It’s not about hurling for some... it’s about the love of a good time
“My teams lost
two finals and I never received
a nasty letter”
THE only thing that was shocking about the manner of Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s departure as Kerry manager last weekend were the expressions of shock in the first place.
An inter-county manager from a traditional county that is not winning enough big games being subjected to a bagful of anonymous poisonous letters is not shocking. Hell, it is not even surprising. It is just depressing.
That is the road we have been on for an age, one where the sport was taken out of our games and replaced by the win at all costs culture which has been embraced by all, county boards, managers, players and supporters.
It has been peddled as progress and yet it stinks of poison.
I don’t honestly know what would motivate another human being to pen a hateful letter simply because a sports team is not doing as well as they would like them to, except that those who do so are to be pitied.
It takes a dark and a desperate mind to confuse their actions for being a frank and reasonable response.
I am out of inter-county management a long time and it is weeks like this that make me thankful for that.
I was manager of a team that lost two All-Ireland finals in three years, but never once did I receive a nasty letter or had my ears reddened in public for any perceived short-comings.
I was hit with a county board missive of 20 questions alright, but I will give them the credit that they at least had the courage to send it on headed notepaper.
That is about all the credit I would give them, mind.
Now, had I lost those two finals in the last three years, what do you think the chances are that I would not have been receiving the kind of letters so toxic that the postman delivering them would have to be wearing protective gloves.
So what has changed? We have.
There is a whole myriad of reasons why the inter-county manager of today is seen in a different light to those that stood on the line in my time.
Back then, selling the idea that we were volunteers was a lot easier because that is just what we were.
Now, it is tinged with professionalism. The position has been stained by the brown envelope payments culture which came cap in hand with the normalisation of a manager, with no emotional ties to a county, coming in from the outside to take charge.
And that has since evolved to huge backroom teams, some of which are staffed by professional people who have to be paid the going rate.
Now Fitzmaurice and Michael Ryan — the latter may have left Tipperary last week in less traumatic circumstances but have no doubt he was also feeling pressure — as proud Kerry and Tipperary men respectively, could hardly be confused as mercenaries but the fact that some are taints everyone.
On top of that, we live in an age of instant gratification. We want everything and we want it now. Never mind that only one team can win an All-Ireland, it has to be ours or there will be hell to pay.
That is the problem with a win at all costs culture — reason is one of the first things to get torched.
I also believe people are invested in their county teams now in a different way but not necessarily in a better way. Life has become one big party and all people want is an invite. The Irish ladies hockey team went over to London without anyone bidding them farewell or offering to provide the kind of financial supports to make life easy and then they come home to a massive street party. Show us a bandwagon and we can’t help but jump on it. I see it here in Limerick right now; there is blue murder for All-Ireland final tickets but 12 months ago lads would laugh if you asked if they were going to watch Limerick. Now they want on board the train and one of the reasons is that if Limerick win, they can say that they were there at one of the biggest booze-fuelled parties that Limerick will every witness. And if someone goes and poops their party by losing, there will be hell to pay. This is not about love of hurling for a lot of people; it is about the love of a good time. There is also another more sinister force at play now. While I never got any abusive letters in my time, I did get ones wishing me good luck which made me shiver. I remember getting one from a gentleman, who proclaimed himself to be one of Limerick’s number one supporters and he had proof of
“We live in an age of instant gratification”
that love in the form of the £5,000 he placed on us to win one of those AllIreland finals.
That bet meant that he was a significant stake-holder in the game and he was free with his advice as to how the team should be picked.
You look at the betting culture now and it washes over every sport. The English football league started last weekend and half the teams are playing billboards for one betting company or another.
It is evident here too despite the fine leadership shown by Croke Park in banning such sponsorship that this disease is everywhere.
And when you have people getting their sporting kicks from winning money, then someone else has to get a kicking when they lose it.
So, yeah, there are a whole myriad of reasons why we have arrived at this place that good people are being showered with vitriol.
There are some daft enough out there who will excuse such behaviour on the grounds of unchecked passion.
If that is the case, it is not passion for the game or for sport.
It is driven by a selfishness that has nothing to do with the games we love and everything to do with sins that we hate.