Back-up gives the Dubs an uneven playing field
IN THE wake of Dublin’s fourth All-Ireland football title in six seasons, the photograph posted by the official Dublin GAA account congratulating the input of a backroom team that featured 23 people couldn’t fail to catch the eye. Added to that was the message sent out thanking all the sponsors, a list that makes for dizzying reading for any other county struggling to stay above water: AIG, Toyota, Britvic, Aer Lingus, Ballygowan, Benetti, Lifestyle Sports, ROS Nutrition, Gibson Hotel, Bavaria 0.0%.
And that wasn’t the biggest backroom team in Gaelic games this summer. The Clare hurling set-up numbered more than 30 under Davy Fitzgerald.
Where does it end? The role that money plays in the bid for All-Ireland titles is very real. It’s poles apart from my upbringing in the GAA where there was some semblance of a level playing field.
People tell me I’m wrong, that it’s still ultimately about talent. Perhaps. But to me, the financial divide often fuels the divide on the field.
If you take the Clare hurlers as an example, here was a very professional set up gone wrong.
You have the coach Paul Kinnerk back in his native Limerick. A great set of All-Ireland winning Under 21s, but who history shows don’t necessarily train through at senior level. And with Fitzgerald falling on his own sword in light of player unrest, how does the next management in follow that?
Anthony Daly was top of the list of potential successors until he pulled out on Friday but Brian Lohan is a very strong candidate in his own right. Like Daly, he is well respected. and has that mix of personality and steel. As does Tommy Dunne of Tipperary in a coaching capacity.
Straight away though, the pressure is on to be measured against such a professional set-up that was there before, even one that didn’t work out.
You are looking at a divided squad, too. A section of the dressing room is bound to be unhappy with the manner of Davy’s departure.
And what happens when the same money can’t be spent on the players in 2017? To me, the whole thing is spiralling out of control.
In a few years it will be blindingly obvious that it’s gone too far, that financial measures will have to be taken to redress the balance.
One solution would be to put a cap on spending. Other figures that have been floating around since Dublin’s win concern the active playing membership in each county and the spend per player when grants and coaching funding are factored in. And the figures are so weighted in Dublin’s favour.
I don’t think it’s as simple as saying we’re going to set the same limit per county. Appropriate criteria, whether it’s based on number of players or number of teams, need to decided and appropriate limits set.
Because in the midst of all of this, the club is the big loser.
When the backdoor system was introduced I said that the club game would suffer badly. When I was playing with Offaly, we were beaten in the first round of the Championship in 1991, 1992 and 1993 − in fact, we were gone by June in 1991.
The club then became our All-Ireland Championship. It was then that Birr came along and first made an impact on the All-Ireland Club Championship.
Now the club has suffered drastically. You have players training for the guts of 10 months with no championship match.
Meanwhile, more and more money is being pumped into county sides.
You can’t blame Dublin for running an ultra-professional set-up. They have brilliant full-time people such as John Costello who have helped take Gaelic games in the capital to another level.
And this is a great Dublin football team, full of great players.
I don’t have any anti-Dublin agenda. What I do care about is that we have a level playing field, no matter which county is winning.
I’m sure the Dublin players see it as a positive to have 23 or more members in their backroom team because they are being pushed to the limits of their ambition.
Players aren’t the ones to judge whether it’s right or wrong. If you’re asked to do something, you do. You feel you have to go with the flow.
But you see then what happens in Clare. When success doesn’t come, there a feeling of management having too much control. Players not being allowed go outside a zone on a pitch − that’s not what amateur sport is about to me.
My philosophy on hurling is very simple. It’s about players being able to win their own possession and using it well. Having the talent and letting it flow.
Brian Cody or Michael Ryan are not overly complicated in their approach with Kilkenny or Tipperary. And that has worked for them.
ONE FORMER inter-county manager examined the feasibility of using GPS tracking for training and matches but the funding simply wasn’t there like it is in the big-sponsor counties. And yet when he took over a big city club he found out they had been using it for years.
It’s very hard to cut back. That’s why it’s time for real leadership from the GAA and GPA. The players’ body have secured 15 per cent of the association’s commercial income. But the bigger picture has to be looked at.
There is an awful lot of idle talk of player burn out, yet what is being done to cut back on the level of training?
I was with Johnny Doyle at a breakfast fundraiser some time ago. Johnny explained how Kildare had been training in some respect nearly every day in January. But the Dubs were doing twice a day, before and after their players went to work or college. What’s driving all this is professional people involved in county teams. They are very confident and they buy-in. They are very good at what they do and are integrated into the county system.
When you look at the 23 person backroom staff in Dublin, there is a level of volunteerism of course.
Dublin have to be applauded for doing so much so well. The functionality of club, school and county and the financial model that underpins all the coaching on the ground clearly works brilliantly.
It just needs to be a fair model for every county.