This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 70.19.17.166 (talk) at 00:33, 25 August 2005 (it seems that NPOV only applies when YOU disagree with the truth--I made the necessary amends and I won't be blacklisted). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 00:33, 25 August 2005 by 70.19.17.166 (talk) (it seems that NPOV only applies when YOU disagree with the truth--I made the necessary amends and I won't be blacklisted)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Michael Cusack (1847 - 1906) was an Irish teacher and founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association.
Born in Carron, County Clare, Cusack became a teacher. He spent some years in the United States, but returned to Ireland and began teaching in Newry, Blackrock College, and Clongowes Wood. He opened the Civil Service Academy, a cramming establishment in Dublin, which prospered and gave him a large income.
Together with Maurice Davin, of Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, he called a meeting in Hayes’s Commercial Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary, on November 1, 1884, and founded the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).
Davin was elected president and Cusack became its first secretary. Later Archbishop Croke and Michael Davitt became patrons; it is alleged that Charles Stewart Parnell was also a patron, but this seems unlikely, given the apparent sectarian atavism that seems to have inspired Citizen Cusack (and motivated many other, but not all, nationalists in that unfortunate time period) as he preferred to be known -- see James Joyce's Ulysses for the character of Cusack, who inspired these words by Joyce about the hapless Bloom: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ But Cusack was blue mouldy for a fight. The porter was up in him.
-- His country, says he. A bloody jew. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. His country. No man's land. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It is highly unlikely that the utterer of these words would have been called "Cusack" unless Joyce knew something about the real Citizen Cusack, and he would have known better than any contemporary of today could pretend to do about those turbulent times.
Cusack died on November 27, 1906 at the age of 59 in Ireland.
The "Cusack Stand" in Croke Park is named in his honor.
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