It’s time to rethink how we see our GAA stars
NOT GIANTS, but men. We’ve always known that, but a masterful advertising slogan at the turn of the century exploited the expanding audience for the hurling championship.
Not men, but giants, according to Guinness. It was catchy ad-talk, but it built on the long-standing status enjoyed by GAA stars within their communities.
They were of us, but more than us. They were the elect.
In the quarter-century since that campaign ran, the profiles of the country’s best hurlers and footballers have been boosted by more matches on TV, the arrival of social media, and the advocacy of the GPA.
And as the global sports market has shrunk in that time, and the power of the Premier League has exploded, GAA heroes still hold their own.
But giants? No. Despite the reams of positive coverage, the ad campaigns, the days of operatic tension in sold-out stadia, and the support structures around county teams that cost a fortune, they remain humans, prey to the mistakes made by all of us.
And in some cases, like that of Kyle Hayes, they are capable of great wrong.
When that happens, their status neither condemns them nor protects them.
Hayes stood in the dock for a sentencing hearing on Wednesday on two charges of violent disorder, as a citizen.
Yet the complicated standing of big GAA names was evident during the trial, too, in particular when John Kiely appeared in person to give a character reference.
This attracted much commentary, and Kiely tried to explain why he did it. But what he did happens every day of the week.
Again, what was different here was the fame of some involved.
The benefits of being a big GAA figure, as Hayes is, have been clear for generations. The consequent boost to a man’s recognition can confer advantages in education and employment opportunities, and relatively lucrative commercial arrangements sometimes arise.
The obvious counter is that an increased profile attracts attention, whether the story is good or bad.
But it’s important to note that this is no tale of tall poppy syndrome – Hayes isn’t the victim here. He behaved disgracefully, and the notion that he suffered more because of who he is, is risible.
He committed a serious offence and was tried for it, and is now able to get on with his life with a suspended custodial sentence, and a requirement to pay the victim €10,000.
One of the more distasteful aspects of the affair, though, came with Kiely selecting him to play in a league game against Dublin last month. Limerick won easily in Croke Park, and the decision to pick Hayes, weeks out from his sentencing hearing, was extraordinary.
‘Never, never hesitated in picking him,’ was Kiely’s take on the night, before telling another interviewer that Hayes was selected ‘because he was fit and healthy to play’.
Given the circumstances, including the stark evidence in the trial of the injuries suffered by the victim, this felt like a tone-deaf decision.
There is an obnoxious strain of exceptionalism in the GAA. It runs through it like sap and has done since the games became popular and influential.
It manifested itself in the superspreader events during the pandemic that led to the cancellation of county finals, and in the unthinking arrogance behind the demand that the chief medical officer, the most besieged public servant in the country in 2020, explain his public health advice to Croke Park.
There are other examples, and it resonated in Hayes’ words to the victim on the night of the assault, when the multiple All-Ireland winner demanded: ‘Do you know who the f*** I am?’
His name is better known to those who aren’t fans of Gaelic games now too, as opinion on the case and its fall-out settles along predictably partisan lines.
Lives will resume, and Kiely was soon discussing Hayes’ fitness status and what comes next for him at the Munster championship launch on Thursday.
And the remorseless Limerick machine will soon be cranked to capacity, drawing admiration far and wide. They are winners, but they are human, too, capable of grave errors and serious misjudgements.
Adjusting how stars are viewed accordingly seems a sensible approach.
Just men, not giants.