed, there was a deliberate plan of ethnic-cleansing, aimed at wiping out whole families. In any case, he was a soft target now. He arrived in the school bus he drove to collect children from a primary school and take them to the local swimming pool. He was parking the bus when they fired the first two shots at him. Then they got into the bus and fired 24 more shots, just to be sure.
..
Darren Graham’s paternal grandfather was a member of the B Specials. His father, uncles and aunt were part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment, which allowed the IRA to justify its assault on the family. But his mother was Catholic and so is his two-year-old daughter.
And, after noting the author Colm Tóibín’s references to the murders in Bad Blood
Darren Graham [son of Cecil Graham] didn’t make a big issue of his religious affiliation. But that wasn’t enough to stop other people doing it for him.
What was done to the Grahams – the methodical murders; the naked joy when they got Jimmy at last – left at least some people with a bad conscience. Cecil Graham’s Catholic father-in-law told the inquest in 1983 that he was upset that in the two years since Cecil’s death “none of the neighbours had extended sympathy or even mentioned the murder of his son-in-law”. But the silence belied an unspoken disturbance.
Colm Tóibín, when he walked through the area three years after they got the third Graham brother, found that the dead Grahams were seen as uneasy, vengeful spirits still haunting the place.
As he was talking to two young Catholic men in Kinawley, he mentioned the spate of tragic car accidents in the locality, in which all the victims seemed to be young Catholic men. “People think it’s revenge,” one of them blurted out. When pushed, they explained that the older people maintained that the accidents were a sort of revenge for what was done to the Grahams. “God, you know, did I understand? It was God.”
The unspoken guilt transmuted itself into irrational fear and it is not hard to see how that fear could in turn be channelled into the abuse of Cecil Graham’s son.
Guilt for the murderous campaign against Border Protestants was kept at bay by the notion that the victims were off-duty UDR men and therefore mere ciphers of British imperialism.
Darren Graham had the temerity to punch through that easy tribal stereotype by playing GAA and not defining himself simply as a Protestant. It took the hate that dares not speak its name to make him one now.
Shocking story and well told except for unconvincing amateur psychology bit – “The unspoken guilt transmuted itself into irrational fear and it is not hard to see how that fear could in turn be channelled into the abuse of Cecil Graham’s son.” – probably just dont like Prods and when the opportunity to shoot them is not available then they have to make do with some verbals.
1. the issue at hand is the sectarian abuse the player received related to his religion. It has nothing to do w the killing of members of his family. D Graham said as much in the Ferm. Herald and he quoted some of the insults – did the journo even read the original? I’d doubt it.
2. O’Toole has widened the issue to cover the relatives deaths for his own sensationalist reasons and sales of the Irish Thames. He references the writing of Colm Toibin who obviously quoted the local village idiots views (or bluts when pushed) on traffic accidents, ghosts and UDR killings – now thats not investigative journalism.
3. O’Toole after reviewing the situation as a ‘professional codologist’ then comes to the conclusion that nationalist fear/guilt of the population of Ferm led to the insults. Twenty – something year old players guilty for UDR killings which happened in the 1980′s!?!? I think not.
[edited moderator]
I’m not quite sure what Darren Graham expected when he got involved in the GAA, his return to this so called sporting organisation was very predicatable.
While I condemn the abuse he has recieved it was his choice to join the organisation therefore I have little sympathy for him and this is a feeling held by many Unionists.
It’s a chilling story, it seems unbelievably cruel that one family could have endured so much. And all those bullets to finish the victims off, the more blood and the bigger mess the better to psychopaths pulling triggers I suppose.
I wonder did Nicky Brennan suggest that a way back into the sport for Darren would be one of his experimetal Prods-only GAA teams/clubs?
One suspects window-dressing and damage-limitation is at work here rather than dealing with what is fundamentally wrong with the GAA that makes the abusers feel so at home and confident of their behaviour.
The gaa’s image is the key factor in all of this, I have not seen or read one thing that will prevent this happening again.
[edited moderator]
Posted by anonymous on Aug 09, 2007 @ 11:44 PM
Mick, that’s disgraceful that you’d take my ribbing of the so called journo as insulting and edit my posts. I’ve seen a lot worse posts on this site related to public figures names and you’ve let them slide. I assume that you edited my posting as you foolishly hold the Irish Thames in such high regard and fawn over their journos …. sloppy work on your part.
You presume too much annonymous. I did not moderate your post. But I have no problems with the way in which it was done.
It is your responsibility to play the ball and not the man. I’m not against the use of the word ‘shite’ per se.
But if you can’t lay out a simple argument without resorting to petty insult, then I respectfully ask that you try again.
