The Gaelic football Team of the Century was chosen in 1984 to honour the best Gaelic football players from the first 100 years of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The team was consisted of a fifteen-member side, with one goalkeeper, three half-backs, two midfielders, three half-forwards and three full-forwards. [1]
A team was also selected of players who had never won an All-Ireland. [2]
The selection of the team took the form of a competition and was jointly sponsored by the Sunday Independent and Irish Nationwide Building Society. Beginning on 17 June 1984, Sunday Independent readers were asked to submit ballot papers with their own personal selections for a team of the century. Votes were counted and collated and passed on to the official panel of adjudicators or "selectors" who had the final decision. [3]
The panel of adjudicators featured a number of administrative officials from the GAA, as well as GAA historians and journalists from the print and broadcast media. GAA President Paddy Buggy, GAA director-general Liam Mulvihill and Irish Nationwide managing-director Michael Fingleton acted as patrons in a non-voting capacity over the adjudicating panel. Sunday Independent editor Aengus Fanning was chairman. The panel of adjudictors featured Mick Dunne, Mitchel V. Cogley, Raymond Smith, Séamus Ó Ceallaigh, Bertie Donohoe, John Dowling, Gerry Arthurs and John Barry. [4]
The Sunday Independent published lists of players for each position so its readers could "refresh their memories and stimulate debate." [5] These lists were published over successive weeks. [6] [7]
The team was published in the Sunday Independent on 19 August 1984. [8]