Integrity of three competitions has been compromised
WHEN the integrity of a competition is compromised, what is left? Liam Kearns is right. His Tipperary senior football team have been ‘thrown under the bus’ with the decision by the Munster Council to fix their provincial semi-final just seven days after an opening round fixture against Waterford.
‘It’s an absolute disgrace and that won’t change whatever happens out here next Saturday night,’ said Kearns (right). ‘A year’s planning and with the stroke of a pen they put it all into jeopardy. I’m over 20 years a manager with counties and club, and that decision is one of the worst I’ve been involved with.’
A year’s planning doesn’t even cover it. Tipperary have been building to this point from the moment they unveiled a blueprint for success, a visionary strategic plan that targeted an All Ireland senior football title in 2020, to echo with the 100-year anniversary of their last All-Ireland in that code.
A first Munster title since 1935 was part of that bold ambition.
In the intervening years, the province has been the equivalent of a Private Members Club, where those of a Kerry or Cork association sip brandy and chomp on cigars, talking about the good old days in Killarney or Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Outside, anyone in a Tipperary, Clare, Limerick or Waterford jersey is turned away.
Rigging the draw to maintain that exclusive club fed into that. Seeding Kerry and Cork to try and protect the glamour of Munster final day, not to mention a vital money-spinner — through a certain prism, the logic of the Munster Council was compelling.
It took a chairman, GAA presidential candidate and proud Clare man Noel Walsh to rage against the machine until an open draw came to pass. For a time. But this latest debacle suggests old habits die hard.
The match was originally scheduled for two weekends’ time only to be moved to avoid a clash with the Munster SHC round-robin and then re-fixed for a potential seven-day turnaround against Tipperary wishes.
The integrity of a competition is sacrosanct. That’s why, even in the rich list social experiment that is the Premier League, the last round of a 38-match soccer schedule sees every team kick off at the same time.
Closer to home, it’s why the final round of the League comes with a Game of Thrones finale, when you know a major character is going to be killed off. That’s why Kevin McLaughlin’s right-foot point and the thud of boot on ball in Ballybofey was heard the country over, as the ramifications became clear: Mayo’s unbroken record in Division 1 was safe — and Donegal were down.
Yet the integrity of the National Football League as a whole was compromised when Croke Park refused to schedule the outstanding fixtures in Division 4 involving Waterford v Leitrim and Wicklow v Limerick.
The integrity of the Leinster SFC has long been compromised by the decision to put financial considerations first. Taking Wicklow’s home quarter-final from the 8,000 capacity of Aughrim and moving it to Portlaoise this Sunday, in part to accommodate Dublin’s long list of season-ticket holders who are promised free admission to their county’s first Championship match, is another case in point.
Two stars in Kerry football’s firmament put it bluntly. ‘What an opportunity lost,’ said Tomás Ó Sé. ‘It would do wonders for kids to see this Dublin team rock up to play in Wicklow.’
Pat Spillane was even more withering in his Sunday Game assessment. ‘Wicklow should be playing at home in Aughrim against Dublin, but for money it’s being moved elsewhere. The bottom line is that in the GAA, sadly at the moment, it’s about earning money… the strong are getting stronger and the weak are just being forgotten about.’
The integrity of the All-Ireland series has been compromised with a format for the Super 8s quarter-final round robin that effectively grants four-in-a-row chasing Dublin two home games in Croke Park.
The GAA need to own and organise their flagship competitions from start to finish in a coherent fashion where the integrity of the provincial and All-Ireland competitions is sacrosanct.
The integrity of a competition is not just something to be factored in — it is everything.
If a county is lucky enough to secure a home draw, then that means a home draw. Not one where the venue is dependent on the marketing muscle and financial clout of season-ticket holders. If a county wins a provincial title, then it is seeded in the following year’s draw. Or not. Once the same principle applies across the board. As things stand? The integrity of the Munster SFC has been compromised. The same with Leinster, and the All Ireland series.
Welcome to the big race.