But if you can’t lay out a simple argument without resorting to petty insult, then I respectfully ask that you try again.
Good point but surely that point could be made to many posters whom when backed into a corner simply resort to swearing as a defence mechanism.
While not defending ‘anonymous’ his/her post was certainly a far cry from many of the hate filled comments posted onto this site in relation to the Orange Order.
This is one of the most shocking tales from the “troubles” that I have ever read.
It’s awfully hard to understand how any family could recover from that.
Alot of anti GAA people putting in the boot here. If you want to paint it as a sectarian bigoted organisation it says more about your own mindsets than anything else. Of course you’ll find sectarian twits in most sports in the North (and indeed throughout the whole island) but it’s unfair to insinuate that the GAA is happy to ignore sectarianism. The matter will be dealt with and it will not be window dressing as suggested. Interesting to see Fintan O’Toole and Kevin Myers developing a late interest in GAA affairs though I suspect neither will be at the 82,500 sell-out on Saturday. Wouldn’t look good having a sophisticated Irish Times journalist at a “bog ball” game would it?
*Wouldn’t look good having a sophisticated Irish Times journalist at a “bog ball†game would it?*
That would come as a huge surprise to Tom Humphries and John Allen and Nicky English and Keith Duggan and John O’ Keefe and Ian O’Riordan. Have you ever actually read the Irish Times sammaguire or do you just make things up as you go along?
This is an article that stands the nationalist communinty in Lisnaskea in some credit – it makes it clear that they were as cowed and disgusted by the sectarian IRA death squads as their Protestant neighbours.
I suspect that’s why this story is really driving the apologists up the wall.
“I have little sympathy for him”
- Outsider
With an attitude like that, your name seems appropriate. Stay there.
A terrible, shocking story.
Killing a coalman, a man vulnerable because he married a Catholic girl, for Christ’s sake and a bus driver in front of the kids. And then abusing a relative because of all of that.
Fucking sectarian bastards.
I truely have to wonder about the collective mentality about some of the contributors on this site. It seems to me that the Unionist view of certain events comes simply from the ‘Uncle Andy said it so it must be true’school of revisionism. Wake up people ! There was NO mass genocide of ‘Protestant’ people , while not condoning what happened to members of the Graham family it is plain to anyone with a semblance of rationale that their involvement in the UDR was their undoing and NOT their religion. By hey, don’t let the truth get in the way of the Unionist myth.
“their involvement in the UDR was their undoing ”
3 brothers, eh? That was co-incidence?
Its equally clear to anyone with a semblance of rationale that such focussed murder and the fact that one married a Catholic demonstrates a sectarian hatred equivalent to anything demonstrated by Loyalists.
Didn’t Jimmy’s killers whoop with joy and shoot at “the wee birdies off the telephone wires” as they celebrated the killing? What a vision of Hellish hatred that conjures up…and, as the article implies, Hell was indeed invoked.
This was not the only family to receive the focussed attention of the killers: Ross and Margaret Ann Hearst come to mind. Co-incidence again?
? It is irrelevent to whom they were married, again you attempt to bring religion into the equation.
Does anyone honestly believe that if the Grahams had no involvment with the Security/Crown forces that they would have been cut down anyway?
“It seems to me that the Unionist view of certain events comes simply from the ‘Uncle Andy said it so it must be true’school of revisionism. “
I am not a Unionist.
Phew thanks Paul for clearing that up for us. So you can clarify that ALL protestants deliberately targetted and murdered by PIRA were members of the security forces can you?
Stories such as the Graham family account above are very very rarely told. They’re an ‘inconvenient truth’ in the republican myth.
Hey Paul maybe we should have some sort of memorial for the brave lads who shot a bus driver 26 times in front of some primary school kids.
Well at least we can count on the GAA to do the right thing by the surviving family members. Can’t we?
Yes, Paul, of course they would. In instances in Fermanagh where members of families scheduled for ethnic cleansing could not be conveniently linked to the security forces, other excuses were found. These included “economic target” (i.e. shopkeepers) or “political target” (i.e. councillors). Plus, of course, anyone who farmed or owned land could be shot out of hand as an “occupier”.
If you would like to claim that Sinn Fein never justified murder in Fermanagh on the basis of “economic targets” or “political targets” then please do go ahead.
One thing that strike me about all this from my southern remove is that it appears to be as much a manifestation of a culture, on the surface at least, in the GAA of not being able to get on with your near neighbour. Inter parish rivalries are enormous and frankly players and supporters will say anytihng that comes into their heads (and yes they do mean it) and the win at all costs mentality translates into doing and saying anything that might unsettle your opponent. The particular problem in this instance is that Graham can’t respond in kind because those giving it wouldn’t be able to take it.
