Game has lost its soul

Micko: Game has lost its soul

The man considered to be the most stylish gaelic footballer in GAA history has delivered a withering indictment of the game he once loved and adorned.

Kerry’s Mick O’Connell says the game has lost its direction, lost its soul and has become a mish-mash which, he’s ashamed to say, is now one of the least attractive field sports around.

"I would watch nearly any other sporting code in preference to gaelic football," O’Connell admitted in an interview with the Irish Examiner.

"I’m an ex-gaelic footballer now and I’m ashamed to say, it’s one of the least attractive games that I watch. And this is not an ex-player condemning present-day players, it’s the game itself I’m talking about," said the 75-year-old legend from Valentia Island.

"This is not personalised criticism. The players nowadays train well and put a huge amount of time into the game, and rightly so — we did too in our day. But the game they’re asked to play is very uncertain. I don’t know how any referee can referee this game, I don’t know how they can be criticised when even the players themselves are uncertain about what’s a foul and what’s not."

At root of the problem, O’Connell believes, is today’s philosophy, not just the football philosophy but the sporting philosophy.

"I wrote many years ago that the game needed a direction. What was it going to be? Was it going to be a ball-delivery game or a ball-carrying game? You then work the rules according to that. There’s no such thing as a decent, clear set of rules now.

"I grew up with a game where the ball was caught and delivered, no solo-runs — I never saw a solo-run in those days. Gaelic football was about good fielding and good ball delivery and when you think about what it has become, when you really analyse it, solo-running is just a man running with the ball and playing by himself, no team-work involved whatsoever."

The Kerry stylist reckons the hand-pass has also become a major problem.

"They say the hand-pass is a skill? I think this has become a game devoid of skill. A skill to me presents a challenge to a player and there’s a challenge in fielding a high ball, there’s challenge in kicking an accurate ball, but I can see no challenge in the hand-pass. I cannot see a challenge in a game where you’re just throwing the ball from hand to hand, from one player to the next.

"I saw Kerry playing a game last year, and counted the number of hand-passes before there was one kick — 13 hand-passes I counted.

"The game evolved a lot but it has changed from a ball delivery game to a ball-carrying game with the soloing and hand-passing. That’s the big change and it has come about gradually.

"And again I stress, I’m not criticising players. It’s just got to the stage now where youngsters growing up know no other kind of game and you can’t blame those boys for practicing that same kind of game, soloing and hand-passing."

Not that they’re incapable of playing the old-style game. "I saw one good example of it lately, some great fielding in this year’s All-Ireland final – ball kicked into the Donegal full-forward Michael Murphy who caught, turned, kicked a great goal. That was an example of the game I grew up playing and if you had that all over the field you’d have a more exciting game and a better game to watch. Instead nowadays you have all that uncertainty."

So what would he like to see done? "I think it should be football first, beat your man with good positional play, expose the defects in the other player. That’s the way the game should be. Competition is great in any sport but not at the price of winning at all costs. I’m not saying it was perfect in my own day — even then I didn’t think it was a great game, plenty of room for improvement. I felt it lacked fluidity, too much negativity — ‘Who’s marking O’Connell, who’s marking Flynn?’ Too often, even then, it was man first, ball second; try to negate the opposing player and if you managed that, then despite the kind of football you played you were considered a success. That negative aspect was always there, trying to keep a man out of the play.

"I’m an old man now but going back to the 40s, when I started out, the game that inspired me to take up football was catch and kick, the challenge involved in developing the ability to catch the ball well and kick it accurately, two-footed, from the hands and off the ground — you had to be able to do that in those days, no teeing it up."

So he’d go back to that, limit the hand-passing especially? "The name of the game is ‘football’. People can have the use of the hand to field, to block down, to break the ball, but to give total freedom to play handball right through the field and right through the game, I think that’s the opposite of what a football game should be. If anything I would limit it to one handpass, that’s all. But all my life I’ve been making suggestions; I was never listened to."

