‘I never thought I’d see rainbow colours on a GAA jersey’ – David Gough on Pride preparations

It's an historic moment.

LGBTQ+ communities across the world are celebrating Pride this month. It's a time where members of the community (and allies) come together to march, create awareness around social and self acceptance, celebrate achievements and discuss legal rights. This year is especially poignant as it's the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots which, for many, denotes a crucial moment in history for the gay liberation movement. The Dublin Pride Parade takes place this Saturday and for the first time in it's thirty-six year history the Gaelic Athletic Association and members of the Garda Síochána will march. On this week's episode of PlayXPlay Jenny Murphy is joined by three-time All-Ireland winner Eimear Scally and GAA Elite Panel Referee David Gough. David is the first openly gay match official in the association and he's been a huge driving force in the inclusion of the GAA in the parade. He told us it's a big moment:

"It was fantastic this week to see O'Neills with their 'Proud To Be' range and it's getting such great traction on social media. I certainly never thought I'd see rainbow colours on a GAA jersey and I can't wait to get my hands on one and wear it on the day"

Listen in at 39.32 below for more:   On this week's show we're also dissecting the use of VAR at the Women's World Cup. From a referee's point of view, David said it's an intriguing case study:

"I just find it fascinating because we don't have this technology in GAA and it's fascinating to compare the decision making of the referees in the World Cup" 

The fact that there was so little training time for the referees to get up to scratch with the system was also a big talking point, something you'd never see in GAA:

"I just think it's completely strange, first of all, that they would bring in these rules at the beginning of March and it's implemented in June for a World Cup. I mean even the GAA isn't daft enough to trial their new rules during a championship season they're done in pre-championship and they've given just three months to international players to get used to this system... it's absolutely crazy!

You can watch this week's episode in full below: