GAA too self-congratulatory on progress as children still lack action

This week’s column is not about what transpired at the weekend in Thurles, or Croke Park, or Celtic Park either. The setting was one of the thousands of quiet fields that help make the GAA what it is; the event, an U10 camogie blitz featuring five or six neighbouring clubs, one of which my daughter plays for.

For those of you expecting to read of some major row erupting on the sideline, you’ll be disappointed. There were no pushy parents or mentors; any urgings were only to offer encouragement and positive reinforcement. After every game, the kids lined up to shake hands with the opposing club they just played. The mentors couldn’t have been more exemplary.

Yet from this vantage point, I couldn’t help but think such volunteers should be getting more help from the GAA. That as much as the GAA has progressed in how it rolls out its games at youth level with its Go-Games, it’s been a little too self- congratulatory.