Moss Spillane was the true GAA volunteer
EVEN if Austin Stack Park didn’t lie bang between St John’s Church and Rath cemetery, we dare say Moss Spillane’s funeral cortège would have detoured itself on its way from church to graveyard in order to pass outside the place he was most synonymous with.
One didn’t have to have known the late Moss Spillane on any personal level to have known who he was: yes, his was the white head and smiling face that was a constant at the players’ entrance to the Stack Park pitch on just about any and every inter-county match there, and quite a few club games as well.
Spillane was the very antithesis of the ‘hi-viz over-zealous GAA steward’, the absolute antidote to that small but real cohort of stewards who think an luminous jacket is a pass to act all Charles Bronsan with patrons who are just trying to watch a football match or media just trying to do their job.
This writer didn’t know Moss Spillane particularly well, save for a quick salute and ‘hello’ on match days when heading for the press box in Stack Park, and when trying to gain access to the pitch or tunnel area after a game to conduct a few interviews.
Spillane was nothing but always friendly, accommodating and pleasant. On those occasions when I might pass him around Tralee there was always a salute or a wave, and there was always that devil-may-care grin on his face.
Elsewhere in these sports pages, Mossie Spillane’s fellow Stack Park steward, Joe Wallace, remembers his dear friend as true gentleman, a devoted husband, father and grandfather, and a great colleague. Joe also says that “Moss contributed to the County Board in a big way, and he will be really missed for that.”
And it got one thinking of what exactly people like Moss Spillane actually contribute to the GAA - and what other volunteers give to their sport or association of choice - and what value one can put on such things?
Wallace told of himself and Mossie Spillane heading to Puck Fair in Killorglin and the Pattern Day in Ballyheigue and Listowel Races and further on many occasions to sell car raffle tickets for Kerry GAA or to flog lotto tickets or push the Night of Champions fundraiser on Kerry supporters. Anyone who has ever sold tickets or sought sponsorship will know what a tough and thankless task it is, no matter how good the cause is. And yet off they went, Joe and Moss - and several other ‘odd couples’ too we can be sure - to try to wrangle a few euro out of people for the Kerry GAA coffers.
And when they weren’t trying to gather a few bob, they were manning a gate in Austin Stack Park, or cutting grass and painting walls in Caherslee, or hanging up bunting and flags in anticipation of an All-Ireland homecoming celebration, or staffing an annual Convention or other such forum.
Think of those heady National League matches against Dublin in Austin Stack Park in the last few years and recall the heaving crowds and the charged atmosphere and think of stewards like Moss Spillane and Joe Wallace and Mike Moran and Mick
Flavin and Derry Murphy and so many more, stationed all around the stadium - inside and outside, in the stands and on the terraces, at the turnstiles and near the Pavilion - there to accommodate supporters and facilitate the teams and officials.
The Mossie Spillanes of the world could be there a couple of hours before a big game like that, and they are certainly there a couple of hours afterward, tidying up dressing rooms and stands, taking in nets and flags, locking up press boxes and turning off lights, doing all the unseen but necessary work that supporters don’t see or appreciate as they tumble into town after a final whistle.
We don’t mean to suggest that these volunteers aren’t appreciated: one just had to witness the broad sweep of people who lined John Joe Sheehy Road outside Austin Stack Park for Mossie’s final journey last Saturday to see how highly regarded he was.
Mossie’s loss will be felt nowhere as deeply than among his family - his wife, daughters and grandchildren - but it’s worth remembering too that no GAA match would happen or County Board function properly without the true volunteer, of which Mossie was the very embodiment.
Spillane was the very antithesis of the ‘hi-viz overzealous GAA steward’. Spillane was nothing but always friendly, accommodating and pleasant