O’Connell was speaking in Charleville at the launch of Phillip Egan’s Touched By Rhyme, a book of poetry in which O’Connell himself features.

No argument from me with any of this. The one thing I find odd is the fact he loosely infers that he enjoys other games...

Surely life can't be so bad on Valentia that he has to look at West Brom versus Wigan or that type of stuff.

Good man Mick, some of the fare 50 years ago wasn't wonderful, but it was indeed a better spectacle....

Boxtyeater wrote:No argument from me with any of this. The one thing I find odd is the fact he loosely infers that he enjoys other games...

Surely life can't be so bad on Valentia that he has to look at West Brom versus Wigan or that type of stuff.

Good man Mick, some of the fare 50 years ago wasn't wonderful, but it was indeed a better spectacle....

Psshhh... He's talking out of his hole with a lot of what he says there. If these GAA Gold games are anything to go by the game wasn't all he's making it out to be back in the day. Catch it, Garryowen, repeat. Mindless stuff.
Nothing good about a solo run?? Is he serious?
Solo running and handpassing isn't a team game? Again is he serious? Lumping a ball in on top of your forward and hoping he can win his battle is not more of a team game than lads bursting a gut to support a man in possession moving forward.

A GAA legend he may be but that doesn't mean this sort of thing should be given any heed. Typical "back in my day things were better" nonsense.

Mick, legend and purist though he is, is comparing apples and oranges here. Since the great man retired in the early 70's, there have been so many changes in rules, equipment, conditioning and technology that an evolution in playing style was inevitable.

The ball is lighter and boots are lighter, players are fitter, faster and stronger, TV analysis is used to prepare, frees are taken from the hands, 5 subs - all of these are things that have completely changed the landscape of the game, and only the most stupid of managers would fail to take advantage of these.

I'm completely of the opinion that football needs radical changes, but for me those should all be in relation to respect, dicsipline and sportsmanship, all of which appear to be badly lacking. I'd love to see football without off the ball strikes, third man tackles, feigning injuries, sledging, suspension appeals, abuse of referees, crowd violence and the likes. I think those are much more important to deal with than the number of handpasses.

Pile of Claptrap
Visions of a corner back holding court on his own fourteen when he gets the ball under pressure
hits an aimless hail mary out to his own forty five where both opposing midfielders and a plethora of half forwards with baggy caps are huddled having a sneaky sweet afton . Like something from an U-10 blitz (without the caps and fags)

He'd be F?43ed out of it by every player/supporter on his team and rightly so

As for the handpassing game before they changed the rule to underhand it was Micks own Kerry team
that were the masters of scoring basketball type goals.

And to support Jon Smiths point you could sit through 20 hours of GAA gold and you will not see

a) A Fielding display like Neil Gallagher v Cork
b) A Route one goal like Michael Murphys in the final
c) Accurate long range footpassing to inside forwards and long range point taking like Mayos first half v Dublin
d) Point scoring with both feet from Distance like Connolly v Tyrone in 2011.


Franklin P Adams
"Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory".

Well I can only agree on a couple of points with my neighbour Mick. Midfield in his day =2 versus 2,claar fielding and little fouling. Nowadays at least 5 versus 5. Clean catch =foul. Only problem I have with present day football is too much handpassing. Soloing Mick? Remember v Mid Kerry in the early 60's when you saved a penalty went on a solo run and brought down in square and scored the penalty at other end. I only met you recently Mick but we only discussed politics but I am afraid you are mostly wrong in your football assessment.

Real Kerry Fan wrote: I only met you recently Mick but we only discussed politics...

Next time you are speaking to him RKF, point him in the direction of this site, where he might learn a thing or two about the game!

Or even point him in Bald Eagle's direction, as that would be a mighty coup for the In Focus Interviews section.

Can't believe the negativity towards the legend's comments - though I note they are almost exclusively from Ulster.

