Fairplayalways wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 1:57 am
Contrast that to the report in the midland tribune dated Saturday 9th April, another GAA reporter (name escapes me honestly) reported on Offalys Ladies Division 4 league final win over Limerick. The team were struggling at half time, and brought on a star player, whom management did not start as she was committed to camogie, at county, provincial and All Ireland level with success. The manager didnt start her due to her not being available for training/committed (call it whatever way you want - it amounts to the same thing) yet the Midland Tribune Reporter said that "common sense needs to prevail in these situations" as they (management were lucky in this game to be intouch with the star player who did contribute in no small way when introduced. So apparently if its another GAA code someone misses, ah sure thats ok, but if its anything else your goosed.
I'm just going to come back in on this point, since I was the reporter covering the LGFA league final.
Obviously, first and foremost, myself and Kevin Corrigan have different views on a lot of things, and it's up to readers to take those views on board and then form their own opinion. He's a full time reporter on local sport, so am I, but there are plenty of people out there who spend just as much time involved in GAA as we do and their interest runs just as deep, so I would never claim my thoughts to be infallible, and I'm sure Kevin Corrigan would say the same.
With regard to the game above, the player was Mairéad Daly, and yes, I'm going to be honest and say that in gaelic games, I believe we should treat a player who has other commitments in hurling/football/camogie/handball very differently to a player who has other commitments in another sport, be it soccer, rugby, whatever.
Every player who takes to the field wearing an Offaly jersey is also a member of a club, and if that club was on an All-Ireland run, then every player would commit to their club first and foremost. By committing to St. Rynagh's, or Birr, or Tullamore, you're not saying that Offaly matters less to you, you're saying that this is my club that has a chance to do something remarkable, and I'm going to serve the club that is the place where I first hit a ball, and where I'll retire.
In 2013, Kilcormac-Killoughey lost an All-Ireland club final, and a week later Offaly played Limerick in a crucial league game in OCP. Ciarán Slevin and Conor Mahon both started for Offaly, Ger Healion came off the bench, and nobody in that dressing room would have said the lads were any less committed to Offaly because they weren't there for the previous couple of months.
Offaly didn't beat Limerick in 2013, but they did a few weeks ago in Birr, and Mairéad Daly was a huge part of that. Given what every football supporter in Offaly knows about her and what she can do, it made no sense to leave her off the starting team, while (for example) starting one player who THE PREVIOUS DAY had played in an All-Ireland schools final, and who is a minor with a long future ahead of her.
But as for the core point - yes, completely, we are all part of an association that seeks to promote gaelic games. We can talk all we like about how dual culture is unsustainable, and more and more, it is - but there are gaelic games, and there are other games, and to me it's obvious that the GAA/LGFA/Camogie Association should give complete respect to gaelic games at the expense of other sports.
With regard to the four young lads, I don't mind saying that a development panel is different to a championship minor or senior panel. The key is in the name - development. If there are players that are spreading their effort across a number of different sports, then there is a strong case in my opinion for giving the slot on the development panel to someone who is completely committed to gaelic football, and who will benefit more from it. It's not about getting your best team on the field all the time, and particularly when you consider that the four lads in question will still be playing away with two very good clubs in Edenderry and Rhode, it's not as if they're going to be deprived of good football coaching.
I also feel that if they were selected for the panel with their soccer commitments explained from the start, then maybe the thing to do might have been to leave them on the panel, but not to select them for the next game or two. However I'm not giving my time and energy to an Offaly underage panel right now, so it's not my call to make.
I will say this though. There have been a couple of very loud voices on this, and in some cases, I would be extremely annoyed at the irresponsibility of the people involved. Right to reply is very important in reporting, and there's more to that than simply saying that Offaly GAA are allowed to comment. It would have been impossible for Offaly GAA to issue any statement defending their decision and explaining their side without being seen to blame or even vilify the young lads in question, and quite rightly, they didn't engage on that basis. No-one here knows on what terms the management agreed to select these young lads for this panel. Maybe it's not their first offence, maybe there's a rule (as there is in a lot of panels) that there is an agreed mechanism to explain an absence, usually picking up the phone and talking, while the way they communicated that they weren't going to show up at training was a text, or a thumbs down in a whatsapp group.
I'm not saying any of these things happened, I'm merely saying that if there are mitigating factors, Offaly GAA can't be seen to point them out, and a little bit more balance from some of the media professionals that highlighted this story might have been worthwhile.