McGrath puts his career on hold for Déise
Teaching takes back seat as Déise boss McGrath eyes glory
DEREK McGRATH has revealed that he is putting in 60 hours a week as effectively a fulltime manager of the Waterford senior hurlers after taking parental leave from his teaching job for the rest of the school year. He is putting his career on hold to try guide Waterford to a first All-Ireland title since 1959. The English teacher at De La Salle College has been focusing solely on hurling since the start of February. ‘I’m finished till the end of the year,’ he explained. ‘Ironically I find myself working harder than ever at it, and we find ourselves in a fairly precarious position.’ He also took time off last April and May as Waterford came within a puck of a ball of securing back-to-back League titles before beating Clare in the Munster semifinal, and they need to beat Clare in Ennis on Sunday to be sure of avoiding a relegation play-off in Division 1A. ‘I just found I wasn’t committed to the teaching as I should have been, whilst I was in class. I felt the best scenario for me at the moment is just to be concentrating on the hurling. I’ve just found it difficult to be all or nothing in teaching, and all or nothing in management.’
DEREK McGRATH, full-time hurling manager. He knows how it sounds. By rights, he should be taking an English class in De La Salle College in Waterford city.
‘I love teaching,’ he stresses, by way of a disclaimer. Except, his love for hurling is all-consuming right now, prompting him to use up all the parental leave due to him so that he doesn’t have to be back to school til the new year starts in September.
All so that he can channel his energies into trying to make the county senior hurling team realise its potential.
‘I love the school I’m teaching in because I went there myself. And four of the six backs playing for Waterford went there too. And Austin [Gleeson] too. So I’ve a job in October 2013 has been eyeopening, referencing Tipperary’s 2010 All-Ireland winning manager Liam Sheedy.
‘I think he talked about the number of hours involved, I remember reading a headline “Liam Sheedy points to 60 hours a week” or whatever it was involved. He’s a big job in Bank of Ireland finance, I think, and I just remember saying to myself, “I’m not sure would it be that amount of time involved.”
‘When you were looking at it from the outside at that stage you were questioning is there that amount of time involved, is it that consuming, etc. I think that’s the way it’s gone. It’s trying to deal with it in a manner that does consume your whole life, that’s hard.’
The way the game is going, the players are following a similar path, making career choices to suit the exacting demands of the modern game.
‘People will say you’re in the ideal job for it. Like, even I was talking to Austin [Gleeson, Hurler of the Year] this morning about doing the HDip in two years if he wanted. I’d say we have 14 teachers in our panel and most of them are saying that’s the only thing I’m interested in doing because it frees you up for the summer, three months off. It depends on your own personality. I have found it difficult to be all or nothing in teaching, and all or nothing in management.’
That leads on to the issue then of whether managers should be paid, given the hours involved. McGrath feels that guidelines on allowable expenses would help.
‘I’m not sure should I say they should be paid or not but I think in terms of if you wanted to clear up any pub talk, if you like...if there was a definite stance on this is what’s happening and this is what’s involved, managers are
entitled to 50 cent a mile as opposed to the players’ 62 cent a mile. Make it so there’s no ambiguity to it.
‘I think it’s something that’d be welcomed in society in general as opposed to the classic club AGM where the expenses come up and “what was that for?” and you have the growlings and grumblings from the floor as regards who got that and where did they get that, etc. Probably a bit of clarity on that would be a help — it’d be a step in the right direction.’
Always engaging, his capacity to think outside the box has seen Waterford redefine the traditional limits of the game with a brilliantly constructed system of play that has taken them to a League title in 2015 and viable All-Ireland contenders.
Looking down the line though, he doesn’t see the GAA abandoning its amateur ethos, or a form of professionalism being the natural next step.
‘Whether I agree with it or not, I’m not sure. I don’t think it will be the next step. I don’t think it will ever happen.
‘The negotiations between the GAA and GPA which has resulted in a relatively good deal for the players will, for now, certainly ease any move towards semi-professionalism or professionalism.
‘That relationship is a good relationship. It’s steadfastly improved where things are going, albeit it annoys some people that feel that, “Jesus, the players are being too well looked after.”
‘It’s the classic argument between people who are proplayer or anti-player, or anti-GPA anyway.’
With over €23million being spent in 2016 on inter-county team expenses, he doesn’t see a cap on spending — one director general Páraic Duffy didn’t discount recently — as practical.
‘It’s very difficult to equate all the finances and say, “We’re going to have a general cut-off. From now on, hurling spend has to be €250,000 a year for each team.” Because then I think there’ll be more black market activity or there’ll be more donations; there’ll be more political manoeuvrings behind the scenes. I don’t think the cut-off point as to what is allowed to be spent will work.
‘I think there’ll be a concerted effort by the GAA and by boards, not to cap it, but to not leave it go too far. I don’t think there’ll be year after year where it’s up by hundreds of thousands. It’s reaching its saturation point soon in terms of where it’s going.’
His own decision to put his career on hold to further Waterford’s cause just shows how all-consuming the modern game is becoming.