I have also railed against the handpass. It has ruined our game .... which is called football. There is no question that skills have been replaced by fitness, stamina etc. We have had this discussion here many time before and agreed on it.

To be brutally frank about it the game of football as we know it now is a poor spectacle. He is also right about referees and refereeing.

If you read today's Irish Times, the GAA President says "If I was to sell Gaelic football around the world, I would probably lead with the ladies’ football game." Says it all really.

Parouisa wrote: If you read today's Irish Times, the GAA President says "If I was to sell Gaelic football around the world, I would probably lead with the ladies’ football game." Says it all really.

Hard to believe we have a president who is so blatantly anti-football. Thank God the general public disagree as it remains, by a country mile, the most popular sport in Ireland.

And don't get me started on 'Ladies' Football!

Thomas Clarke wrote:Hard to believe we have a president who is so blatantly anti-football.

Nicky B?

Gaelic football as we know it now is no longer a spectator sport. Yes it can be intriguing to watch tactical games the fitness and stamina of our amateur players is impressive to say the least however the quality of the games we see of late are tripe.

Name 5 top quality games from this years championship, i bet you would have bother doing it. And i mean quality in terms of the football on offer.

We now have 95% of coaches trying to mimic a certain style of play were stopping the opposition is more important than scoring yourself. Its grand if you have the game plan and more importantly the players but in msot cases there is neither with the result we have 60 minutes of pulling hauling and general fouling, more resembling rugby than anything else.

Some of the big name coaches of our game have gone to great lengths to stifle top players and top teams they use any trick going to stop them. Then they argue that our game is in a healthy state. Sorry guys but its not, in fact its far from it.

We produce more athletes than footballers an when so called elite footballers in Ulster are being judged on how fast they can run 10 seconds, what weights they can lift, how long they can hold the plank position and how high they can jump that tells you all you need to know about the direction we are headed. Not one of the tests involves a ball!!!!!!

Now i dont agree with this crap that football in the 70s 80s was any better, it was woeful stuff with most players only fit to catch and kick a ball aimlessly up the field with little or no thought as to where it was going, at tiems it resembled watching tennis with the ball going back and forward. I also dont agree that other sports are more watchable, they are headed the same way.

To me this is exactly what Mick O'Connell is saying. He knows things weren't perfect in his own day and says so too.

It is easy to say football is still the most popular sport in the country ..... mind you 84% of us are Catholics too.

The game is no longer attractive as a spectacle at senior inter county level. You see far better games at underage than senior. Some day somebody might leave the young lads play the way they were brought up. Thats if they can before it football is coached out of them from 12 years of age which may be where we are heading.

Parouisa wrote:To me this is exactly what Mick O'Dwyer is saying. He knows things weren't perfect in his own day and says so too.

It is easy to say football is still the most popular sport in the country ..... mind you 84% of us are Catholics too.

The game is no longer attractive as a spectacle at senior inter county level. You see far better games at underage than senior. Some day somebody might leave the young lads play the way they were brought up. Thats if they can before it football is coached out of them from 12 years of age which may be where we are heading.

Mick O' Connell you mean!!!

Aye - was editing as we spoke - wouldn't mind what t'other fella says at all ....

Parouisa wrote:Aye - was editing as we spoke - wouldn't mind what t'other fella says at all ....

thats why it caught my eye!!!!!

bocerty wrote:Gaelic football as we know it now is no longer a spectator sport. Yes it can be intriguing to watch tactical games the fitness and stamina of our amateur players is impressive to say the least however the quality of the games we see of late are tripe.

Name 5 top quality games from this years championship, i bet you would have bother doing it. And i mean quality in terms of the football on offer.

Great post Bocerty, not only the quoted, but it all......I was at 4 matches in total this year, none of them, bar perhaps the Donegal-Cork s/f approaching memorable and that only for the occasion. Negativity of management and players has ruined the game.

I'd love to know what some of you are comparing the current game to, and what years you can name with 5 high quality matches in it? A few perhaps, but not many.