Yet at inter county level fans appear to be able to banter away with each other, the players on the other hand. Well, that might just be down to my experience as a Kerryman.
joeCanuck – I never said you were?
Gerry lvs Castro – No I can’t, certainly in the early to mid 70′s their was sectarian murder, not on the wholesale scale as committed by Loyalists but yes there was. I was however challenging this notion of ‘innocent’ even though a member of the security/crown forces.
ShoreRoadResident – The use of the term ‘scheduled for ethnic cleansing’ is highly emotive and rather fanciful given what has happened in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia and Poland. I would rather not engage with such paranoia. Disgraceful.
sammaguire
It is not unreasonable to point out the GAA is ignoring sectarianism.
The important point, though, is that any organization which is 95%+ from one side of the “divide” has to ask itself questions as to why that is, and come up with an answer better than “It’s because themmuns is sectarian, so they are”. The GAA is far from unique here.
The concern from the Fermanagh Board is obviously genuine. But the underlying issue is the “secret sectarianism” here – it simply isn’t good enough to say “Well I just go and play and I don’t care about politics”. If every single player around you is of the same religious background, in NI, you have a responsibility to ask yourself the awkward questions as to why that is.
The Graham incident is a consequence of ignoring the issue, but I have no complaints directly about what the Board has said and done about it. The issue is what will be done in the longer term.
So Paul, my language is “disgraceful” but your excuse-making for murder is not?
Good Lord.
I note you have not denied that Sinn Fein used the justifications of “economic targets” and “political targets” to excuse sectarian murders in Fermanagh. I will take this as an admission that you accept the point.
Thanks Paul for that admission, though the deliberate targetting of protestants, particularly in border areas, continued long after the mid 70s, often as SRR points out, on the flimsiest of flimsy excuses.
Being related to a security force member, being a farmer, a councillor or indeed any type of business person is hardly a capital offence, and many of the people who sought to justify this sick murder campaign are currently in government.
An uncomfortably large slice of the provo campaign was predicated on murder for it’s own sake — the Teebane massacre, shooting a cleaner in Lurgan and a businessman on the Boucher Road, just a few off the top of my head, could only be described as psychopathic savagery.
In retrospect, there were virtually NO justifiable murders committed during the troubles, and your apparent view that members of the security forces were legitimate targets is a particularly sick joke given SFs acceptance of the current Northern Ireland police force.
“In retrospect, there were virtually NO justifiable murders committed during the troubles”
Yes, exactly.
“This is one of the most shocking tales from the “troubles†that I have ever read.”
Posted by joeCanuck on Aug 10, 2007 @ 01:20 AM
God bless you, Joe, you truly are an innocent.
It is indeed a shocking tale but perhaps you should read more.
My tuppence worth but so much boiled down to perception.
For the great majority of Protestants there was no distinction made between the killing of a UDR man and a civilian Protestant, no distinction at all. The p-t uDR man was a day to day member of the community possibly even more so than a policeman who by nature has to be at a certain remove because of the job.
For most Catholics, even the most moderate of nationalists my experience was that rightly or wrongly there was a distinction made. Most didn’t support the IRA campaign against p-t UDR members but there was never the same revulsion that there would have been if a non-military protestant was killed. The UDR were reviled amongst nationalists in border ares much more than the RUC and the regular British Army and there was always a fear of the UDR which the Provos fed off and the circle of hatred went around and around. Thank fukk the worst of it is over (and best wishes to DG in the future)
“Darren Graham had the temerity to punch through that easy tribal stereotype by playing GAA and not defining himself simply as a Protestant. ”
Maybe he still defines himself simply as a Protestant. A Protestant can decide play soccer and be no less ‘simply a Protestant’. GAA is no different.
That’s not the only gross oversimplification in this article. The UDR membership was mentioned very late in the article; as if Fintan wanted to push us to a particular interpretation and was reluctant to mention all the potentially relevant facts.
No Rory, I am not an innocent, nor do I need to read more.
There cannot be many families that lost 3 brothers in this squalid conflict.
“In retrospect, there were virtually NO justifiable murders committed during the troublesâ€
Yes, exactly.
Lenny Murphy?
Would those who would draw attention to victims like those in the Graham family and the search for justice for them be welcome at the ‘March for ‘Truth” this Sunday? Would ‘Relatives for ‘Justice” welcome them into their ranks?
