|
|
 |
You are > Home > ‘Stick up for your own’ theory is influencing debate in the GAA
|
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
‘Stick up for your own’ theory is influencing debate in the GAA
Always stick up for your own is something that’s deeply embedded in us.
In the GAA such willingness to ‘stick up for your own’ doesn’t just lead to debates, it leads to a level of unfairness when it comes to making decisions that’s reflected in history books forever.
Take the Sunday Game panel on the nights of the All-Ireland football and hurling finals. To be fair to the panel, no matter what they do they’re not going to please everyone with their Man of the Match selections and Teams of the Year.
However, it’s one thing making 50/50 calls, it’s a whole different ball game when they’re on the wrong side of an 80/20 call, which has been the case on a number of occasions in the past few years concerning what seemed like the automatic selection of Stephen Cluxton for an All-Star.
Tipperary’s Lar Corbett had a great year.
He’s one of three players in the running for Hurler of the Year.
Yet he didn’t make the Sunday Game Team of the Year.
Hurling selections are that bit easier to pick as there are only 12 teams competing in the top tier.
Tommy Walsh was 4/1 to be Hurler of the Year before the All-Ireland final. Now he’s 2/7. So that would suggest he had a great final. Yet he didn’t win the Man of the Match award (to my disgust, I had him backed at 12/1!).
There’s a reluctance among some pundits to admit that Walsh is a genius when it comes to hurling.
There’s always a lot of talk about how he plays close to the edge. If the best 15 players of the last 100 years were selected now, it’s unlikely there would be one expert that would vote against selecting Walsh.
Before the ball was thrown in for the All-Ireland football final, for some strange reason Graham Canty was 11/8 favourite to be named Player of the Year. Kerry’s Paul Galvin was 4/1.
Obviously, Galvin is most people’s favourite to pick up the award.
But how was Canty favourite in the first place?
Thanks to the ‘stick up for your own’ mentality in the GAA, we have spent years listening to the likes of Ger Canning and Cork pundits talking about how wonderful Graham Canty is.
In fact I recall many years ago a pundit suggesting that if there was a transfer market in the GAA, Canty would be the most valuable player.
If you hear something often enough you will begin to accept it. In the case of Canty, you only have to close your ears and open your eyes to see that he is without question the most over-rated player of his generation.
Even in this, his ‘great year’, he was destroyed by Ian Ryan of Limerick (Micky Ned O’Sullivan obviously felt he was there to be exposed and placed the youngster at centre-forward).
Ryan had four points from play kicked in the opening 30 minutes.
In the All-Ireland semi final, Canty didn’t play at centre-back. He did well roaming forward from wing-back but he’s a very limited defender.
In the final, Canty was wiped in the first half and at one stage ended up at corner back.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that teams have earmarked Canty as a player who’s ‘there for the taking’ this year. But surprise, surprise, he was chosen at centre back on The Sunday Game Team of the Year.
Kerry’s Mike McCarthy cleaned every player he met at centre-back, which included not giving Pearse O’Neill a ball in the final. O’Neill was chosen at centreforward on The Sunday Game team.
Graham Canty suffered injuries in the middle of his career, which no doubt halted his progress.
He’s good going forward but so are a lot of defenders who are poor at their primary duties and end up getting exposed in Croke Park.
Canty is the John Fenton of the modern game, a player that had a couple of good years but whose reputation kept him at the top even when he wasn’t playing well.
Like anything in life, if you get a good reputation, it sticks for a long time.
As long as you have your fellow county men singing your praises, your rating will survive irrespective of form.
In sport in general, there will always be bias but the GAA is in a league of its own when it comes to building reputations.
The national media either takes a shine to a player or it doesn’t. Sometimes it can be as simple as that.
If a national commentator or television pundit rates a player very highly, irrespective of their present form, their stock rises.
It was noticeable by the reaction of a number of managers on the Sunday Game on the night of the All-Ireland football final that they would disagree with a number of selections on the team of the year. As Mick O’Dwyer said: “That won’t be the All Star team.”
I’ve often said in the past that a player with a double barrel name, Sean Marty Lockhart being the prime example, sticks in the mind and their reputations often exceed their actual worth.
It’s as common as the cornerforward being taken off when a team aren’t playing well. Seldom are the full back, centre-back, midfielder or centre-forward taken off.
The pundits influence how a player is remembered during the height of that player’s career, how they are portrayed in the media and their general image.
Every club has a legend in the form of a centre back from some era; every crowd favourite once marked four players at the same time.
Every good player that was regarded as a gentleman was considered a great player because of his manner.
To define a player’s reputation seldom comes down to facts, merely perception and the old adage of ‘stick up for your own’ when debates arise.
And finally....
All teams are treated equally but some are treated more equally than others... suffice to say that’s the general view soccer fans have held for years concerning how officials interpret the rules and time keeping when it comes to Manchester United.
It’s a few moons ago since United scored that late, late winner against Queens Park Rangers.
In the last decade, it seems a couple of extra minutes of injury time is added on for the sake of it.
The conspiracy theorists have long held a view that there is something behind the fact that United seem to score more ‘deep in injury time goals’ than any other team in The Premiership.
I have my own conspiracy theory.
Michael Owen scored a 96th minute goal two weeks’ ago in a game that should only have had three minutes of injury time according to reports.
Maybe United have set their sights on entering the Guinness World Book of Records for scoring the latest ever winner.
I bet they’ll have set a target by the end of 2010 (or before England win the World Cup next summer).
By the end of next year, Owen’s 96th minute goal will be considered an early goal when Ryan Giggs nets a goal in the second hour of injury time. You wait and see.
It used to be said that it’s not over until the final whistle blows. In United’s case, it’s not over until light has faded, the floodlights have failed, or of course until they’ve scored the winner early!
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
Twitter
