Loughinisland man’s prisoner ordeal to raise money for GAA

Loughinisland man’s prisoner ordeal to raise money for GAA

4 November 2015

FORMER Down GAA player Michael Madine is preparing to spend this Friday night in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Gaol as part of an innovative fundraising initiative for his county.

The Loughinisland man is principal at St. Patrick’s Primary School in Crossmaglen and has been teaching there for a number of years where there is always banter about who is the top GAA county — Down or Armagh.

With Down blood coursing through his veins, the school principal is very much alone in his support for his beloved county and recently signed up for the Down GAA jailbreak fundraiser which required him to be arrested, jailed and raise bail money so he can be freed from the Crumlin Road this Saturday after spending the night behind bars.

The former Loughinisland, Queen’s University and Down player had to come up with an idea that would lead to his arrest and recently pushed his Crossmaglen staff and pupils too far when he got them to wear the red and black shirts of their arch county rivals. 

As a result, the principal was arrested for “crimes against football” and subsequently embarked upon a marathon tour of all 48 GAA clubs in Down to raise money to secure his prison release this weekend.

The events which led to his arrest, trial and sentencing feature in an online video with the short clip showing Mr Madine, who has more than four decades of involvement with Down GAA under his belt, inflicting the love for his county on his school from the uniform they have to wear, the flags flying outside and the official school song. 

The pupils are seen arriving at school wearing Down jerseys, greeted by a perplexed Armagh and Crossmaglen Rangers player, Aaron Kernan.

Attempting to establish why the large Crossmaglen school is being transformed into a sea of red and black, Kernan takes a tour and is greeted at the school office by a member of staff, who tells of how she has been forced to wear a Down jersey before pointing him to the new school rules. They include the stipulation that all staff must wear red and black and children should have Down jerseys on at all times.

The rules also say the anthem of Down supporters, the Star of the County Down, is now the official school song and the Down GAA Year Book is the school read. All Armagh GAA and Crossmaglen materials have been removed throughout the building, dumped in the bin and replaced with items paying tribute to Down. Even the school’s address has been changed to include a mention of Down.

Mr Kernan finds pupils singing and learning to play the Down song on musical instruments, while others outside hide, afraid Mr Madine will see them in their Crossmaglen jerseys. But it all comes to a climax when the principal is arrested for his “crimes” against Armagh and Crossmaglen GAA.

Wearing the traditional black and white prisoner uniform, he is dragged out of the school by three angry Armagh men, which include former county player and Crossmaglen goalkeeper Paul Hearty.

Dumped into the back of a van, much to the amusement of hundreds of screaming school pupils who have now donned their Crossmaglen tops, the principal is taken to face the wrath of his rivals. Prisoner 94-91-68-61-60 — reflecting the years Down won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championships — is found guilty of crimes against football.

The Loughinisland man was accompanied on his subsequent tour of the 48 GAA clubs in Down by his son Mal (7) who was also his cameraman, taking pictures to prove his father had indeed visited them all. Mr Madine, who took penalties at most of the grounds he visited, noted the total distance travelled between the first and last club and is asking sponsors to pay a £5 to guess his total distance travelled, with the closest guess winning £100.

“I am delighted with the money I have raised to date and met some great people last Friday ahead of my night in jail this weekend,” he said. “I started off my visits at Jack Mackin Park, home of Newry Bosco at first light and finished at Clonduff at 2.20am on Saturday. Penalties were taken at grounds during the day but as the light fell and darkness set in, this proved more difficult.

“There was good company along the way and people were generous with their time, money and good wishes. There were also a few highlights including meeting up with Tony Hadden, a Down All Ireland winner from the 60s who gave Mal and I directions to the Mitchels Club in Newry. We also came across recently retired Down player Benny Coulter (Mayobridge) and long time retired Decy Strain from the Glen Club, also in Mayobridge,” revealed Mr Madine who also met up with some Down camogs in Portaferry who turned on the lights at St Patrick’s Park for him.

There was a late night welcome in Loughinisland with welcome refreshments at Williamsons in Rostrevor and Mackins Hardware, with a herd of cows giving Michael and Mal some strange looks  in the dark at Ben Dearg.

Mr Madine added: “After 19 hours on the road and with 48 clubs visited all there was to do was note the total mileage travelled. There is still time to guess the total to win £100 and schools and clubs who return a sponsor form with five guesses have a chance to win £100 in sports vouchers.

Sponsors can continue to donate online on the www.downgaa.net until November 10.”

The hilarious video of Michael’s arrest can also be viewed at  http://youtu.be/z8B5-3-O2gQ.”