Kieran Shannon: Beyond Blackrock, the GAA as a whole has taken its eye off the ball

When NPHET allowed up to 200 into games again, the GAA pretty much left it to those spectators themselves as to where and how they could watch the game inside the ground

The last thing we expected after they had thrilled a national audience was that they would so quickly enrage one. But so turbulent are these times we live in, that turned out to be the case with Blackrock hurling club this past Sunday evening.

Only hours after winning the most dramatic of finals to seal the most magnificent of county hurling championships, the Cork club went from heroes to villains by how they welcomed their first county title in 18 years back to Church Road.

Even one of its own sons, Simon Zebo, was disturbed and disappointed by the lack of social distancing observed by the large congregation that converged outside the club’s grounds.

‘Very proud of the result and No. 33 (but) beyond stupid celebrations. We got to be better than that,’ he tweeted less than a fortnight out from participating in a major final himself, for Racing 92.

Very proud of the result and No.33 🏆
Beyond stupid celebrations..
We got to be better than that ..

— Simon Zebo (@SimonZebo) October 5, 2020

By unwittingly providing social media with the GAA’s Berlin-Spanish Arch moment, what should have been one of the sweetest of county titles in the club’s proud and glorious history turned sour.

It’s a shame, for the 2020 Cork championships — like all county championships throughout the country and beyond — have been far more life-affirming than life-threatening.

It should not be forgotten in all the outcry of the past day or so that the GAA, like all forms of sport in recent months, has been great, not bad, for the public health and well being of the nation.

It’s just that at some point in the game the GAA itself became forgetful.

For all its good deeds and fine feats and diligent protocols of recent months — all those pre-training health questionnaires they’ve had us fill in on behalf of our kids to so they could get back out on that club field, getting over 70,000 through its Cúl Camps with only one Covid case, all those county championships it has provided for players, all those games it has streamed for its followers — the truth is that recently it was increasingly losing sight of the ball.

When in a pique of frustration and even hubris it singled out Dr Ronan Glynn by name on August 19 and challenged him to explain NPHET’s statement earlier that day, it was still as understandable as it was undiplomatic. 

So ambiguous and sudden was NPHET’s pronoucement to prohibit all spectators from all sporting events, it meant that for a 24-hour period parents thought they could not even attend their own child’s underage match; that particular evening my own daughter had a camogie match and as I waited in the car I remember thinking how odd it was that at that moment in time I could be almost anywhere else in the country — including a pub or restaurant — bar taking up a spot on the sideline of that field.

The following day some clarity and common sense was forthcoming; a parent could attend such underage games but as for all adult competition, no longer could 200 people be in attendance. At the time it seemed unnecessary. Surely if people socially distanced by ten, not just two metres, and wore face masks, 200 spectators could be accommodated in a county ground?

Unfortunately, when NPHET relaxed that regulation and allowed up to 200 into games again, the GAA pretty much left it to those spectators themselves as to where and how they could watch the game inside the ground.

The warning signs were there from the start. Three weekends ago watching one county hurling final on the television, it was disconcerting how many of the 200 allotted supporters were in close proximity to one another when they had a whole stadium to themselves. But no steward or official adequately intervened on the day and no statement or protocol was forthcoming from Croke Park or its Covid Advisory Group.

The same weekend there were striking on-field celebrations following Dungannan’s Tyrone county final victory and while some of the comments and commentary from a few Unionist politicians and Northern Irish media figures were opportunistic, some were valid too.

Arlene Foster, while acknowledging Dungannon’s achievement, tweeted how she was “deeply concerned” by the scenes and called for Ulster GAA to address the matter. Whatever about Ulster GAA though, the GAA as a whole did not, at least adequately, and as a consequence, another part of her tweet has proved to be prescient — “sport and health will be the losers”.

Another Ulster club that recently won silverware has reportedly had most of its panel test positive for Covid, prompting an outbreak in the community. And yet no stern public warning or guidelines were forthcoming from the GAA for its officials, stewards or general public. 

Stay apart. Spread around the ground or else you could spread Covid. Wear masks. And these are the protocols you should follow if your club happens to win the county. Be like Charleville, who held a virtual celebration on Facebook upon winning the senior ‘A’ Cork title, recognising they couldn’t have a parade or homecoming.

Unfortunately, in the absence of such leadership and initiative, we had other scenes in Cork this past week. A minor county football final with most of a team’s support congregated in the same part of a stand; then Blackrock supporters and members temporarily forgetting that this county title was won in 2020 and not 2019. 

We had it elsewhere too: the Dundalk goalkeeper, Gary Rogers, a proud Meath GAA man, took to social media to juxtaposition the social distancing and stewarding practised by the League of Ireland with that at the Meath county final.

GAA social distance v SSE Airtricity league social distance 👀 pic.twitter.com/9pd57aUYZn

— Gary Rogers (@1garyrogers) October 4, 2020

The GAA has been credited as getting out ahead of the game with its decision to postpone all club games but in truth Monday’s announcement was an attempt to make up some lost ground and save some face.

It still is in credit for what it has achieved this year. But like a team with a big lead, it got careless and complacent and let in a couple of sloppy goals that could prove very costly.

In all likelihood, it has lost its spectator privileges for the year and all the finance that goes with that.

So long as that’s all that’s lost.