REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER OF CUMANN UÍ DHONNABHAIN ROSSA CLG
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER OF CUMANN UÍ DHONNABHAIN ROSSA C.L.G. FRIDAY, 9TH NOVEMBER, 2001
The Rossa as it is best known, has championed a vision of Ireland rich in culture, confident on the sports field, strong in community spirit. And of course it’s heart and soul has always been about promoting and encouraging Gaelic games. Through participating in those games, generations of young people from all over this island got to know each other and came to discover and develop their shared identity as Irish men and Irish women.
The G.A.A.’s contribution to Irish life, its seed-bedding of self-confidence, its all-island reach, its huge appeal to young and old, its enormous success, these are things the Rossa can take pride in for Rossa has played its role in creating the causeway of legends that is today’s dynamic, vibrant G.A.A.
Rossa first tasted county championship success in 1918, just two years after the club was formed and its record of four Senior Hurling titles in a row in the late 50’s may never be surpassed except, we hope, by Rossa itself in the future. The staggering success of capturing fourteen football and another fourteen hurling titles through the years is a remarkable achievement and has been of enormous benefit to Antrim county sides. But, it is not only the hurlers and footballers that have brought pride to the club. The Handball team have won All-Ireland Novice titles in both singles and doubles, All-Ireland Club Novices and World Intermediate Championships. And the relatively new camogie team can deservedly take pride in their achievements, particularly with the reward of an Antrim Senior Camogie Championship last year.
Off the pitch Teach Rossa has been a second home to a lot of people, myself included in bygone days. I learnt to play bridge here, got conscripted into Scór and learnt all the words of Sinatra’s “I did it my way” so often did I hear it sung here. It has been an important local showcase and custodian of Irish culture and the much-celebrated Ceoltóirí Rossa have of course been fine ambassadors over the past few years. There is a much-travelled road to and from the front door of Teach Rossa. There are good memories and heartbreaking memories, days when people stood together arms and voices raised in victory and days when people stood shoulder to shoulder but silent in shared grief. There were days when it would have been easy to give up but Rossa kept on going, a family of many talents, many views, many hopes and above all an abiding faith in the giftedness of our young people and their entitlement to know their own gifts and to celebrate them.
I pay tribute to the many volunteers who have given endless hours of their time and talent to helping make the young, resilient, self-confident, ambitious and team-spirited. You deserve great credit for passing on this living part of our heritage to the next generation, not only for the sake of young players, but for all of us, parents, friends and supporters alike, who benefit from the enjoyment, friendship and sense of sporting rivalry that Gaelic games have given us.
The past has cast many shadows. Sometimes the weight of those shadows forced our shoulders down and our hearts too. But not any more. A new mood has taken hold. An achieving and self-assertive generation is creating a fresh new future. If it has self-belief, you helped instil it. If it has courage and determination, you showed by example the sacrifices those things demanded. If the new vision we share for ourselves, our neighbours and our common homeland is to succeed - if the next eighty five years are to bring Rossa, West Belfast, and Ireland on the most exciting journey this island has ever known, a journey to the fullest realisation of the potential of its people, then the shadows must become the very things which propel us to move forward out from under them and not the brakes which hold us back.
May God Bless those who will bring out the best in the next generation and who will create a store of memories as rich and happy as those we have been blessed with. May you enjoy this evening of nostalgia and pride and may I wish Cumann Uí Dhonnabhain Rossa even greater success in the years ahead.
Go n-eírí go geal libh agus go raibh maith agaibh go léir.