As the light declines, remember the rare auld times

THEY remembered better days in the Guinness storehouse on Wednesday night, the rare auld times as they say in Dublin.

As Dublin GAA tries to untangle another fine mess they have got themselves into, the team of the ’70s reunited yet again.

Of course, part of the problem lies in the great team of the ’70s. They are the spectre that haunts every unsuccessful season in the capital, the standard against which every Dublin team is measured.

The release of Brian O’Flaherty’s fine documentary The Dubs in the Rare Auld Times will launch another flood of memories of the team that made Gaelic fashionable.

Certainly, their fashion sense remains. As the older version of the team chatted on Wednesday night, one was struck by the dapper and swagger that has followed this team into their 50s.

Tony Hanahoe, the spiritual leader on the field and one of the most dapper of them all, agreed they were all looking well, even if “when we took to the field playing for Dublin in the ’70s, you stood up and stuck out your chest”.

“Now it is a case of standing up and pulling in your belly.”

The DVD is likely to be under many Christmas trees in the capital and beyond. When GAA President Sean Kelly spoke at the launch about a team that captured the national imagination, he wasn’t wrong.

Ireland in the 1970s was a foreign place, and they mightn’t have been ready for the Gaelic football explosion engendered by this Dublin team. That golden age has cast a dark shadow over the capital that present-day footballers can’t escape.

Conspicuous by his absence on Wednesday night was Dublin county board chairman John Bailey. Unsurprising, considering Brian Mullins was there, but it summed up the current crisis in Dublin football.

“Hopefully, we can get our mess sorted out and the real team can be back where they belong,” Hanahoe said.

Thing is, Dublin were fortunate in the 1970s that a group of talented athletes came together and defined an era.

David Hickey understands the difficulties caused by this shadow.

“I feel sorry for the young fellas coming up, they have to listen to a lot about this team.

“But it was the same in the ’70s, we had to listen about the great team of the ’50s. It’s over, it is 30 years since our first All-Ireland and I think with a little bit of luck, there will be an All-Ireland soon because there is a lot of talent in the county, they just need the right men to motivate them.”

While the Dublin team were groundbreaking in the 1970s, they remain a tight bunch. They have discovered success in all walks of life.

“It is unusual,” Hickey says.

“We are a very disparate group, we are involved in different walks of life. Ultimately, that was the strength of our team, it was a social movement to some extent, we enjoyed our football and enjoyed our lives together.

“None of them are starving. Most of the team have been successful outside the GAA. But that showed you the strength of this team, we were a group of strong characters who came together for eight years.”

And the night went on, with Dublin revelling in their greatest team as their present players wait for the county board to untangle the mess.

So Dubs can start dreaming again of the rare auld times.