The mother of a young GAA player has demanded that all children be given equal playing time after her son wanted to give up on sport entirely. 

Mary is a mother of four and has one 13 year-old who has always loved playing hurling. 

“He loves the sport,” she told The Hard Shoulder.  

“He’s not the strongest at it, he’s mediocre but he loves it.” 

Despite this, when Mary mentioned recently that training was due to begin again soon, her son said he was not interested in going. 

“He said, ‘What is the point in me wasting two evenings a week, possibly three with matches, when they’re just not going to let me play. I’m not good enough,’" she recalled.  

“As a mother, that really upsets me.” 

Mary describes herself as from a GAA family and has many happy memories of cheering loved ones on from the sidelines. 

However, with hindsight, she realises she was a little “naive” about the competitiveness of the organisation and had no idea that children were not given equal playing time. 

It is a policy that she says many other parents disagree with but are wary about speaking out on. 

“I feel parents are afraid to speak up… in case it makes it worse,” she said. 

“They may have another child that is succeeding and getting on. They seem to be afraid to talk about it.” 

DY06C0 Football players of the U9 youth teams tackling to win the ball, Cape Town, South Africa

Mary’s own experience is that raising it with the coaches has not made her the most popular parent in the parish. 

“It hasn’t been easy in a rural community,” she said. 

“Basically, you stand up to the GAA, you stand up to the community… They don’t like when you stand up and they don’t agree with you.”

Regardless, she intends to continue pursuing the issue and hopes that one day all children will be given equal match time. 

“I went to the County Board and I went to Croke Park with this issue,” she said.  

“Because I actually feel that strongly about it. I don’t want my child to get better treatment, I want every child to be treated equally because they’re children.” 

Main image: Young Boys Playing Soccer Tournament Match. Picture By: Alamy.com