While there were several games that I enjoyed this year, 2 featuring my own county, I will acknowledge that it perhaps wasn't a vintage year for the sport, but what years were great? 1994? 2000? 2005? While those were highlights, there were also plenty that are instantly forgettable (1999, 2003, 2004 and anything in the late 80s spring to mind).

Omar is spot on in his post. Watch any of the grainy footage from the 20s/30s/40s and it is playground stuff, with everyone chasing the ball. The game evolved from that, but by the 70s it resembled basketball with flicked goals being the order of the day. What we see today is far from perfect, but the truth is that it never was.

My advice to you is this, stop moaning about the tactics, because I can assure you that the game you long for is never going to happen. Let's focus on cleaning up all the unsavoury aspects of the game, from officials to refs to players to fans, and that will greatly enhance the product. The tactics will naturally evolve, but the days of a superfit young man standing on the 40 with his hands on his hips, waiting for a long punt to come his way, are gone forever.

One thing that not many have commented on over the season - and Emmet Ryan might have a view on this - is Donegal's change of tactic to use the footpass more. In 2011 Donegal were almost totally reliant on the handpass to move the ball from one end of the field to the other.

During that season and seasons prior I lauded Dublin's use of the footpass. Quick and accurate footpassing is very effective, saves player's energy and is one of the game's great skills. I am sure Jim Mc looked at this carefully and upped the use of the foot pass this year - to great effect (witness Michael Murphy's cracker!).

So maybe there is hope that even with the emphasis of conditioning and strength that coaches will see the benefits of skill too.

Thomas Clarke wrote:I'd love to know what some of you are comparing the current game to, and what years you can name with 5 high quality matches in it? A few perhaps, but not many.

While there were several games that I enjoyed this year, 2 featuring my own county, I will acknowledge that it perhaps wasn't a vintage year for the sport, but what years were great? 1994? 2000? 2005? While those were highlights, there were also plenty that are instantly forgettable (1999, 2003, 2004 and anything in the late 80s spring to mind).

Omar is spot on in his post. Watch any of the grainy footage from the 20s/30s/40s and it is playground stuff, with everyone chasing the ball. The game evolved from that, but by the 70s it resembled basketball with flicked goals being the order of the day. What we see today is far from perfect, but the truth is that it never was.

My advice to you is this, stop moaning about the tactics, because I can assure you that the game you long for is never going to happen. Let's focus on cleaning up all the unsavoury aspects of the game, from officials to refs to players to fans, and that will greatly enhance the product. The tactics will naturally evolve, but the days of a superfit young man standing on the 40 with his hands on his hips, waiting for a long punt to come his way, are gone forever.

TC i agree totally with what you are saying about the unsavoury aspects of the game, my own brother-in-law a ref here in Tyrone recently got a letter claiming to be from the IRA saying they knew were he lived and telling him what they were planning on doing with him. All because a certain team here lost a match he was reffing!!!!

Take the unsavoury incidents out of the game we still dont have quality football that you would watch. Teams rarely go out to win games they go out to stop the other team. Too few players can actually kick a ball 20-30 yards accurately, the high catch comes with a health warning as you know you will be assaulted upon making contact with the ground.

Football of years gone by is no benchmark for anything, but its no coincidence that some of the best games you can pick out from the last decade or two are games that featured players executing the basic skills of the game consistently at a high level for much of the game. P mentions Donegal and they are a good example of what can be achieved when a manager and a player has real belief in their own ability. Last year against Dublin, Donegal spent much of the second half kicking aimless balls into a one man forward line and he was surrounded more often than not by 3-4 defenders. Contrast that with this year and they are unrecognizable, its just a pity more teams wouldnt focus on their strengths rather than the muck of stopping opponents.

As i said previously when the best players are doing tests that dont feature a ball what does that tell you???

