The days of bosses dancing on sides of road are gone

WHILE driving home from Offaly training on the week of the 1982 All-ireland final, Eugene Mcgee listened as the Kerry team for the game was announced on the radio. The Offaly boss was worried about the influence Denis ‘Ogie’ Moran would wield from his customary centre-forward slot, but when he was named at left half-forward instead Mcgee celebrated wildly, to the point that he pulled in his car, got out and punched the air with delight. He was satisfied that Pat Fitzgerald, his right half-back, on Ogie was a much better matchup and centre-back Sean Lowry would cope more ably on Tom Spillane than Fitzgerald may. Moran was replaced at halftime and Kerry suffered a shock defeat. There was no innocence in Mcgee’s reaction because, back then, teams lined out exactly as they were named. That tradition is long gone, however. It was arguably first chipped away at in the 1997 All-ireland hurling final when Clare boss Ger Loughnane sold a dummy team, opting to name Niall Gilligan among the subs before telling him ahead of the throw-in that he would indeed be starting, an exercise in shielding a young player from the occasion. It appeared to work, with Gilligan hitting 0-3 as Clare won by the minimum and Loughnane continued to use the ploy. Fake teams are now widespread though slightly less prevalent for All-ireland finals given that both team line-ups are largely predictable on the back of a winning run to that stage, with less to be gained in terms of a tactical edge. However, neither of the lineups Mayo and Dublin issued ahead of last Sunday’s final were adhered to with one change each in personnel come throwin, while only about half of the outfield players lined out in the positions in which they were named. There are a number of different strands to this. Firstly, the media is essentially being misled by these announcements and by extension the public too when they consume them in print or broadcast form. The GAA went some way towards tackling the issue a few years back when managers were forced to submit a squad of 26 by the Thursday morning before a game but it’s only made a minimal difference. Waterford hurlers effectively had a squad number system in recent years and it’s time it was rolled out for all counties, with a matchday 26 released as soon as it is submitted. At least that list is binding by rule and there would be no ambiguity attached, as there is with team announcements now. Jim Gavin (left) can now make twice as many substitutions as Mcgee could and regularly finishes games with a stronger 15 than that which started. The squad is king, we are routinely told, so better to give it some status rather than holding onto a practice that is now a totally unnecessary PR own goal. Over the past couple of days 90 players have been unveiled as All-star nominees and even the correspondents who chose them would struggle to pick many of them out of a line-up, particularly hurlers given that they must wear helmets. By assigning squad numbers for an entire season it would give players a badly needed extra layer of recognisability. So would printing their names on the back of jerseys, as well as being shrewd from a marketing viewpoint for obvious reasons. The tradition of team announcements and the authentic discourse that once went with it has been replaced by fallacies and redundant reporting and speculation, so best to eliminate it altogether. The GAA should accept defeat on this matter and make the best of the scenario that prevails. The days of managers dancing jigs on hard shoulders are gone for good.