Eoin O'Duffy (born Owen Duffy; 28 January 1890 – 30 November 1944) was an Irish military commander, police commissioner and fascist leader. O'Duffy was the leader of the Monaghan Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a prominent figure in the Ulster IRA during the Irish War of Independence. In this capacity, he became Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1922. He accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty and as a general became Chief of Staff of the National Army in the Irish Civil War, on the pro-Treaty side.
He had been an early member of Sinn Féin and was elected a Teachta Dála (TD) for Monaghan in the Second Dáil find 1921, supporting pro-Treaty Sinn Féin in the split of 1922. In 1923 he became associated with Cumann na nGaedheal and became the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, the police force of the new Irish Free State, after the Civic Guard Mutiny and the subsequent resignation of Michael Staines.
In the 1930s O'Duffy became attracted to the various fascist movements on the continent. In 1933 O'Duffy took control of the paramilitary movement called Army Comrades Association, also known as the Blueshirts. When the Blueshirts merged with Cumann na nGaedhael and National Centre Party to form Fine Gael, O'Duffy began the new party's first leader, remaining as such for 13 months. He subsequently raised the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War as an act of Catholic solidarity and was inspired by Benito Mussolini's Italy to create the National Corporate Party. During the Second World War, he offered to Nazi Germany the prospect of raising an Irish Brigade to fight against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, but this was not taken up.
O'Duffy was active in multiple sporting bodies, including the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Olympic Council.
Early life
Eoin O'Duffy was born Owen Duffy in Lough Egish, near Castleblayney, County Monaghan, on 28 January 1890 to an impoverished smallholder family. He was the youngest of seven children. His father, also named Owen Duffy, had inherited his 15-acre farm from his father Peter in 1888; however, the family were forced to farm conacre land and work on the roads to make ends meet. O'Duffy attended Laggan national school. He graduated to a school in Laragh where he developed an interest in the Gaelic Revival and attended night classes hosted by the Gaelic League. He was close to his mother, Bridget Fealy, who died of cancer when he was 12. O'Duffy was devastated by her death and he wore her ring for the rest of his life.
In 1909, he sat the king's scholarship examination for St Patrick's College, Dublin, but as a place was not assured, he applied to become a clerk in the county surveyor's office in Monaghan. O'Duffy decided to pursue a career as a surveyor and came fifth in the local government board examination in 1912. O'Duffy was appointed and moved to Newbliss to take up his new position. He later secured a post as an engineer.
Involvement in sport
Ulster GAA
O'Duffy was a leading member of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ulster. He was appointed secretary of the Ulster Provincial Council in 1912. He later served as Treasurer of the GAA Ulster Council from 1921 to 1934. His important role in developing the GAA in Ulster is memorialised by the O'Duffy Terrace at the principal provincial stadium, St Tiernach's Park in Clones, County Monaghan. In December 2009 a plaque was erected in memory of O'Duffy in Aughnamullen. The plaque was unveiled by the President of the Ulster GAA Council, Tom Daly.
He was also a member of Harps' Gaelic football club.
Other sports
As well as being a prominent figure in Ulster GAA he was also active in other sports. He was President of the Irish Amateur Handball Association from 1926 to 1934, the National Athletic and Cycling Association from 1931 to 1934 (which he founded in 1922), and the Irish Olympic Council from 1931 to 1932.
O'Duffy believed in the ideal of "cleaned manliness". He said sport "cultivates in a boy habits of self-control [and] self-denial" and promotes "the cleanest and most wholesome of the instincts of youth". He said a lack of sport caused some boys to have "failed to keep their athleticism, but became weedy youths, smoking too soon, drinking too soon".