Very enjoyable piece by Kevin McStay. If only there were a few more thousand of him to take our games back from the thugs and chancers.
________________________________

Meticulous McStay carefully planning for victory - but not at any price


St Brigid’s manager says his team will stick with their skilful style as they bid for a hat-trick of Connacht titles

“Personally, I am a slogger. It’s all I can do,” Kevin McStay says of preparing for his summer role as an RTÉ commentator and analyst on The Sunday Game. Those who remember the Ballina man’s quicksilver turns as a light and audacious attacker with the Mayo team of the 1980s wouldn’t associate him with methodical endeavour. But what he means is that he applies the meticulousness of his day-job as an Adjutant in the Irish Army to his passion for Gaelic games, patiently scavenging for facts and statistics and information that will make him feel comfortable.

The same applies to his recent return to football management. Tomorrow, he will be on the sideline with St Brigid’s for the Connacht final for what will be a claustrophobically localised provincial final.

McStay is a broadcasting veteran at this stage: he has been a voice and face on The Sunday Game since 1997. He is what can only be described as a boyish 50-year-old. He lives in Roscommon Town, close enough to hear the cries from Dr Hyde Park on All-Ireland championship days.

Recognisable duo

On this afternoon, the big stadium is achingly empty and the sky above brackish. McStay has a rare day off and his plan is to watch some video tape with Liam McHale, his brother-in-law and coach with St Brigid’s. They must be the most recognisable duo in football coaching.

McStay is nationally known for his television analysis now but has a distinguished track record as a coach – he is a former U-21 Mayo manager and won a county championship with Roscommon Gaels in 2004. And McHale’s involvement makes the bitter winter nights when they are out training that bit easier. McStay marvels at the patience the big man has for coaching the fundamentals of the game and during a period of anxiety about the direction of Gaelic football, he points to the club championship as evidence of the game’s good health.

“I have seen some wonderful games at club level. The scores that Dr Crokes are putting up or Crossmaglen . . . these are fantastic scorelines for November. The quality of Crossmaglen’s play last week was of top order. This team we are coaching will play flat-out, high-tempo football with a complete emphasis on skill. We are trying to make them a kicking team. We want them to be the cleverest little team of all time with the ball in hand. And we have been working on that day in and day out.

“If we win, it will be the third Connacht title won by concentrating on football. So how bad can that be? Our theme is: the ball, the ball, the ball. I love watching our team when they play open, good football. So that idea that football is goosed? No. I don’t have that.”

McStay is a Mayo man. Football disillusionment is easily chased away in that part of the country. Two broken legs in successive seasons ended a scintillating talent too early but he sometimes feels he walked away a little bit too easily. He admired the tenacity of McHale who seemed capable of absorbing those seasons of Mayo heartbreak without ever breaking or becoming embittered.

Hornet’s nest

They grew up down the street from one another in Ballina and McHale has never lost that smooth confidence he had as a sportsman. For instance, on this afternoon, McHale was coaching a schools team in Ballaghaderreen. McStay was vaguely horrified about the idea of the big man mixing with people from Sunday’s opposition. He felt it would be like stirring a hornet’s nest.

McHale just laughed at him and asked him what he was worried about. “‘Who cares?’” is Liam’s attitude. He will just chat to people, get on with it. He has this appeal to people and thinks I’m being a ridiculous, conservative clot. Maybe I am.”

They make a delightfully odd football couple: McHale is a terrific worker but he has that it-will-be-all-right-on-the-night approach that set him apart as a prodigiously talented football and basketball player. McStay is more of a stickler and less relaxed: he happily admitted in a radio interview after St Brigid’s had defeated Salthill that when you are a manager, “you can never be far enough ahead”.

Pleasing as that Salthill victory was, he felt the match contained a subtle poison that is seeping through Gaelic games. Recently, he wrote a letter to President Liam O’Neill praising him on his intentions to deal with sideline indiscipline. McStay believes ‘sledging’ in general is out of control and felt the behaviour on the Salthill sideline was unacceptable.

