Coverage of games vital to Irish diaspora
He outlined the grave situation that state is in economically but said that their can-do mentality was both noticeable and praiseworthy.
He suggested a similar approach for Ireland before finishing by telling us that his immediate worry was to find a place in San Francisco to watch the big match between his native Waterford and All-Ireland champions, Kilkenny.
He shouldn’t have had much trouble. The Irish Club centre is one such spot. I was in San Francisco as chairman of the overseas committee in 2001. Kerry were playing Meath in Croke Park in the All-Ireland semi-final. The only problem was that, with the time difference, the matches started at 6.30am in the morning. That particular Meath v Kerry game is one neither I nor any Kerry fan will forget. Meath hammered Kerry by 15 points and even in faraway San Francisco, it was disconcerting to see the Kerry fans streaming out of Croke Park with 15 minutes to go.
At least I was half way across the world. I was still dazed, though, and at a function that night I was asked to say a cúpla focail. I told my hosts I was after a bad dream that Kerry had been well beaten by Meath in Croke Park and that the match was played at 6.30am. The reason I knew it was only a dream was that All-Ireland semi-finals are not played at 6.30am in the morning and Kerry teams never get drubbed in Croke Park.
A few years later, I was back again in the wine county for the inter-continental games. These are games for boys and girls from U8 to U18 for teams from all over America, Canada and even England. It’s fantastic annual football feast and takes some organising. On this occasion I was President of the GAA and Cork were playing in the big match back home.
One of my hosts was an absolutely totally dedicated GAA fan, Rose O’Connor from North Kerry. Now, Rose is a wonderful lady, who calls a spade a spade. When it comes to support, she supports her own, club and county to the hilt.
She expects 100% effort from everybody and at times, when her team weren’t performing she has been known to enter the field at half-time and berate under-performing souls in no uncertain terms. For all that, though, she has a heart of gold. She had me at the Irish club headquarters in good time for an early breakfast before the game started.
As Uachtarán, I was asked to address the gaels before the telecast began. Cork were playing that day and in the course of my cúpla focail, I said that I would be supporting Cork in their game that afternoon as they were our neighbours and had some really fine players.
Then I added: “I’m sure most Kerry people will support Cork as well and I know that my good friend Rose O’Connor will certainly be shouting for them.” Not quite. Seeing red, she rose to her feet and interrupted my speech saying loudly – “indeed, I will not be shouting for Cork, I wouldn’t shout for them, etc, etc” and then she added “and Sean if you were any kind of a half decent Kerryman you wouldn’t be shouting for those Rebels either”.
Chastened, I quickly ended my few words.
Another great place to watch the game if in America is Terry Connaughton’s Bar in New York. Terry is a Roscommon man a former President of the New York Board. The Irish games are on there every Sunday of the season and a good American breakfast makes the occasion all the more enjoyable. And if you are in Chicago there is only one place to view the telecast – Gaelic Park itself, the finest Irish establishment anywhere in the world.
I mention all this against the backdrop of the demise of Setanta Sports, who had the overseas rights to live GAA coverage – and I wonder what is going to happen in the future? It will be important for the GAA to sit down and discuss the whole international coverage with the gaels abroad, who do so much on a voluntary basis, to spread the gaelic gospel throughout the world. Rose O’Connor would be a good person on that delegation. It’s important that the Diaspora have continued access to live coverage of our games and this must be factored into any negotiations in the future.
I hope Jim Power enjoyed the games from Croke Park; unlike Kerry in 2001, Waterford were not drubbed. Indeed, I’m sure Power and his compatriots were really proud of the great performance given by the Déise lads against what many consider the greatest team of all time.
