Hurling supremo to focus on club game
That's the view of former Tipperary player Paudie Butler, whose appointment as National Hurling Coordinator yesterday in Croke Park marked the final days of Sean Kelly's presidency.
The fact of hurling being played "at a world-class level" for three or four Sundays in the year was what gave the game "it's fierce attractiveness", said Mr Butler. But he claimed this could also be the thing that cuts them off from their club base.
A primary school principal in his native Drom-Inch, his aim over a five or six-year period will be to get 12 teams up to McCarthy Cup level.
"The golden era when Offaly and Wexford and Clare lit up the whole thing and broadened up the number of counties who could win the McCarthy Cup is just closed," he said.
"You can feel the hunger and the hankering for that era to return.
"People get scared when Cork, and Kilkenny and Tipperary begin to win all the All-Irelands like they used to before, but somebody is going to come. A Limerick or a Waterford are going to come and light up the scene. And wouldn't be wonderful if Laois or Dublin could make a challenge for it? I think that with sustained help and expert coaching, that can be done.
"The strong counties are still very strong but within those counties they will all tell you there are pockets that are not punching their weight. And those counties have concerns for those areas. I have had more phone calls from Cork than all the weak counties together since news of my appointment broke.'' Players over 20/21 should be able to look forward to summer seasons for that decade of their careers, he argues.
"It's in all our interests to ensure that they are guaranteed matches in July, August and September.
"The house will fall in sooner or later if we keep going the way we are. It's unsustainable and it's not in the interest of the game,'' he insisted.
It was a big worry, too, he said, that extremely talented 17 and 18-year-olds could be "tired and washed up" by the time they got to age 20 or 21 the stage when they should be beginning to enjoy themselves.
One possible solution would be to prevent these players from taking part in as many grades as they can at the present time.
"When (Tipperary hurler) Eoin Kelly was 16, he played 55 games in the year and his pal who was the same age as him and going to the same school got two matches. That's the danger we are exposing the extremely talented players to. And an even bigger concern is that adults are denied games over the sake of a fixtures pile-up over this 17-year-old.''
Experience in other sports across the world proved that playing standards were commensurate with the standard of coaching in that game. His own philosophy is that if children receive top-class coaching, they stay with that game and they become expert at it.
"Somehow, that coaching inspires them or gives them the techniques where they can enjoy themselves. Hurling is different from bigger ball games, because it's that bit more difficult to learn and there's absolutely no enjoyment unless you can play it well. However, once a child hits the ball properly and gets the feel of the leather on the stick, that child is hooked forever.''
In terms of playing structures, he wants to see all-weather pitches in place at county and divisional level where players, especially those at college and university level can play in January "in summer conditions".
He said he was "absolutely thrilled" about the Christy Ring and Nickey Rackard Cup competitions, elaborating: "We want to see hurling in Croke Park as a real decent ambition for every county in Ireland. We had it last year with London and Louth and we had it with Westmeath and Down and we'll have it again this year. I have seen the ambition in the Kerry squad. Every other year they would be finished more or less by now. The young hurlers coming up in Kerry who have been well tutored at minor and under-16 level now have something serious to aim for, a big day in Croke Park. What Sean (Kelly) has done won't be appreciated for another decade.''
The president pointed out that the various projects undertaken during his term were a response to concerns that hurling was declining gradually and that it needed surgery badly. "We have the games structure at national level and now we have the project structure,'' Mr Kelly commented.
"Hopefully hurling will thrive again all over the country, particularly in areas where it has been strong and areas were there is a 'grá' for it and it can be sustained.''
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