Joe Barrett
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish name | Seosamh Bairéid | ||
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||
| Position | Full-back | ||
| Born |
17 July 1902 Tralee, County Kerry |
||
| Died | 2 June 1952 (aged 49) | ||
| Club(s) | |||
| Years | Club | ||
| 1920s-1930s | Austin Stack's | ||
| Club titles | |||
| Football | Hurling | ||
| Kerry titles | 5 | 4 | |
| Inter-county(ies) | |||
| Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
| 1923-1933 | Kerry | 15 | |
| Inter-county titles | |||
| Munster titles | 8 | ||
| All-Irelands | 6 | ||
| NFL | 2 | ||
Joe Barrett (17 July 1902 – 2 June 1952) was an Irish sportsperson. He played Gaelic football with his local club Austin Stack's and was a member of the Kerry senior inter-county team from 1923 until 1933. Barrett captained Kerry to the All-Ireland titles of 1929 and 1932.
Joe Barrett was born at 67 Rock Street, Tralee in 1902. The third of five sons and six daughters, his father, John Barrett (1858–1915), was a well known pig and cattle dealer while his mother, Nora O’Mahony, hailed from Ballyduff. The influences in his family home were strongly Roman Catholic and nationalist. It were these views that shaped his outlook in his adulthood. Barrett received a brief national school education, however, in 1915 he followed his older brother, Christy, into the family business. World War I was raging at the time and the export of bacon and other meats created a huge demand which kept the Barrett's gainfully employed through their agency for the two local bacon factories.
Tragedy was to strike the family again two years later when the eldest brother, Christy, died at the age of 30 after contracting pneumonia during the great flu epidemic. The onus then fell on Joe and his fourteen-year-old brother Jimmy to hold the business together, however, in spite of the economic realities of the time the Barrett's survived.
At the age of fifteen Barrett joined the Irish Volunteers, a revolutionary organisation that hoped to established independence for Ireland. He remained active during the War of Independence. He took the republican side in the subsequent Civil War that followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Barrett was arrested in September 1922 and suffered much hardship during his imprisonment. While in prisoned he embarked on a 22-day hunger strike which undoubtedly affected his health in later life. Upon his release Barrett and his siblings set about rebuilding their business. It proved difficult at a time when political tensions divided friends and neighbours and boycotts of certain shops and businesses were regular occurrences.
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