GAA should play the numbers game
As Watt revealed on his Instagram account (@justinjames99), the good people in Guinness brewed a special batch of stout in his honour, naming it “99” after his Houston Texans’ jersey number.
A phenomenal athlete, the number has become synonymous with the 26-year-old so much so that it has become part of his brand.
There are a couple of stories behind its origin — his fondness for ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky who wore 99, his terrorising of a quarter-back who sported the No9 in his adolescent years — but as a defensive end player he would have had to chose a number between 50 and 59, 60 and 69, 70 and 79 and 90 and 99.
Not exactly a limited pick.
From a positional aspect, the figure on Watt’s back is virtually arbitrary.
It has more to do with identity than anything else and how he has made it his own in turn earning plenty of greenbacks — in 2015 he signed a six-year deal with the Texans worth $100 million.
If truthful, the GAA might accept the significance of jersey numbers as positional indicators are just as weak if not weaker than American football.
Playing players “out of position” is no longer a phenomenon but a practice.
In Division 1 the weekend before last, notwithstanding sweepers, 50 of the 120 starting players lined out in a position that didn’t correspond to their jersey.
Before anyone suggests that upheaval had more to do with the time of year than anything else, in the last round of last year’s Division 1, with plenty more at stake, it was 58 of 120.
Still not convinced? In the four All-Ireland semi-final and final games in 2015, 46 of 80 players began the matches in roles not aligned with the figure on their back.
As a game with stronger traditional ties, hurling has been slower to embrace such changes but that’s not to say it isn’t in the process of doing so.
For instance, there were more than double the number adjustments in last year’s hurling final (Kilkenny 2, Galway 7) than there were in the football game (Dublin 2, Kerry 2).
Waterford have been the standard bearers with a squad number policy. Based on Sunday, it appears Maurice Shanahan will wear the No21 jersey for the second season running.
Justin McCarthy in his day was fond of making a mockery of a match programme’s accuracy in an attempt to hoodwink the opposition.
Derek McGrath’s reasoning for the system is more straightforward.
“We don’t pick the team until Wednesday or Thursday night,” he explained before last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
“There are new rules there this year that the team has to be there at Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock. Technically, our 26 are supposed to be in on Tuesday night. We don’t pick the team (then), we just pick the 26 and see how will fellas be after Tuesday night’s training on Wednesday or Thursday. The 1 to 15 doesn’t allow for that.
“That’s not looking for excuses. We’ve been operating a policy whereby a fella has a set number and just does with that.
"I know people mightn’t like it; it’s not a traditionalist’s approach but it’s our way of doing it in management.”
For superstitious players, it’s also a blessing but then as McGrath acknowledges: “The way the game has gone in terms of positioning I think doesn’t mean a huge amount.”
His views are shared in football by Jim Gavin who has indicated squad numbers may be a consideration for Dublin in the future:
“I think it has merit. For the supporters, it might make things a little clearer with the game-day panel because it’s not just about the game-day panel any more as it was in the 80s and even 90s and it’s something we might look at in the future.”
If jersey numbers are now only for purposes of distinguishing one player from another, the GAA are missing a trick by not enriching the area as a marketing vehicle, particularly in hurling where the identity crisis predates the mandatory wearing of helmets.
Last year, the Hurling 2020 committee proposed that each player would be allocated a number for the championship.
“The player would then keep that number for the remainder of the championship, helping supporters to associate the number with the player as the more successful team’s progress.
Along with assisting with the identification of our top players, it would also add a new promotional vehicle as supporters — young and old — would seek to get their favourite player’s jersey, complete with their squad number.”
Nobody is looking for numbers to be retired or anything like that.
The “wear a jersey, pass it on” rite of a club or county player is something that the sport should never lose.
The humble and dignified manner in which Kilkenny players have stepped away from the inter-county game is an example to all.
Assigning them a number for a season or maybe even a career isn’t going to swell their heads. Names are good but names and numbers are better.
Just ask Watt. If you can’t, there’s always Guinness, the company that as a sponsor did more than any other to promote the hurling championship.
February is no time to be drawing conclusions about the fate of teams, not least when the evidence provided is as flimsy as the first round of Division 1A.
Last year, two of the three teams that lost on the opening weekend picked up two points from their next outing.
In 2014, all three round one losers were round two victors.
Two years ago, all six counties had lost their 100% records by the second game.
Cork, Dublin and Kilkenny may be propping up the group at present but all three will enjoy home advantage next weekend.
Given their recent records at Páirc Uí Rinn, Parnell Park, and Nowlan Park, they will fancy themselves to bounce back.
In the context of how dismal they were in losing last year’s All-Ireland quarter-finals, it would be easier to read more into Cork and Dublin’s latest defeats than Kilkenny’s flat performance in Walsh Park.
And if one were to contrast Cork and Dublin’s losses, the latter’s was the more disappointing given they had started with close to what might be terms their strongest team.
There are genuine worries about the lack of fresh faces in the Cork group.
But, in a month when lambs can so easily become lions, the wisest counsel is to reserve judgement.
It will be some time before Clonmel Commercials stop kicking themselves but they showed enough in Portlaoise on Saturday to indicate they will return to the All-Ireland Club semi-final stage in the near future.
How quickly they recover from this setback will involve avoiding the temptation to be the hard luck story. Some can point to question of Paul Durcan carrying the ball over the goal-line (there doesn’t appear to be conclusive proof that he did), Michael Quinlivan’s black card (a borderline call but Barry Cassidy was given enough cause to show it) and the replacement of Ballyboden’s red carded midfielder Declan O’Mahoney in additional time.
Three points up when O’Mahoney was sent to the line, they have nobody to blame but themselves for not seeing out a win.
However, that Ballyboden were able to return to their full complement of 15 players in extra-time again highlighted the inconsistency of the rule. If, as we are told, extra-time is a new game, then black and yellow cards should not carry into the two additional 10-minute periods.
But they do.
Why the GAA has yet to address a rule that contradicts fair play is as much a mystery as their failure to deal with the blood substitution loophole.
Heaven knows a proposal to change it is more worthy of debate at Congress than several of the motions listed for Saturday week.