“All season, what has gone on the sidelines is outrageous. Everyone saw what happened in the hurling final and the edginess that created. But this was different.

“Salthill is a club I greatly admire.

“But that game . . . if you moved down to the other side of the pitch and crossed their dug-out, it is like you have come into their house. There is a level of intimidation there now that shouldn’t be allowed. I can’t understand how grown men can go out with a set agenda to destabilise the management, let alone the players, of the other side. So I fully endorse what Liam is trying to do.”

McStay believes a kind of licensed lawlessness has been allowed to bloom within the GAA. It is not just the attitude of supporters; he regularly gets it from opposition supporters – about the Sunday Game or nonsense stuff about the money he is on.

And although he is always stunned by how people feel completely liberated by the wire meshing that separates them from him, he can accept that. But he feels there should be some measure of mutual respect between the opposition dug-outs.

“I was taken aback by what happened against Salthill. At one stage there was water squirted at me from the Salthill management side as I walked by the dug-out. Whoever it was waited until I has passed and then squirted a bottle at me. I just kept walking. But . . . I can’t understand how they have the time to do this.”

McStay has developed a reputation as a scrupulously fair GAA media voice. But he has been explicitly critical in his media analysis when he witnesses out-and-out dangerous play. “I can’t abide it,” he admits.

He played the game during a particularly dark period, playing Sigerson Cup games on Neanderthal afternoons when “there may as well not have been a referee”. He was often singled out for the brutality because he was stylish and nifty and best silenced. So he often saw stars – and not in the Patrick Moore sense.

Sledging

He doesn’t object to hard hitting – he rates Robbie O’Malley of Meath and James McHugh of Galway as being among the toughest and finest he encountered. But the callously late hits, the sledging, the decision – even if it is spontaneous – to do a guy simply because the opportunity presents itself – leaves him cold.

“I met some shocking lads as a player. I was concussed and clattered and just blackguarded out of it. You do have to have fellas who won’t back off – and there is nothing wrong with that. But there is something wrong with clocking a guy as you run past him or off the ball stuff or the sledging that goes on now. But if there is dirty play involved . . . that really drives me mad. It is a part of the game I can’t understand.

“I have to deal with it in any team I coach. Every team has guys who are very edgy. You are coaching guys to keep their head. I am a huge fan of Mickey Harte and a huge fan of Seán Boylan and Joe Kernan – and yet they managed teams that have people in them that were sometimes, I felt, out of control. But maybe they are not out of control. Maybe they are just in that place where they can hold the line.”

McStay comes from a county that has been categorised – not always flatteringly – as being saintly clean on the football field. In the past two years, the word on Mayo was that they had become “edgy”. The inference is that they had rid themselves of a softness of character.

“It is nonsense of the highest order. Did Mayo lose to Meath [in the 1996 All Ireland final] by a point because they were too clean? Players like TJ Kilgallon and Liam- they were clean, yes. But they were ferociously competitive. That tag is too comfortable. When Mayo win it, they will become something else. Look, I remember going to Leinster finals when Meath were horsed out of it. And then they became the hardest team ever. Donegal were the party team. Now they are the most dedicated ever.

“I was at that Armagh match when Donegal were hammered a few years ago and let me tell you: they were Duffy’s Circus. They were like a rabble. They were all over the shop. And I think Jim McGuinness was at that match, actually. So could they make that turnaround if that is all they were? Now, Jim is a special fella. But my point is when you are not successful; it is easy to have a label.”

Montrose make-up room

McStay acknowledges that in the summer, The Sunday Game has a major influence: it sets the agenda. He got into broadcasting accidentally: he was in the officer’s mess one day talking about football and Christy Rock told him straight out that he never shut up about football, that he should get himself on with them RTÉ fellas.

It was almost like a dare. And McStay knew Michael Lyster as their fathers had served in the barracks in Killererin. So he wrote to him. The letter reached Bill Lawlor, who was largely responsible for The Sunday Game concept. Lawlor phoned him. “Come down ’til we have a look at you,” he said. McStay’s first game was in Westmeath, co-commentating with Jimmy Magee. That was 15 years ago: he is a veteran of the Montrose make-up room now.

