The Irish who served in WWI are in some ways tragic figures. They were all volunteers who served the empire and earned the distrust of the Republicans fro ever after. they went to war with Irelan part of the empire.
I had great grandfathers and granduncles who served in WWI. They came back to a very changed Ireland in the post-WWI era, as there was an insurgency raging for the next 2 years, and a civil war thereafter. Still though, it was strange that for years they still kept low-key Poppy Day remembrance ceremonies, as they were reluctant to participate in something that they felt had been hijacked by unionists, which in turn helped the latter monopolise it even more. Anyway in more recent years it has become appropriate to remember those who died in WWI. (However, unlike the Czechs or Poles, the post-WWI settlement in Ireland was very much 'unfinished business' for a significant portion of the population and some still refuse to honour anyone who served in British uniforms).
One small piece of history will be made today: England will play Ireland in Croke Park. This stadium is the home of the GAA, which are the body who organise 2 of Ireland's most popular sports - Gaelic football and hurling. These are amateur sports, and the GAA have always had a rivalry with soccer and rugby, not to mention that perhaps their northern Irish teams are almost exclusively drawn from those of a nationalist background. The Irish rugby ground, Lansdowne Road, is being redeveloped and thus the GAA have very reluctantly agreed to host rugby matches. Croke Park was the scene of one atrocity on 21st November 1920 when British forces fired on fans and players watching a football match. Michael Hogan of the Tipperary team was shot in the massacre, and the Hogan stand is named after him.
The killings arose as a consequence of the assassination of a number of British agents (the 'Gairo Gang'). The British authorities believed that the killings had been arranged to coincide with the large crowds of young men in the city for the Dublin -Tipperary GAA match, as the throngs of people had provided cover.
See the following link (partially inaccurate re the names of the British agents):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Gang
See also 'Bloody Sunday' in Croke Park:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1920)
The GAA have often been accused of nursing grievances and not moving on, but their point has always been that they are never allowed do so - their supporters are regularly targeted by unionist paramilitaries and part of their GAA grounds (eg Crossmaglen) have been confiscated by British authorities in the past. At least today provides a normal, sporting occasion in Anglo-Irish relations. It should be remembered too that the Irish rugby team is an all-Ireland one, and that its support in the North is generally from those of a unionist background - they would never visit a GAA ground in Northern Ireland and it is great to see them travel down in such numbers to visit the GAA headquarters at Croke Park.
Back to the WWI theme, many northern unionists will visit the WWI memorial park in Islandbridge whilst in Dublin for the match!
