Opinion: the club's ongoing search for a pitch to play on tells us much about the complexities around shared spaces in Northern Ireland

Back in May 2020, two friends from east Belfast, a predominantly Protestant part of the city, were talking about the lack of a GAA club in their neighbourhood. Curious to explore the possibilities, they put out a tweet calling for anyone with interest to join in. To their surprise, they were inundated with interest from people across backgrounds who wanted to participate and the East Belfast GAA club was officially registered within weeks.

But despite success over two seasons, the club continues to struggle to find their own turf to practice on, meeting with resistance from people connected to loyalist paramilitaries. We have also seen the introduction of Irish language into Northern Ireland schools run into similar concerns in recent years, most recently in Clough, Co Down. At a time when conversations around a shared island are underway, these experiences point to larger unresolved tensions around social spaces and institutions in Northern Ireland.

With the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, there was the expectation that a "double transition" towards peace and neoliberalism would automatically create avenues for building bridges across sectarian divide and peace would "trickle down" to the communities. After a decade of political stability made it possible to begin envisioning a common future built around ideas of sharing and inclusion, there was a clear policy shift by 2010 evidenced by initiatives like Contested Spaces Programme (2011-14), the European Union's Peace-IV Programme (2014-20) and the Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) Strategy (2013 onwards).

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From RTÉ News, Gail Conway reports on the emergence of the East Belfast GAA club in 2020

These approaches focussed on the need to create civic "shared spaces" that would be used by all sections of the community, and shape a new future. It was, in some sense, an acknowledgement that the "trickling down" of peace can only be achieved if there is a creation of a new spatiality and vocabulary around "shared spaces". Despite these efforts, segregation continues to be part of everyday life in Northern Ireland, and peace is often mentioned with adjectives like "fragile" or "negotiated".

It appears that the emphasis on institutional and state-led solutions continues to impede organic, informal social spaces so most shared spaces that emerge are expected to reflect an idea of "Irishness" that lacks historical perspective or context. More importantly, perceptions of shared spaces continued to be tied to social, political and economic complexities.

A comparison of the East Belfast GAA club with the experience of Naíscoil na Seolta shows this complexity. In 2021, Naíscoil na Seolta, an Irish language pre-school, was set to open on the premises of Braniel Primary School in east Belfast. The project received €86,000 from Foras na Gaeilge, a public body established in the aftermath of the Agreement to promote the Irish language on the island.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, report on Irish language pre-school Naíscoil na Seolta having to move location due to a social media hate campaign

But within weeks, they had to relocate the school, owing to what authorities called a "social media hate campaign" of "disgusting comments…littered with unfounded erroneous allegations about certain individuals and the Naiscoil". The "hate crusade" against the school was traced back to a former Red Hand Commando who, in an interview afterwards, expressed "delight" at the "success" of the campaign.

Social media reactions against the proposal all suggested that the contention was with the Irish language, viewed by some as a marker of Republicanism, being "imposed" through tax-funded public institutions like public schools in "their" loyalist neighbourhoods. This was also the argument raised recently in Clough, where a sectarian sign was put up outside a primary school following a visit from staff from a nearby Catholic secondary, with one councillor defending the sign suggesting Clough is a "village with a strong loyalist identity".

By contrast, the organic nature of the emergence of the East Belfast GAA Club was central to its success and it is not perceived as a state-led programme. The club's conscious decision to use symbols associated with nationalism, unionism and neither arguably added to its image as being a neutral space. The club's crest features the iconic Harland & Wolff cranes, a sunrise, the Red Hand of Ulster, a shamrock and a thistle and the word 'Together' written in English, Irish and Ulster-Scots.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne in 2021, Linda Ervine, president of East Belfast GAA club, discusses their first year in existence

The challenge, though, emerged with the institutionalisation of the club and their attempts to find an actual physical space to play on. The former meant having to contend with one particular section of the constitution of the Gaelic Athletic Association which states that the GAA is "a national organisation which has as its basic aim the strength-ening of the national identity in a 32-county Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic games".

The continued struggle to find a home pitch for their club has been a concern for many months now. Last November, only weeks after being crowned Down junior champions, the club's frustration at their inability to find a pitch to play on led to a desperate tweet for support. Proposals to convert a disused pitch in Victoria Park as a GAA facility were mulled over in summer 2022, but no progress has been made as of now.

Last year's Le Chéile documentary looked at the success story of the club during its first full year of play, exploring the successes and challenges and the unlikely friendships it forged. One interesting scene from the documentary shows four girls from the East Belfast GAA's camogie team practicing outside of their regular training sessions.

The space where the girls were filmed practicing is the sprawling premises of Stormont House, a structure once "perceived by many nationalists as a symbol of unionist domination". Seen from this perspective, visuals of four girls from different backgrounds playing what was (and still is sometimes) considered a sport of Irish nationalism with the Stormont House in the background holds an immense symbolic value in post-Good Friday Agreement Belfast.

This article is based on Healing a Fractured Public: Everyday Shared Spaces in East Belfast, published in Irish Studies in International Affairs

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