Super 11s hurling raising concerns in States
But truth be told, there are some minor misgivings within the US GAA scene about the initiative.
No one’s slamming anyone, no big deal. There are, however, territorial sensitivities on the one side and a relentless desire to find a new audience for hurling on the other. They both ultimately want the same thing, in other words.
And so yes, the goals-only model is a little jarring and maybe it’s a little too close to lacrosse for those tireless advocates of the game Stateside who are trying to lure in the hand-eye specialists of other sports.
But the GPA especially would argue that whatever impact Super 11s has on how beginners understand and view the game, the greater good is served by greater exposure.
“We’re trying to generate a new and influential audience for the intercounty game,” head of communications at the GPA, Sean Potts, said yesterday ahead of today’s departure for Chicago where there will be a training session tomorrow morning and interaction with the Windy City’s GAA folks as well as others in the Irish community.
Sadly, it is fair to say that many at the North American County Board have felt a little sidelined throughout this whole process, complaining there was no advance notice while one official at the NACB noted it was through “bush telegraph” that they found out.
The GPA, for their part, have expressed in no uncertain terms that they did not feel the need to seek permission for the event.
“We don’t want to be insulting of course,” said Potts, “but I’m at a loss to understand why they would be so irked. We have put a lot of effort into setting this up. We see it as a platform to exhibit the intercounty game and we’re hoping there will be a trickle down effect from it eventually.”
Eamonn Gormley founded the California Collegiate GAA and subsequently the National Collegiate GAA in 2009.
The Armagh native, who works in Silicon Valley, has been a tireless GAA representative on the west coast, also launching college GAA at the Universities of Cal Berkley and Stanford.
But he won’t be making the effort to head to South Bend, Indiana on Saturday.
“I was a bit taken aback when I first saw the news report about this event because it just appeared out of the blue,” Gormley said.
“No one seemed to have spoken to anyone involved in the GAA in America. They created a game that would be suitable for America without speaking to anyone with any experience over here.
“We’ve been promoting the game here for decades. Gaelic games were being played in America since before there was a GAA.
“I’d like to think that at this point we would have a very good idea about what works and what doesn’t work here.
“You don’t need to change the fundamental elements of the sport. When you take out the scoring system, points and goals, you create a fundamentally different sport and that essentially undermines what we’re doing here.
“We have it difficult enough to educate the American public about one game and now along comes this second game. I don’t think you need to make as radical change to the game as eliminating points.
“We make slight adjustments to our games here. We have smaller sided games, we have deviations from the rule book in terms of certain technical things like suspensions which are shorter to take account of the shorter season. But we don’t tinker with the fundamental core of the game.”
Having worked in Silicon Valley for over a decade, Gormley is supremely conscious of the power of the internet and how quickly it catalyses and distorts.
You may have even seen his short YouTube video “Hurling — the Fastest Game on Grass” — almost a million views have been racked up on it.
His fear is that a different format of the game will lead to confusion for the curious online audience, the undeniable future of how the game should look to spread in the coming years. “I wouldn’t be one of those that believe you have to born with a stick in your hand in particular regions of Ireland. That’s just nonsense.
“What I will say is that it’s probably well-intentioned but it would have been a lot better if the GAA had consulted with people on the ground here.
“With all due respect to the GAA and GPA, they don’t live here and we do. We know what works here and what doesn’t. They should have spoken to us.”
*johnwriordan@gmail.com Twitter: JohnWRiordan
