Maurice Davin (29 June 1842 – 27 January 1927) was an Irish

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

who became co-founder of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

. He was also the first President of the GAA and the only man ever to serve two terms as president.

Sports

Davin was born in Carrick-on-Suir, the son of John Davin and Bridget Davin and the eldest of 4 athlete brothers He became an extremely talented athlete and achieved international fame in the 1870s when he held numerous world records for

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

, hurdling, jumping and weight-throwing. Maurice won the shot put and hammer throw titles at the 1881 AAA Championships and his brother Patrick Davin won the high jump and long jump events at the same AAA Championships.

GAA founding

From 1887 Davin actively campaigned for a body to control Irish athletics. Athletics in Ireland at the time was controlled directly by an English association which excluded the masses from most competitions. Davin wrote "the laws under which athletic sports are held in Ireland were designed mainly for the guidance of Englishmen, and they do not deal at all with the characteristic sports and pastimes of the Irish race. Irish football is a great game" he wrote, "but there are no rules for either hurling or football and they are often dangerous." Together with Michael Cusack, of Carron on the eastern fringe of

The Burren The Burren ( ; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

he called a meeting in Hayes's Commercial Hotel, Thurles,

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, on 1 November 1884, and founded the

(GAA). In that meeting they established "a Gaelic athletic association for the preservation and cultivation of national pastimes". As far as we know, only six others attended the historic meeting. Davin was elected president and Cusack became its first secretary. John Wyse Power and John McKay were also elected secretaries. Later, Thomas Croke,

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

, Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell became patrons. The following year standardised rules were set for hurling, football, weight throwing, jumping, running, walking and cycling. Séamus Ó Riain described Davin as "the rock on which the Association survived turbulent waves".

Legacy

Many top games including the 1904 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final between Kilkenny and Cork were played on Davin's farm. The Davin Stand in Croke Park,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

is named in his honour, as are some GAA clubs throughout the country, including Carrick Davins in Tipperary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davin, Maurice 1842 births 1927 deaths Founders of Gaelic games institutions Presidents of the Gaelic Athletic Association People from Carrick-on-Suir Sportspeople from County Tipperary