McGee: Donegal didn’t spark review body
McGee stressed he didn’t want to be critical of the new All-Ireland winning manager. However, he dismissed McGuinness’s claim that the forgettable game was the basis for their formation.
“That match had nothing to do with it,” stressed McGee. “One match wouldn’t have the slightest bearing on what we are doing.
“I’ve always made the point that trends come and trends go. This man (McGuinness) was seen as a pariah last year. I criticised him and every other journalist seemed to as well and now he’s a hero because his team have changed.
“The same was said with the hand-pass in the 70s; that the sun would never rise the next day and that it was the end of the world. It wasn’t.
“All these styles come and go and this one (Donegal’s) was very dramatic because of the extreme form of defence.
“But you wouldn’t recognise Donegal now if you were to compare them to that. You wouldn’t say it’s the same manager and players because the whole thing has evolved. In five or 10 years’ time, people will not know what mass defence is.
“That game caught the imagination because it was so sensational. Implying that what is being done is to counteract what happened with him is not the case at all.”
McGuinness said it was comments by FRC member Declan Darcy that made him believe Donegal’s style last year had compelled the GAA to embark on reviewing the game as a whole.
On Monday, he said: “I was listening to the radio one day coming home from one of the qualifiers and I think it was Declan Darcy on the radio and he made the comment that the review was set up on foot of our game with Dublin last year.
“It was a wee bit staggering, to be honest with you, that a whole consultation process at national level could be based on one game.”
McGee emphasised that the FRC wouldn’t be so foolish as to place so much store in a single game.
“All the things we are doing are not related to him at all. We’re looking at standard things that people want, like a countdown clock.
“The president (Liam O’Neill) made it clear that football wasn’t in trouble but wanted to see if there were ways to make it better.
“Anyone who knows football knows it changes quite quickly. He (McGuinness) will have a totally different operation in a couple of years to what he had last year.
“Managers can say strange things and he’s entitled to say strange things the morning after an All-Ireland final so I wouldn’t criticise him.
“But we’re taking a much wider perspective than he is suggesting. We want people happier going to matches.
“We’re not looking for Einstein stuff. If the Championship changes, then naturally it will be major but we’re concerned with the views of people who go to games nearly every week.”
McGee refused to comment on McGuinness’s idea of transforming the All-Ireland championship and bringing back the provinces to spring until he hears a more detailed explanation of the system proposed by the Glenties man.
He may get such an opportunity next week, or the week after, when the FRC tour the 32 counties over the course of two weekends as they complete their findings.
“We’re meeting 10 people from each county, people who are at the coalface at Gaelic football,” revealed McGee.
“There’ll be an inter-county manager, not necessarily at senior level, club players, intermediate club players and one county officer.
“So that’s 320 or so people we’ll be meeting and they will be the ultimate test of what we have received so far.
“We will give them the views that have been articulated on the big matters in the questionnaires and emails.
“We couldn’t come out with a document based on emails and questionnaires. We need to hear what they want. That’ll be the single most important item of the process. We want to get the represented view of those who are up to their necks in football.”
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