By
Norman Freeman

Will this story come to light when the history of Peil na mBan comes to be written? Maybe, maybe not. Even after forty years there are still some sensitivities about it. Most of the women footballers of that era are still hale and hearty. The relatives of the clergy at the centre of the row are still living in the diocese.

This goes back to the 1970's when several attempts were being made to properly establish women's football. Good people had worked hard over the years to keep the flame alive. They wanted to have the game accepted by the GAA and in the communities at large.

There were difficulties with the promotion of women's football in those years. One problem was that the idea of women togging out to play a game did not meet with the approval of some of the senior clergy, including bishops. Some discouraged the formation of women's football clubs.

“Look, they had an abnormal attitude towards sex,” says one of the leading members of Peil na mBan. “They were afraid of it. They recoiled from the sight of women in togs racing around a field with bosoms bobbing and panty-lines showing.”

On the other hand several younger members of the clergy gave full support to Peil na mBan. They saw it as a healthy recreation for girls and young women who weren't keen on Camogie but who liked the idea of playing football. Participating in such games helped build confidence and brought out leadership qualities in the women.

This divergence of attitude led to a most unfortunate clash in a certain diocese. Some young women set about establishing a club. It was important that they got the support of a priest and he came in the shape of well-liked young man who was generous and kind to some of the down-and-outs that hung around the street corners of the village. Let's call him Fr. Byrne although that was not his real name.

Not long after he was made chairman of the club he was told that the bishop wanted to see him. The bishop, a well-fed fellow who had strong sense of his own importance, told the young priest that he must not be encouraging young women to tog out and play football.

The priest resigned his chairmanship of the club. However, in many ways he continued to give it his support. The bishop eventually got to hear about this and was very annoyed.

Then there was an unusual incident. The women played a match on a boiling hot day. It was on their home pitch, a field beside the river. After the game some of the players went to a nearby shallow, sandy spot that was shaded by sally trees and willow. They paddled about, splashing water on their red, perspiring faces. Then four or five lively girls decided to go the whole way. They took off their togs, jumped in naked and splashed around to peals of laughter.

This jollity was heard by a thin fellow with a bony face and tight mouth who was standing on the river bank some distance away, fishing for pike. A bachelor of advanced middle-age, he was a relative of the bishop. He peered at the women from behind a screen of reeds for some time before moving away. Apparently, he was upset by the sight of bare womanly flesh. That evening he reported what he had seen to the bishop.

His Grace immediately let it be known that he wanted the football club disbanded. Four of its members were national schoolteachers. He told them their jobs were on the line; in that era bishops and clergy had dominant power over schoolteachers. In addition he wrote to several of the leading members of the club, expressing his displeasure. The club became dormant.

Then the young priest was told that he had 'volunteered' to go on the missions to a part of tropical Africa notorious for its fetid swamplands.

A year later sad news reached the townland. The priest, maddened in the sweltering heat by mosquito bites and dengue fever, sought relief by jumping into a river . He was eaten by a crocodile.

Not two years later there was another related incident. The bishop became involved in a controversy when he sold a good deal of land in the diocese. This was done without any consultation with the communties whose forebears had enabled the Church to buy the land in the first place

Then His Grace disappeared, along with the funds raised by the land sale. There were rumours that a woman was involved. It was said they were living in the state of Maine, in the northeast of the United States.

His disappearance encouraged the resilient and stalwart women to set about re-establishing their football club.

Over the decades it has thrived and grown. It has supplied some outstanding players to the county team.

As a mark of respect to the memory of Fr Byrne they have recently instituted an annual challenge game against the same club they played on the day of the bathing incident. It is to be held around the same time of the year. They have bought a trophy and named it after the priest who had befriended them when the club was founded.

In announcing this event, Mary M, the chairperson of the club said: “Look – you can't beat the sight of vigorous young women, full of verve and skill and courage, racing about the field. Many of them show fine leadership qualities – on the field of play and in their communities.”

As part of a charity fundraiseer, here are some trainee national teachers from Saint Pat's College, in Dublin, who don't seem too pushed about what the Parish Priest might think...













And the days before there were proper dressing rooms...

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