The GAA Museum Book Club choice for July is 'The GAA v Douglas Hyde' by Cormac Moore. This month, there’s a focus on history again with this fascinating story about the removal of Ireland’s first President as patron of the GAA.

In this well researched account, Moore examines the circumstances around one of the most controversial incidents in GAA history. On 13 November 1938, just months after his inauguration, President Douglas Hyde attended a soccer match between Ireland and Poland, breaking GAA Rule 27 ‘The Ban’.

The removal of Hyde strained the relationship between the GAA and the Irish government, and also damaged the credibility of the rule which stated: “Any member of the Association who plays or encourages in any way rugby, football, hockey or any imported game which is calculated to injuriously affect our National Pastimes, is suspended from the Association”.

Throughout this book, Moore follows Hyde’s rise to prominence as well as his relationship with the GAA and looks at the arguments for and against the decision to remove Hyde as patron as well as the national and international reactions to the incident.

Cormac Moore is Historian in Residence with Dublin City Council. He holds a PhD in history from De Montfort University in Leicester and a Masters degree in Modern Irish History from UCD.

Those wishing to get involved with the GAA Museum Book Club can sign up for free at www.crokepark.ie/bookclub. Each month the GAA Museum team will choose a well-known GAA book to read and review and at the end of the month, the museum will host a free online interview with the author, in which members can submit questions and comments. The live chat with Cormac Moore will take place on Thursday July 29th at 8.30pm.

This book isn’t available through the GAA Museum Gift Shop, but is available to borrow through your library, to purchase through your local bookshop or to download as an ebook.