# This is the Life

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/ciaran-murphy/this-is-the-life/9781844886333

![This is the Life](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/ciaran-murphy/this-is-the-life_978-18-4488-633-3-6310038b.jpg?v=2026-09-19%2005%3A02%3A57)

- 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
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-18-4488-633-3
- Published: 2023-09-21
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## 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.