FUNNY THING happened yesterday at a GAA announcement in Croke Park to confirm Allianz will continue their sponsorship of the national hurling and football leagues until 2012. Everything had been nicely orchestrated for a clean PR exercise in saying all the right things.
Jack O’Connor represented current football champions Kerry, and Henry Shefflin, the most recognisable hurler, possibly ever, held court for Kilkenny. And, hey presto, both these teams went on to win All-Irelands, proving that the league is very good and that means Allianz, as sponsors – now mentioned twice, so they will be pleased – are equally good.
The first managers to win league titles under their sponsorship, back in 1994, were also wheeled out. The former King of Meath, Seán Boylan, told us an old yarn about that day they beat Armagh and Trevor Giles learned how to perform in the cauldron that is Croke Park.
We glanced out the window at the soccer pitch below wondering how the stadium will manage the coming logistical nightmare of a World Cup play-off against France just 24 hours before the Wallabies face Ireland in a rugby international.
Later on, GAA president Christy Cooney assured us they are equipped to handle it and that neither the FAI nor IRFU have any concerns.
Anyway, back to the last man to speak on the top table of GAA legends. One Michael “Babs” Keating. No longer an intercounty hurling manager with his beloved Tipperary, Babs has not been so noticeable on the national scene recently.
Everyone else lauded the current league structures now they are played in the one calendar year. Keating started calmly enough but soon had Cooney attempting to interrupt him.
“I played in a league final here 45 years ago and the prize was a trip to New York. Now, I know they get trips everywhere these days . . . but if the GAA came out and said the winners were going out to Hawaii or San Francisco with pocket money, I think it would be more than self-financing. And if you had games under lights Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights I think you’d have crowds of 15,000 at many games, and the players knew that something was at stake and it might have some bearing on restructuring the championship.”
Babs is living proof the GAA remains a democracy and not just a choreographed media event to relay good news (Cooney refused to shine any light on the other more pressing negotiations for championship sponsors or talks with the GPA).
Keating is not so fond of the current league structures, you see, so he offered an alternative.
“The league should finish a few weeks into the summer and start later. Nobody wants to be playing in the second week of February in the type of conditions you wouldn’t put ducks out in.”
He noted how Clare had “no interest” in the league and it cost them, and Cork’s “unfortunate situation cost them” – and suddenly we were nearly talking about De Strike at a sponsor’s launch!
Waterford, after beating Kilkenny, did not show “enough effort and it cost them too”.
The clash with the club championship for clubs like Portumna is hindering counties like Galway.
“To push the league back beyond St Patrick’s Day requires a little bit of restructuring of the dates,” added Keating.
Boylan quipped: “Great to see Babs saying what’s on his mind!”
Cooney’s measured response was that the GAA have to be “realistic and practical”. That “the balance has to be right to suit everybody”. That “some people say the club championship should be played in one calendar year” and “we always take the opportunity to review” – even though the structures are set in stone until 2012.
