‘Garrison games’—Niall Quinn tackles Oscar Traynor

Aug 23, 04:00 AM

Episode image
(Recorded live on Fri 16 Aug ’24 @ the Electric Picnic)

History Ireland editor Tommy Graham chats to former international footballer, administrator, businessman and TV pundit Niall Quinn about his recently completed MA thesis, ‘Oscar Traynor—a re-evaluation of a footballer, rebel, politician and football administrator’. Not only was Traynor an IRA commander in the War of Independence who took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War and served as minister in several Fianna Fáil administrations but he was also an advocate of the ‘garrison game’, a vocal opponent of the GAA’s ban on ‘foreign games’ and the FAI’s longest-serving president (1948–63).