This Saturday in the Burlington Hotel the GAA will make history at its special congress to consider the deletion of Rule 21 which prohibits members of the Northern security forces from joining the association. If the motion receives a two-thirds majority the sense of history will be obvious in the removal of a controversial provision which has dogged the GAA for virtually the whole of the century.
The special congress was called at last month's annual congress on the initiative of the GAA president, Mr Joe McDonagh, and with the unanimous backing of the central council. Time was allowed for consultation within the counties, mainly out of deference to Northern delegates. That breathing space has been used to start an aggressive campaign for retention of the rule.
In the event of a compromise - the alternative motion to suspend rather than delete - or an outright rejection of the proposal, history of an unwanted nature will be made. For the first time, the GAA will be seen to be out of step with the broad church of Irish nationalism.
Already there have been indications that failure to seize the opportunity for change will leave the association lagging behind the national mood. A Sunday Times exit poll at last week's referendum in Northern Ireland showed that 57 per cent of nationalists supported abolition; only 25 per cent were in favour of retention.
The numbers game is a tricky business, but the current prognosis for the proposal's fate is finely balanced. Whatever way the vote goes, the margin will be sufficiently tight to have created division.
In recent times the country's largest sports organisation has been more associated with positive developments such as the rebuilding of Croke Park, the marketing of games - unrecognisably slick compared to even 10 years ago - and the resurgence of hurling in Clare and Wexford whose then manager, Liam Griffin, coined the much-repeated description of the game as "the Riverdance of sport".
Griffin's analogy is apt. He intended it to refer to hurling as something uniquely Irish that could be dramatically repackaged to expand its audience, just as Irish dancing was repackaged by the Riverdance phenomenon to widespread acclaim, national and international.
So it has proved. The enthusiasm for all things Irish has increased considerably throughout Irish society. Dancing, the language - as reflected in the rapid growth of Gaelscoileanna - and music are all examples of the new fashionability of native culture.
Hurling has been no different, and with the assistance of a bright, well-funded advertising campaign by its sponsor, Guinness, the game has impinged on the national consciousness to a far greater extent than ever before.
That such an ancient political quarrel as Rule 21 should intrude into the affairs of a thriving, self-confident organisation is dissonant, but reflects a side of GAA culture that receives less coverage.
Whereas the public south of the Border may look on Gaelic games as a celebration of national identity, the view in the North is a more defiant assertion of that identity. The activities of the GAA are a badge for many members, one for which they have suffered over the last 30 years.
Relations with the security forces have often been strained, so there is often an instinctive bristling in the cross-Border counties when deletion of the rule is discussed.
For all that the six counties may form a monolithic opposition to the repeal of Rule 21, such unanimity does not reflect rank-and-file opinion which, if not necessarily in favour of abolition, is certainly split more evenly than is indicated by the figures of 100 per cent against.
There are two distortions inherent in the strength of stated Northern opposition to abolition. First, the more vocal opposition has drowned out nearly all moderate opinion and misrepresented the strength of the opposition argument.
Second, if the knock-on effect of Northern influence ends up depriving the motion of the two-thirds majority necessary to amend the Official Guide, the GAA will end up more politically extreme than the Provisional republican movement, which has accepted the Commission on Policing set up under the Belfast Agreement.
This state of affairs has come to pass not only because of the views of Northern counties but also because of acquiescence in the South. Whereas the vast majority of counties in the Republic favour abolition, there are pockets which appear reluctant to have opinions of their own.
Offaly is one example, and the votes of North America and London have taken a similar course in deferring to the views of the North. A vast domino effect has ensued, with the views of five Northern counties (Down actually voted for repeal three years ago but may change its mind tomorrow night) influencing the rest of Ulster and that in turn influencing enough additional delegates to prevent Rule 21 being deleted.
Curiously, whereas there has been endless coverage of dissatisfaction north of the Border, little has been made of the genuine frustration felt elsewhere at the continuing existence of a provision which is seen as an embarrassment to the GAA. This is probably the result of general diffidence on the part of Southerners in the face of the more strident arguments from Ulster.
Among delegates from counties in the South, there can also be detected a feeling that Rule 21 is worth something as a bargaining chip. "If we do this," said one delegate from a Munster county when Joe McDonagh announced his intention to call for repeal, "and nothing comes out of this agreement, we're going to look terribly stupid".
Whereas Joe McDonagh and others in the association may fear more than looking stupid if the proposal to delete is not carried, they can take heart from the history of other controversial bans. Rules 27 and 28, banning the playing of foreign games, were repealed in 1971 with only two counties dissenting - but not before repeal had been raised at previous congresses.
This proposal still stands a chance of being passed on Saturday, but it will need all delegates to stand up rather than abdicate their responsibility and refuse to allow their cultural and sporting organisation to be used to pursue a political agenda abandoned by 95 per cent of nationalist Ireland.