The great organisation that is the GAA has traditionally had a wonderful way of resolving disputes within the confines of its ranks, more often than not away from the glaring eyes of the media. However in these past few weeks and days we have witnessed some quite bizarre happenings within the GAA world that will surely have rocked the traditionalists of our game back on their heels.
2008 started of with the fiasco in Cork football circles over the appointment of Teddy Holland as the new football manager. It now appears that the year will close with another fiasco by the Lee, this time involving the Cork hurlers. It won’t be the first time that the Cork hurlers have drawn the spotlight of the national media upon themselves. And after the rancourous and ill-tempered dispute earlier this year when they rowed in fully in support of their footballing brethren, I am not so sure that they will have much support from their huge and loyal fan base this time round.
Gerald McCarthy, the current team manager, is the cause of their ire this time. They want him removed from his position as senior hurling manager as they don’t consider him good enough. I have to say I am astonished with the attitude of the Cork hurlers on this one. Things are really getting out of hand if McCarthy is removed form his position. He is one of the most decorated of all Cork hurlers and has a terrific record as a coach with his native club St Finbarr’s. This current crop of Cork hurlers have played with great distinction and honour, winning their All Irelands and providing some breathtaking entertainment in the process. They have also, I am sure, thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing in front of thousands of supporters of our national games. However I firmly believe that they have far too much to say when it comes to issues outside their domain and the GAA needs to put a halt to their gallop fairly quickly for fear that this contagious disease might spread elsewhere. We have already witnessed an outbreak of this disease in Wexford hurling circles a few weeks ago, and the last thing we need in the GAA right now is players getting involved in the hiring and firing of managers.
Donegal saga not pretty reading
I have also been astonished at some other goings-on within the GAA world, this time in the northwest. I read about and spoke to a number of Donegal people about the farce that developed when it came to the appointment of a new football manager to look after their senior inter-county team these past few weeks. It might appear as great theatre to some, but the speculation, rumours and innuendo ultimately do lots of damage to the organisation, with lifelong friendships often tarnished beyond repair.
In the first week of September Brian McIver, the then manager, arrived at a county board meeting to give his review of the year. He outlined his views and anticipated and predicted much better for 2009. Having completed his report there then developed a particularly ugly Q&A session with the Tyrone man the target of lots of criticism over his management. A number of club delegates suggested that no progress had been made over the previous three years under his management, and when a motion of no confidence was proposed and seconded from two club delegates McIver resigned rather than be subjected to a vote being taken on his position. It was mentioned by one delegate that no progress would be made until they had someone from within the county looking after team affairs. It was a painful and a rather ugly position for McIver to find himself in and, despite protestations from the county chairman that the motion should not have gone to the floor, McIver had had enough and bailed out.
Standard practice normally sees the appointment of a committee to seek and interview potential candidates. John Joe Doherty was the committee’s choice and everything was going smoothly until it came to ‘rubber stamping’ his appointment. It has been suggested by some sources that the dreaded subject of remuneration was mentioned at this juncture. This really put the cat amongst the pigeons after the flapping had died down, it would appear from afar that John Joe was no longer No 1 candidate.
Declan Bonner and Charlie Mulgrew were then offered the job within minutes of this scenario, and all that was left was their ratification at the next county board meeting due to take place a few days later. These two then threw a wobbler when they discovered they weren’t the first choice candidates and withdrew their names. Now John Joe is back into the scene as it appears things were grossly misinterpreted by the county chairman at that meeting/interview that took place earlier in the week with John Joe. Now he has been offered another opportunity to present at another interview/meeting. John Joe has decided to put pen to paper to the county board seeking clarification on a number of issues and is waiting for a response. In the interim it appears he will be making up his mind whether he wants the job or not! Bonner, obviously feeling rather peeved at the process in general, has since urged the club delegates to get rid of the officers of the county board at the next convention, after “their incompetent handling of the process”. I have suggested here before that it will become increasingly difficult to attract managers to take charge of some inter-county teams. It now looks like we might be having difficulty in the not so distant future in attracting people into county board positions.
Plenty of compromise in the international rules
I watched the compromise rules series last Friday. I am an indifferent follower of this hybrid game, but nonetheless I was interested in having a look in case I missed anything. The new model is a much sanitised version of what we have witnessed heretofore and whilst I abhorred the ugliness of the last few series, last Friday’s encounter didn’t generate any excitement for me. The Aussies looked quite awesome at times with terrific angles of power running, but they looked comical at times too, particularly with their kicking. Time and time again they failed to execute the simplest of short foot passes highlighting their difficulty with the round ball. The effort from the penalty spot was as bad as one will see for some time. Nevertheless, they improved enormously in the final quarter, reducing a 16 point gap to a single point, which I feel will see them win the series today.
Sean Cavanagh was magnificent throughout and underlined my belief that he is without a doubt one of the best footballers of his generation. One can now understand why he has received several calls from several clubs in Australia to come and play AFL. Leighton Glynn and Finian Hanley were two others who caught the eye with fantastic debuts in the series. Today’s game will be different as I expect as the Aussies will come out all guns blazing to win the series. They will, I expect, have spent the week working on their goal shooting because ultimately it was in this facet of the game that they were beaten last Friday.
