Séamus Gardiner

Gaelic sports administrator
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroGaelic sports administrator
PlacesIreland
wasSports administrator
Work fieldSports
Gender
Male
Birth1894
Death1976 (aged 82 years)
Education
University College Dublin
The details

Biography

Séamus Gardiner (1894 – 10 January 1976), was the 14th president of the Gaelic Athletic Association (1943–1946).

Born in Clare, he played football for UCD while studying there to become a teacher. He played on the Clare senior team, and in 1924 was part of a Munster team that participated in an inter-provincial contest to choose a team for the Tailteann Games.

Settling in Borrisokane, he became involved in the local GAA club, representing it at board meetings, before going on to become Chairman of the board, from 1933 to 1938. In 1940, he was elected vice-chairman of the Munster Council, and chairman in 1940.

During Gardiner’s presidency, relationships began to renew with the President of Ireland for the first time since Douglas Hyde was removed as a patron.

Also during Gardiner’s presidency, the Minister of Defence opened up the army to sports other than Gaelic Games, which Gardiner called "a retrograde step", and that the GAA were "entitled to the same treatment for Gaelic games as they had for the past 20 years".

Two years after his death, in 1978 the Séamus Gardiner Memorial Park was renamed in his honour.

Gardiner's great granddaughters, Emer Lucey and Ciara Lucey, played senior camogie for Ballyboden St Endas and Dublin.

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The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 12 Jul 2020. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.