You can’t be a sports fan without being passionate about it. For those at the next level – either as competitors or working with them or, indeed, as media covering the happenings therein, said passion can serve as dodgy baggage as knockers and begrudgers are only chomping at the bit to knock either competitors partaking in sport or those of us covering same for a living.
However, like almost every other facet of life, with a very large swathe of society, it is genuinely accepted there’s a line you don’t cross. In a GAA context, at least supposedly under the guise of those therein being amateurs, that generally means that comment on the private lives of GAA people is absolutely off limits.
Yet already this year, this writer has personal knowledge of at least three individuals who have had malicious dross spread about them without a scintilla of evidence or truth. Lest we forget, either, it’s not all that long ago since Lee Chin was racially abused whilst playing for Wexford.
There’s no sport worth that. But now consider the above in the context of Mayo senior football manager Kevin McStay being broadsided by a medical emergency during one of his side’s training sessions on Sunday last.
Without much detail being released as to what exactly that was, it wouldn’t take an extraordinarily high IQ to deduce that whatever it may have been was most likely brought on by stress.
The often unseen factor those involved in high level sport – or business – have to deal with is the stress. And, with a county as obsessive about their football as are muintir Maigh Eo, last week’s shock defeat by Cavan would have been a red rag to a bull to the faithful.
And it’s not difficult to imagine some of the criticism of same – intentionally or otherwise – being over the top and, whether he knew it or not, having a serious impact on the man preparing the team.
From another angle though, you’d hope Kevin’s misfortune might be a wake up call to some people that there is indeed a line you shouldn’t cross. Most notably, that needs to be heeded close to home at green and red base camp.
It says a lot about how things currently sit in the land of green and red that Uachtarain CLG Jarlath Burns and the Casper the Ghost of GAA officials, Tom Ryan, were summoned to a Mayo Co Committee meeting on Monday night last.
It’s a great pity that Mr Burns is not as quick to answer his emails as he is to jump into the affairs of individual clubs and counties, but I digress. In all fairness though, credit to him where it’s due, he was on the money in calling out what he termed the “Toxic” campaign of degradation of those trying to steer Mayo GAA out of what are believed to be financial difficulties.
What’s more, for all that there are those tearing strips off the people guiding the county’s fortunes forward, looking from the outside in, one can only be envious of the systems they have in place.
After all, their teams are always competitive no matter what grade or level of competition they are at. Plus, in Mac Hale Park, Castlebar tbey have one of the finest grounds in the country.
Or, if you want a more basic synopsis than that – they’ve had a lot more days out in Croke Park over the last two decades than the likes of, say, Meath!
Those stirring the dung should be mindful of the chorus of Big Yellow Taxi.
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