A rude awakening for anyone with a love of our games

THIS TIME of crisis is a chance to show the true value of our G.A.A. On the night before the shutdown was announced, I attended the beautifully laid-out Oulart-The Ballagh pitch, now adorned by a new stand for several hundred supporters, which provided some comfort on a rain-lashed, windswept evening, but it also brought home the importance of the local club to the youth of the parish.

For those present, having witnessed the home side’s comprehensive victory over Cloughbawn in the All-County Hurling League, one could see potential stars of the future in the making, as they took hurl and ball to the hurling walls provided under experienced supervision.

These facilities mean so much to the people of Oulart-The Ballagh, particularly the youth, while across the road is a clubhouse, a second pitch, and walking track.

These have all since been taken away, temporarily, but the absence of the floodlit facilities is an even greater loss to the youth, even with the evenings lengthening and the hours of daylight increasing.

Everything in their life revolved around an evening down in the club grounds, since all these youngsters ever wanted to do is to play hurling. This is the scene throughout the country, with the gates of club grounds padded down with locks, under direct instructions from Croke Park, as the country still tries to combat the dreaded coronavirus.

Some of the practices built within the G.A.A. over the last 15 years have been for the betterment of youth. Children don’t play hurling and football in the street in the same way past generations did. They don’t gather up in gangs after school and go to the pitch and hurl or kick about for hours.

The culture of young men keeping themselves fit and healthy through Gaelic games, whether that’s in the gym or on the field, has become an incredibly important part of Irish society.

But it also led to an even greater degree of the physical and mental well-being of young people being wrapped up almost exclusively in sport. Their social circle, their physical exercise, the sense of friendship and togetherness and community - for young players, all of that is supplied by the G.A.A.

That is particularly true for inter-county players, whose sense of duty and commitment to the jersey is unparalleled in any sport the world over.

Given where the country and world is at the moment, every player, club and inter-county, has been deprived of games and training, which is set to continue over the coming weeks and months.

Managers have nothing to manage. Fans have nobody to support, nothing to discuss in their Monday morning conversation - yellow cards, black cards, square ball, or the change the manager should have made. That’s all gone, and gone for the foreseeable future. We’ve certainly had a rude awakening. All of us.

For the first time in more than 50 years covering games, I have been left stunned and lonely, with no matches whether on a week evening or at the weekend.

Let them be under-age, Junior or Senior, they brought the same enjoyment to me. Games have been postponed indefinitely, leaving one to reflect back on videos and recordings of games past.

Some brought pleasant memories, while others still brought disappointment even twelve years later. I mention that timeframe specifically because it was in 2008 when one enjoyed the exploits of the Wexford Senior footballers, culminating in an All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Tyrone.

There’s no doubt about it, sport moves on, but one thought struck me. To see the purple and gold play so heroically against the ‘big ball’ counties, matching them with some brilliant football, warmed one’s heart, until the reality of where the game is in the county today suddenly struck. That’s something I’ll re-visit next week.

But for the moment one does not know when the world, let alone the G.A.A., will re-start. It may be too late for a full inter-county championship, if there’s one at all. The club championship is also on the back burner. Sport is the pillar of Irish society that feels more shoulders leaning against it than any other.

It’s been an intoxicant that’s been a constant in all of our lives, and you don’t realise how addictive it is. Without its presence, what else is there?