OUR MAN DECLAN BOGUE TAKES A LOOK AT THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL DURING THE PANDEMIC...
1. Paul Mescal. If ever there was a sign that we were starved of GAA action, that there was an actual discussion — however ironic — about how hard the goalkeeper was trying in the action sequences of ‘Normal People’ was a tipping point.
The Kildare actor (below) brought Gaelic football into the life of former Communard and now Vicar Richard Coles with the television adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel and was the subject of some old-fashioned objectification for a couple of months. Strange days indeed.
2. Social distancing. Yes, we are meant to be standing a metre or two from each other. But in parishes up and down the island every week, crowds huddle together to watch young healthy men and women do close-quarters combat. Still can’t figure that one out.
3. Covid Officer. Is this still even a thing? Are there club volunteers still running around after players, harassing them to fill out questionnaires online and make sure their papers are all in order?
Who will be the first team captain to acknowledge the input of their Covid Officer as they make their stirring speech after winning a Championship?
4. Mickey Harte. In the past, Mickey has always shown up to competition launches and did his best for the promotion of the GAA.
Outside of that, he has been an articulate voice on all matters of Gaelic games for almost two decades now, never afraid to tackle thorny issues. But when coronavirus struck, he went into the bunker and nobody has heard a single public utterance. By strict letter of the law, this is the last year of his arrangement with the county board. Keep an eye on that over the winter.
5. The evolution of sports coverage in pandemic times.
Once live sport ground to a halt, there was a nationwide panic as sportswriters were forced to take a lucky dip into their imagination for features to fill the spaces.
We had the nostalgia era, before all the notable anniversaries were taken care of and the meat picked clean from the bones. Some columnists even diverted their fury from those who were stopping action on the GAA pitches to those who allowed it, all in the space of a week — and they got away with it too!
What we wouldn’t give for a manager to take a few cheap shots at a referee once more, or any cheap bellyaching. Our Dictaphones are poised to capture that sweet, sweet poison and turn it into something snappy for down the page.
6. Attendances at club training.
This is a huge one. Despite the negative feedback from the Club Players’ Association, which you might have felt was a reasonable barometer of appetite for a return to play, anecdotal evidence held that club training sessions had never been better attended in the first few weeks.
Clearly, a combination of being locked down along with the Strava 5k time craze had enough thinking that now they were getting into shape it was only a matter of time before they would reveal themselves as the second coming of Mick O’connell. A quick rummage in the attic for a pair of boots later, and lo! There they were, back on grass.
For some clubs, the numbers held up and they fielded Thirds teams. In others, several dreams died all over again.
7. Last Sunday, and the curious case of the missing All-ireland hurling final.
A friend found himself in transit around Dublin last Sunday and noticed that his young babies were asleep in the back. With an hour to kill, where else to head on All-ireland hurling final day but to Croke Park? Of course, when he got there, the seagulls weren’t even gripped by the usual electricity in the air.
The world has been laid low. The colour has drained from our lives.
8. The rise (and fall) of golf clubs.
At one point over lockdown, people would have done anything to stay out of the house for a period over their permitted exercise window. The ones playing by the rules, that is.
Some became so desperate that they signed up to local golf clubs as they were trialled as the first sports clubs to reopen.
Some clubs in Cavan reported as much as a 20% increase in membership, a level broadly measured across the board.
9. Live streaming. A development that was already well under way in recent seasons, it has now become a necessity with vastly restricted numbers — and in some cases banned altogether — of spectators. As you might expect, some have done it better than others with blue-chip companies coming on board as sponsors and high-quality commentary and analysis teams calling the action. Others have been a little more, how shall we say, ‘earthy’.
10. A Christmas All-ireland final.
Only as far back as late June, GAA Director-general Tom Ryan (left) enthused about the prospect of an All-ireland football final being played on Saturday, December 19 with a crowd of around 28,000 present.