Looking for a level playing pitch is not begrudgery
AN APPRECIATION of Dublin’s excellence can be found in the fevered arguments over the value of a five-in-a-row they have yet to win. Notwithstanding the improvement in Kerry and the excitement brought to Mayo by the return of James Horan, Dublin are well placed to become the first team to win five All-Ireland championships in a row.
The legacy that would result is already furiously contested, with accusations of a playing field queered towards the champions increasing.
The events of Congress multiplied them. And even Dublin’s truest blue is finding it hard to refute that allegation.
The decision to persist with a Super 8s structure that guarantees Dublin two games in Croke Park doubles down on a format that favours one county over their competitors. And that calls the integrity of the All-Ireland Football Championship into question.
No amount of Dublin righteousness or mealy-mouthed defences of the status quo from other counties obscures that fact. That is why if Dublin complete five-in-a-row next September, the achievement will be diluted for many.
There is another aspect to the relationship between the GAA and Dublin that should cause alarm, and it is the extent to which the association rely on one county for big attendances and bumper pay days.
Dublin are the biggest draw in the game, and the apparent need to accommodate as many of their fans as possible was one of the justifications used at Congress for leaving the Super 8s unequal.
The county’s CEO, John Costello, relied on their popularity in his defence of the prevailing system, and he claimed it would be a ‘public relations disaster’ for the GAA were Dublin forced to play a game in Parnell Park, leaving tens of thousands unable to attend.
This is an odd argument often pursued in this discussion, and it implies that disappointed supporters is a consequence to be avoided at all costs.
Every sport event worth its salt is over-subscribed. Disappointing some Dublin supporters for one match in a Championship series should not be treated as an injustice so monstrous it must be avoided, even at the cost of the integrity of the competition.
The motion Donegal put to Congress looking to correct the prevailing unfairness was not designed to cast Dublin out of Croke Park and into the pokiness of Parnell Park forever.
There were grumbles about the wording of the Donegal proposal, but addressing such an obvious anomaly in a competition, which grants one team two home matches and the other seven counties make do with one, should not fall on one unit of the GAA.
In bringing the motion, Donegal laid themselves vulnerable to the charge from Costello that it was ‘divisive and mean-spirited’.
Those comments were themselves mean-minded, but it was significant that Costello was roused to such spirited defence of his county outside of convention season.
Dublin’s objections are understandable given how central they are to generating money through gate receipts for the GAA.
And the undoubted magnificence of parts of their Championship winning run over the past four seasons will be ignored by those who attribute all of their success to preferential treatment in the matters of funding and fixtures.
It is ridiculous to put all of their winning down to those advantages, but it is equally daft to argue those factors have not contributed to their remorseless run.
One analysis of their Croke Park record this week showed they have played 95 matches under Jim Gavin, with 70 of them in Croke Park, including 35 of 39 Championship matches. Of those summer fixtures, they have won 32, drawn two and lost one – the latter, famously, coming against Donegal in 2014.
Dublin, then, get to play two of their Super 8s games at a venue that is notionally for everyone, and where they have won 32 of 35 Championship matches, an advantage so pronounced that further argument seems unnecessary. Yet Congress emphatically rejected one way of changing this, and the leadership of the GAA do not seem concerned. They should be. Social media will never be mistaken for an accurate register of where general opinion lies, but the angry response to the defeat of the Donegal motion has been detectable more widely, too. Former Kildare player Andriú Mac Lochlainn was an eloquent example in these pages, arguing there is no longer a ‘level playing field’ in football. This brings up the word ‘disconnect’ again. The sense that the decision-makers in the GAA do not reflect the wider membership grows ever stronger. This isn’t about begrudgery or an anti-Dublin impulse. It’s about fairness.
32 All-Ireland champions Dublin have won 32 out of their last 35 Championship ties at Croke Park