Live commentary remains his first passion. He has coined a few memorable phrases – the slightly hoarse yell of “He has it, he has it” for Kevin Cassidy’s translatlantic point in the dusk against Kildare in Croke Park and his pithy opening words during a heavy, edgy game between Armagh and Tyrone: “Welcome to the Pleasuredome.”

Sometimes he gets grief for his views. “Mainly from Kerry fellas. I have some great Kerry friends but they don’t like criticism of their team down there. It doesn’t sit well.”

He rejects the theory that The Sunday Game goes soft on the glamour teams when it comes to highlighting contentious issues. “I would defend them to the hilt . . . they have impeccable standards there.”

Liam McHale waltzes in, full of high humour. Kevin has the video ready, the note-pad ready. He is prepared. These are busy days. In his working life, McStay is Lieutenant Colonel, Adjutant responsible for Personnel of the 4th Western Brigade, which is being disestablished at the end of the month due to cutbacks. The emotional toll of reintegrating people is considerable. Football is an escape. And as always, he will do his homework. Liam gets amused when he has the jitters. Both families are going for a break in December. One day McStay remarked that it would be great if they were Connacht champions then.

“And I am sure Liam believes we will be. But he said: ‘Kevin, I have given this everything I can give. So whatever happens happens . . . my conscience is clear.

“And if our players have that, we will win it because we will have given it everything.’ And it was a great attitude. You know, isn’t that all anyone can do?”

That – and walk away afterwards with your name still good.

great article P and good to see one man who isnt afraid to be be different in terms of preparing teams. As you say if only more would follow his example............

Very good article, and I agree totally with him. The ills of our game are mainly lack of discipline, sledging, cheating, diving, assault and, after all these have been committed, county boards and club officials will tell any tall tale to get their own guys off the hook.

Clear up this ridiculous 'win at any cost' mentality, and we'll be left with a much, much more appealing product.

On the subject (slightly) I was at the Junior Final yesterday between Castleknock and Fintans (Wexford). There was a decent enough crowd in the stand. For the second half I went to the terrace (bigger one, church end) behind the goal that Castleknock were defending. On the extreme right there were 4 blokes in their 30s. On the left were about a dozen kids of 12-14 years of age. Decent kids (you can tell by listening to them) most of them carrying hurleys. Every time Fintan's got a free they ran behind the goal, banged the hurleys off the railings and shouted. Fintan's missed some terrible easy frees it has to be said!

Now it wasn't vicious or nasty or anything like that - but they just did it naturally and without a second thought. My 7 year old (absolutely GAA mad) was asking me what was going on - he couldn't understand what they were doing. I could have let a roar at them - and was tempted to - and I am fairly sure they would have shrunk away without giving any lip. But I just didn't have the heart to.

Probably because I found the whole thing a bit sad.

Parouisa wrote:On the subject (slightly) I was at the Junior Final yesterday between Castleknock and Fintans (Wexford). There was a decent enough crowd in the stand. For the second half I went to the terrace (bigger one, church end) behind the goal that Castleknock were defending. On the extreme right there were 4 blokes in their 30s. On the left were about a dozen kids of 12-14 years of age. Decent kids (you can tell by listening to them) most of them carrying hurleys. Every time Fintan's got a free they ran behind the goal, banged the hurleys off the railings and shouted. Fintan's missed some terrible easy frees it has to be said!

Now it wasn't vicious or nasty or anything like that - but they just did it naturally and without a second thought. My 7 year old (absolutely GAA mad) was asking me what was going on - he couldn't understand what they were doing. I could have let a roar at them - and was tempted to - and I am fairly sure they would have shrunk away without giving any lip. But I just didn't have the heart to.

Probably because I found the whole thing a bit sad.

Ah sure Northsiders