“In retrospect, there were virtually NO justifiable murders committed during the troublesâ€
Harry I deliberately inserted the word ‘virtually’ because there were undoubtedly a few which elicited rather less sympathy than most. I suspect Loughgall (less the one innocent victim), Lenny & Billy Wright amongst others might fall into that category, but it doesn’t alter the fact that 99.99999% of the victims were murdered / maimed for absolutely no good reason other than blind hatred.
It also doesn’t alter the fact that with even fewer exceptions (Gordon Wilson springs to mind) NO-ONE came out of this conflict with any shred of dignity or moral high ground. For SF to take the stance that they somehow have the monopoly on the truth and the hierarchy of victims is insulting both to the victims and to basic common sense.
The difference these days is that no-one of any particular importance is listening.
Some good points made.
My take would be to say that to equate what went on in NI – whether in Fermanagh or North Belfast – with “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” is frankly an insult against communities who actually have been at the receiving end of such treatment.
Gav Belfast
your point that some organisations have a hierachy of victims is well made (I know you would say the same about groups perceived to be on the “other side”)
However i thought that at least the ostensible rationale behind organisations like relatives for justice was to uncover the truth behind which organisations were responsible for certain murders – most specifically i suppose that the security forces were actually responsible for murders commited by loyalists.
The contrast with the grahams is that nobody doubts the IRA were responsible for their deaths.
The GAA made a big and very stupid mistake in voting in support of the “struggle for national liberation” in the early 70s.
Not to mention the moral implications, it left itself open to every charge that could be laid against it.
This vote didn’t even reflect the position of a large majority of its southern membership who themselves form a large majority of overall members. Its very debatable whether it reflected the views of even a majority of its northern members. But they steamed ahead irrespective of what anyone thought.
GLC
Point taken (and we could throw Basher Bates and Dominic McGlinchey into the “not a damp eye in the house” category”).
Andy
*with “ethnic cleansing†or “genocide†is frankly an insult against communities who actually have been at the receiving end of such treatment.*
I agree “genocide” might be over-egging the pudding but not “ethnic-cleansing”, they’re not synonymous terms.
The former is the deliberate and systematic attempt to wipe out an entire race or group of people; the latter is merely killing a few or generally making it unpleasant enough for the rest to decide that it’s better to leave a mixed area and thus produce a “clean” territory of only one type of people.
What went on along the border, the west bank of Derry and several isolated Catholic communities in Antrim and Belfast would certainly qualify for the term “ethnic cleansing”
Lenny Murphy?
Hmmm..no, Harry, lets not go there.
Or else…if a majority of Catholics AND Protestants agree that someone deserved what they got, can we truly claim that the killing was justifiable?
(Note: I don’t think it possible to talk of a “justifiable murder” as “murder” means “wrongful killing” – therefore to talk of a “justifiable wrongful killing” seems somewhat contradictory.)
Hi Harry
I appreciate they’re not synonomous, but I would still say ethnic cleansing is too much. I know where you’re coming from, but I would associate ethnic cleansing more with former-yugoslavia, present day Iraq or Lebanon in the 80s. All of which definitely put Fermanagh, South Armagh, North Belfast etc completely in the shade.
“the latter is merely killing a few ”
Note the word merely. I would say more but quite frankly i’m disgusted.
“You presume too much annonymous. I did not moderate your post. But I have no problems with the way in which it was done. “
then I should have addressed my second post to the person who did edit. However as you agree with the editing then, in hindsight, the same applies to you.
“It is your responsibility to play the ball and not the man. I’m not against the use of the word ‘shite’ per se. “
Ball was played and a list of points given; the exclusion of the word shite doesn’t come into my complaint. The article was described in a fitting manner and my reason for this opinion. “Playing the man†related to a common word play on the supposed journo’s and tabloidesque psychologist’s name… commonly written in the media about this public figure.
“But if you can’t lay out a simple argument without resorting to petty insult…â€
laid out and numbered for the ‘slow learners’ (S. Mallon) without insult but a common ribbing of your favoured journo.
If I’d used insult you would have thrown up. May I suggest that you review some of the international papers to learn about proper journalism rather than the excuse that is the Irish Thames (or Guardian in Irel).
The world is so much worse off for having lost your witty, insightful and brilliant post anonymous.
Actually – it was shite and a waste of bandspace.
Keep u the good work Mods!
Despite the fact I have only posted sporadically over this past few years I would like to point out that sammaguire posting earlier in this thread wasn’t me.
whateve’ Maggot.
You just keep thinking that your orange little world will just keep motoring along as the London Exchequer starts pulling the plug on your sponsered society. Then you’ll be dragged into the 20th centary
Keep up the good work mods… this site is maintaining it’s fawning big house (all ireland) unionist slant… Cruimh’s given it a seal of approval.
