# This is the Life

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/ciaran-murphy/this-is-the-life/9780241997697

![This is the Life](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/ciaran-murphy/this-is-the-life_978-02-4199-769-7.jpg?v=2026-04-25%2019%3A21%3A06)

- Book: [This is the Life](https://www.bookquiver.com/ciaran-murphy/this-is-the-life) ([This is the Life.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/ciaran-murphy/this-is-the-life.md))
- Authors: [Ciarán Murphy](https://www.bookquiver.com/ciaran-murphy)
- Publisher: Penguin
- ISBN: 978-02-4199-769-7
- Pages: 256
- Published: 2024-05-09
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

The GAA is Ireland's largest civil society organisation, woven into the fabric of families and communities - and yet most books about Gaelic games focus on the greatest players and inter-county teams. This is the Life is a book about the 99%: a witty and provocative look at grassroots GAA from the most intelligent and interesting Gaelic games pundit at work today. Ciarán Murphy - of Second Captains and the Irish Times - has an unmatched feel for the timeless elements of this world and a finger on the pulse of change. He looks at the plight of rural clubs that are losing their players to the cities - and he does so not only as a journalist but as a footballer who made the same move himself. He writes about working as an assistant in the clothing shop owned by the family of Jarlath Fallon - both Ciarán's sporting hero and the local postman. And he looks a things we usually prefer not to talk about, like the role of social class in the GAA. This is the Life is a book about the places the GAA comes from, the places it can take a person, and theings that make a local club worth fighting for.