With the Rebel county supporters set to descend on Killarney tomorrow evening for the Munster SFC final replay, the question remains – will they accede to the request of GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail and leave one particular flag behind them?
This week Ó Fearghail appealed to Cork GAA fans to stop waving the Confederate flag, which has come to notoriety again in recent weeks thanks to its links to the in June.
The Confederate flag seen in the stands of the first Munster SFC final two weeks ago.
“The Confederate flag is not a flag I personally would be comfortable with,” Ó Fearghail said to the Irish Examiner. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with a Nazi symbol – it also has red.”
But he is reluctant to go down the road of putting an outright ban on any emblem and would prefer fans to decide for themselves what is appropriate.
“Stopping everybody coming in with a flag, I’m not sure we’re in a position to go do that,” he explained. “People need to take personal responsibility in these cases.
“Certainly, anything that is racist or sectarian is against our rules.”
There is nothing new to controversy around Cork fans’ use of the flag – as far back the SWP was calling for the flag to be banned.
“We know the county colours are red and white but it’s unfortunate one of the flags being flown is the Confederate flag from America,” Joe Moore, SWP Cork spokesman said at the time. “It represents the promotion of racism and slavery, but Ireland is a multi-cultural society and such symbols should not be on display.
“Cork is the Rebel County but the name comes from the fight for national independence. The rebel flag comes from a totally different context where people in the US were protecting slavery.”
The calls were dismissed at the time, with Cork County board’s vice-chairman at the time Mick Dolan saying: “It’s ridiculous, the flag’s just red and white. I don’t think the people waving the Confederate flag even know what it stands for and it would certainly not be my place to tell them what flags to use.”
But times have moved on, and it seems increasingly unacceptable to link Cork GAA, however tenuously, with the values the Confederate flag represents to many.
Last month, the link earned a mention in The Washington Post, in an article about the flags’ use around the world.
Does Cork GAA want to be associated with some of the other groups in the article? They include the notorious Napoli “Ultras” – deeply racist football hooligans – and German neo-nazis.
This week singer Karen Underwood, a black American based in Cork, explained why she found the use of the flag by GAA fans deeply offensive.
“It reminds me of spit in my eyes,” she told the Cork 96FM Opinion Line.
Defenders of the flag’s use say that Cork only adopt it because of it’s colours, and mean no offence. They point to the fact that some Cork fans also wave other red flags, including the Japanese flag, and have done for many years.
What do you think? Should Cork fans end their use of the Confederate flag?