An interesting direction this particular thread has taken – whilst the journalist writing this piece probably ‘dramatised’ events to a degree, everything was factual.
It clearly makes many people uncomfortable when things like this are written and they need to ask themselves why. It does come back to the degree of re-writing to which our very recent history is subjected to. ‘Legitimate targets’ or ‘UDR bigots’ was a much easier way to think of those three men rather than three young men with families gunned down, at least partially simply because of their religion.
Then there are those who get terribly annoyed because the GAA might in some way become associated with sectarianism, when of course its only a “few members with sectarian attitudes” which cause the problem. Its an organisation which for decades was quite happy for Darren Graham to play the sport, but of course wouldnt have actually have allowed his father to play, and had he had been allowed to live, you do have to wonder would Mr Graham snr been made welcome along to watch his son play the sport he loves?
The GAA clearly had nothing to do with the murder of anyone, let alone security force personnel, but they didn’t exactly help create a climate where members of the RUC, UDR etc were thought of as ‘ordinary members of the community’ by nationalists.
I agree that “genocide” is an utterly crazy word to use in the NI context given what happened here and how it pales in comparison with what others suffered, equally using terms like holocaust or likening someone to a Nazi are equally distasteful.
However, ‘ethnic cleansing’ isn’t in the same territory and there can only be one conclusion when you look at the way in some areas, the Protestant/Unionist community was targetted. Its quite right to point out that once you removed the ‘Legitimate Targets’ of RUC/UDR etc, ‘economic targets’ of shopkeepers and farmers out of the equation it doesn’t leave that many male Protestants left not to shoot, particularly given the % of young Protestant males who served in the UDR\RUC for at least some of their life in even a part-time capacity.
The GAA has got away this time with some nice words which in fairness have been helpful and obviously have encouraged Darren Graham to go back to play.
When are they actually going to do something though?
There was a time when no criticism was allowed here of the Irish Independent and it’s team of professional anti-republicans. Now that protection seems to be extended to the ‘journalists’ on the Irish Times.
When there are so few ‘journalists’ left still pumping out the same old propaganda I suppose they have become an endangered species and Slugger’s position is understandable, wrong but understandable.
Unionism doesn’t have many friends left after all and one should care for one’s friends. It will be interesting however to watch what happens the next time someone links to Feeney in the Irish News.
lib
“Unionism doesn’t have many friends left”
A million or so of them in Northern Ireland and still be plenty of them by 2016 and beyond!
Interested’
I didn’t cry for members of the IRA who were killed because presumably they knew the risk when they decided to pick up a gun.
Same goes for the UDR, UDA, UVF and BA etc.
If one criticises republicans for the use of physical force then that should surely apply to all the combattants?
unionism,
How many votes did this mythical ‘million’ in NI produce, and have they any friends left anywhere in the world, including even at Westminster?
‘No-one wants to know you when you’re down and out’
interested “whilst the journalist writing this piece probably ‘dramatised’ events to a degree, everything was factual.â€
He tabloided the player leaving Ferm GAA because of sectarian insults into a blood soaked story involving the village idiots “blurting when pushed†rambling about ghosts and linking teenage car deaths to killings in the ‘80’s.
“… where members of the RUC, UDR etc were thought of as ‘ordinary members of the community’ by nationalists. “
in case you didn’t notice, in NI up until a few years ago, the RUC & UDR weren’t ordinary members of the community but the military wing of the Unionist govt of Stormont and then state sponsored terrorists for Thatcher. The bullying tactics of those unemployable elsewhere who joined the UDR were inflicted to a greater extent on active members of the GAA than the rest of the nationalist community (see Patsy Kelly, Trillick, Tyrone 1974). Related might be the killing of Derry GAA official, Sean Brown in ’97 when the RUC were investigated by the Ombudsman.
“The GAA has got away this time with some nice words which in fairness have been helpful and obviously have encouraged Darren Graham to go back to play.
When are they actually going to do something though? “
Obviously there’s no pleasing some people … probably because you don’t want to be pleased, you’re just anti GAA. Well tough, it’s a strong (non sectarian organization) which will out live any anti GAA efforts. It’s always been attacked and survived.
With an attitude like that, your name seems appropriate. Stay there. (I Wonder/)
For speaking my mind and reflecting the opinions of the wider Protestant community. I have said what happened to him was wrong but this entire episode is a farce. He left the gaa citing years of bigotry drove him out and he wanted to see mechanisms put in place to prevent this happening again. Within a week the gaa huffs and puffs, issues Graham an apology and hes back, is it any wonder that this storyline has not gained much interest in mainstream Protestant circles.