Séamus Gardiner (1894 – 10 January 1976), was the 14th president of the Gaelic Athletic Association (1943–1946).

Born in Clare, he played football for UCD while studying there, he trained to be a national school teacher in De La Salle College, Waterford.

Séamus Gardiner

He played on the Clare senior team, and in 1924 was part of a Munster team that participated in an inter-provincial contest to choose a team for the Tailteann Games.

Séamus Gardiner

Settling in Borrisokane, he became involved in the local GAA club, representing it at board meetings, before going on to become chairman of the board, from 1933 to 1938. In 1940, he was elected vice-chairman of the Munster Council, and chairman in 1940.

Séamus Gardiner

During Gardiner's presidency, relationships began to renew with the President of Ireland for the first time since Douglas Hyde was removed as a patron.

Also during Gardiner's presidency, the Minister of Defence opened up the army to sports other than Gaelic Games, which Gardiner called "a retrograde step", and that the GAA were "entitled to the same treatment for Gaelic games as they had for the past 20 years".

Two years after his death, in 1978 the Séamus Gardiner Memorial Park was renamed in his honour.

Gardiner's great-granddaughters, Emer Lucey and Ciara Lucey, played senior camogie for Ballyboden St Enda's and Dublin.

References

1894 births

1976 deaths

Alumni of University College Dublin

Alumni of De La Salle Teacher Training College, Waterford

Clare inter-county hurlers

Munster Provincial Council administrators

People from Borrisokane

Presidents of the Gaelic Athletic Association