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Fig. III: A photo showing Republican internees doing “physical training” in Long Kesh internment camp. The photo was published in the booklet Prison Struggle: The Story of continuing Resistance behind the Wire in March 1977. The text in the booklet reads: “There are entries for the breath-taking egg-and-spoon race, the gruelling 30 times round the Cage marathon and the three legged race. The sportsday is very popular and great fun. All these athletic activities serve some purpose either by breaking the prison monotony, relieving tension or just providing fun and entertainment.” them “back into shape” before their release in order to maintain their political and paramilitary activities immediately on the outside.** Soccer only played a marginal role in the early internment camps. It was, as Bairner writes, either promoted for ideological reasons by the prison authorities, or it was followed by a small group of northern Nationalist inmates supportive of various Irish Nationalist clubs in the North, such as Derry FC, the then-dissolved Belfast Celtic, or Glasgow’s Celtic FC, a Scottish club with a significant support base among Nationalists in Ireland.** However, the political standing of soccer rap- idly changed following the 1981 hunger strikes.

Figure 3 III: A photo showing Republican internees doing “physical training” in Long Kesh internment camp. The photo was published in the booklet Prison Struggle: The Story of continuing Resistance behind the Wire in March 1977. The text in the booklet reads: “There are entries for the breath-taking egg-and-spoon race, the gruelling 30 times round the Cage marathon and the three legged race. The sportsday is very popular and great fun. All these athletic activities serve some purpose either by breaking the prison monotony, relieving tension or just providing fun and entertainment.” them “back into shape” before their release in order to maintain their political and paramilitary activities immediately on the outside.** Soccer only played a marginal role in the early internment camps. It was, as Bairner writes, either promoted for ideological reasons by the prison authorities, or it was followed by a small group of northern Nationalist inmates supportive of various Irish Nationalist clubs in the North, such as Derry FC, the then-dissolved Belfast Celtic, or Glasgow’s Celtic FC, a Scottish club with a significant support base among Nationalists in Ireland.** However, the political standing of soccer rap- idly changed following the 1981 hunger strikes.

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This statement is even more apparent for the Irish Republican internees and prisoners in the British camps. The political activists believed in these sen- timents and most of them were active GAA members, taking their cultural identities and sports with them into the camps. The manifestation of Irish- ness through commemorations, sport, language, and history classes within the British camps were among the first forms of resistance shown by the internees.”°
This statement is even more apparent for the Irish Republican internees and prisoners in the British camps. The political activists believed in these sen- timents and most of them were active GAA members, taking their cultural identities and sports with them into the camps. The manifestation of Irish- ness through commemorations, sport, language, and history classes within the British camps were among the first forms of resistance shown by the internees.”°
Fig. II: A map drawn by a former Irish Republican internee of the Magilligan Internment Camp, Co Derry, showing two football pitches that were used by both Republican and Loyalist internees during the 1970s. (Photo credits: Frankie McCarron) second, it was an opportunity to keep physically fit. In other words, being an active member of the GAA was a political statement in order to promote Irish culture in opposition to the British culture. Playing Gaelic football, hurling, and handball were, thus, acts of cultural resistance, in particular, for northern Nationalists. Devlin explains the personality of some internees and their roles during football matches: “One of the main reasons for Cage 22 being a good disciplined place was due to the fact of Jimmy Roe being in charge. In his youth, Jimmy was a hard-tackling back on the last great Antrim Gaelic Foot- ball side of 1951”? The Republican Movement tried to push the promotion of the Irish culture among the internees and prisoners even further by organ- ising Irish classes and Gaelic football competitions. All internment camps had football pitches. A drawing from the late 1970s shows that the Long Kesh camp had two big football pitches plus another small pitch.7* Another camp, Magilligan Camp in Co Derry, also had two football pitches.”* Indeed, it was
Fig. II: A map drawn by a former Irish Republican internee of the Magilligan Internment Camp, Co Derry, showing two football pitches that were used by both Republican and Loyalist internees during the 1970s. (Photo credits: Frankie McCarron) second, it was an opportunity to keep physically fit. In other words, being an active member of the GAA was a political statement in order to promote Irish culture in opposition to the British culture. Playing Gaelic football, hurling, and handball were, thus, acts of cultural resistance, in particular, for northern Nationalists. Devlin explains the personality of some internees and their roles during football matches: “One of the main reasons for Cage 22 being a good disciplined place was due to the fact of Jimmy Roe being in charge. In his youth, Jimmy was a hard-tackling back on the last great Antrim Gaelic Foot- ball side of 1951”? The Republican Movement tried to push the promotion of the Irish culture among the internees and prisoners even further by organ- ising Irish classes and Gaelic football competitions. All internment camps had football pitches. A drawing from the late 1970s shows that the Long Kesh camp had two big football pitches plus another small pitch.7* Another camp, Magilligan Camp in Co Derry, also had two football pitches.”* Indeed, it was
Fig. IV: A sketch introducing the chapter “Activities” in the Republican booklet Prison Struggle: The Story of continuing Resistance behind the Wire in March 1977. The booklet was compiled and the sketches drawn by internees in the Long Kesh internment camp. The sketch shows prisoners in the camp boxing and playing Gaelic football outside their huts (top); playing guitar, reading, painting, and sleeping in their huts (centre); and prisoners in the yard running in sports clothing, escaping, and talking (below). The text underneath it reads: “Recreation, constructive pastime or participation in some sort of leisure activity is essential to a POW whether or not he is serving a long or short sentence”.
Fig. IV: A sketch introducing the chapter “Activities” in the Republican booklet Prison Struggle: The Story of continuing Resistance behind the Wire in March 1977. The booklet was compiled and the sketches drawn by internees in the Long Kesh internment camp. The sketch shows prisoners in the camp boxing and playing Gaelic football outside their huts (top); playing guitar, reading, painting, and sleeping in their huts (centre); and prisoners in the yard running in sports clothing, escaping, and talking (below). The text underneath it reads: “Recreation, constructive pastime or participation in some sort of leisure activity is essential to a POW whether or not he is serving a long or short sentence”.
Related topics:
Irish StudiesFootball (soccer)Northern Irish PoliticsGaelic IrelandIrish HistoryModern IrelandPolitical PrisonersPrisoners of WarBritish and Irish HistorySociology of prison life
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