Real leadership needed now more than ever
The Allianz Football League will attract interest every week only to be forgotten once the white heat of the championship summer arrives.
However, the league will provide most players with the majority of their inter-county action for the year, so it’s a pity this game time could not hold a bit more relevance. The competition is well past its sell-by date but I’ve no doubt I’ll be well past mine by the time a better model is in place. Despite this, I’m buzzing ahead of our trip to Navan tonight and also a return to these pages to discuss and highlight issues in the GAA. Unsurprisingly, this year hasn’t taken long to throw up plenty of talking points to adequately quench the thirsty column inches.
To pay or not to pay? That has been the question on a lot of lips over the past two months, and it has made for interesting discussion if for no other reason than it vividly illustrates both the uniqueness of our association and Irish society.
First of all, I think adequate compensation to managers should be legitimised in some shape or form. At least then the GAA community can maintain some integrity about the whole issue. When you consider how society has reacted to the recent austerity measures, do we really believe managers and coaches that have been compensated for their time and efforts to date are just going to start doing it pro bono? Not likely.
Those who think the high standards expected by inter-county and club teams in today’s game can be sustained through pure volunteerism are not living in the real world — and I’ll be happy to debate this with anyone.
For the amateur ethos guardians out there, who see paying a manager or coach as an insult to our founding fathers, do they also include our full-time club, county and provincial administrators, medics and the underage school coaches in their debate?
If the aforementioned, along with the managers, are all to go, then can those same guardians please also suggest where we find a group of people to do all this work without suitable compensation, whilst trying to balance their professional and personal lives, and possibly a hefty mortgage on a negative equity house. Some counties and clubs of course will always have sufficient internal resources to fill vacancies with suitably qualified volunteers. But they are lucky. For those who have no other choice but to cast the net that bit wider, they should no longer be forced to operate in a black economy.
The GAA is presently at a crossroads when you consider the seemingly unending list of controversies and challenges it faces. At times like these we need strong leadership, absent of tired rhetoric, with a vision of not only where we want the association to go, but with a workable map to get us there. With his attempt to tackle the ‘Payments to Managers’ issue, Páraic Duffy has shown that he is one of the few people willing to stand up at a time when others persist in hiding behind a populist shield of hypocrisy.
In Ireland we have an uncanny ability to recognise a problem, understand how it can potentially be fixed, and yet discuss it ad nauseam. Through blind loyalty to tradition and, in many cases, blatant self-interest, we fail time and again to take the bold, or should that be inevitable, steps towards aligning our modern games with modern society. Leadership cannot be about pacifying the mob. You must be true to your convictions and recognise the need to evolve, all the while bringing everyone in the same direction. Leadership is acting with honesty and integrity, regardless of tradition and populism.
If the off-season hadn’t thrown up enough sparks of contention and controversy, my friend Seanie Johnston went and capped things off with a mushroom cloud when he declared his transfer intentions to Kildare. It’s clear the management have issues with Seanie and feel that their current U21 and minor heroes can backbone a Cavan revival, replacing those who failed to deliver senior success in recent years. The bottom line is, if this is all done by the book and both sides accept it, then it doesn’t matter a damn what anyone thinks. Rules are rules, and good luck to him and them. I do feel, however, that if this goes the distance, both sides will live to regret it.
Communication, or lack thereof, is generally at the heart of issues like these. I still count Seanie’s game-saving display when coming on as a sub against Wicklow in 2010 as one of the best performances I have ever witnessed, a sentiment also shared by Mick O’Dwyer. Val Andrews and company do not have 30 players better than Seanie Johnston. But if they feel good about going it without him, the rest of us may prepare for a verse or two of ‘The Gallant John Joe’ in the coming years as the Breffni men march onto domination. If that happens, Seanie mightn’t be the only one looking to flee south!
