Games we play aren’t just the obvious ones

Given the noses in the southwest which were put out of joint last Friday by Conor McCarthy’s piece in these pages, should we start with off-field competition?

McCarthy made the simple point last week that good teams in any sport seek to maximise their relationship with the referee, which seems more statement of fact than incendiary insult; we won’t get into the odd contradiction wherein people from a county priding itself on its cuteness get the hump when someone refers to its . . . cuteness.

Anyway, there are all sorts of other competitions which rumble along in the background of every championship summer, some of which don’t appear too closely connected to the sweeper system in hurling or long-range point-taking in Gaelic football.