GLOBAL GAA: Friends in all kinds of places
It's doubtful that Michael Cusack, even on his most optimistic day, ever saw this one coming – last Saturday saw Gaelic football played in Myanmar for the first time. Yes, the country also known as Burma that was under a military dictatorship as recently as 2011. That Myanmar. It's a long way from Hayes Hotel in Thurles.
Things have moved quickly since the Myanmar Celts were set up in Yangon (or Rangoon) back in February by Tullamore-born Elaine Kelly. In March they received €4,000 to aid their set-up from the Global Games Development fund, which is jointly financed by the GAA and the Emigrant Support Programme. The club now has over 35 members of various nationalities and is growing steadily.
The Singapore Gaelic Lions, one of the largest Gaelic clubs in the Asia Pacific region, gamely agreed to be the first opponents for the nascent club and brought over a panel of 20 to play in the game last weekend.
“It was fantastic to have the Singapore Gaelic Lions come play us in Yangon,” says Kelly. “As a young club we are keen to get the word out there to support the growth and development of the club. With Myanmar now opened up there has been a big growth in the number of expats arriving to Yangon and Gaelic has been a great way to bring together the Irish community. “
Next up they will take part in the Asian Gaelic Games tournament in Kuala Lumpur in October.
The chairman of the Asian County Board (that's not a typo by the way, it really is called the Asian County Board), Pauric McGrath travelled to Yangon for the game. "You can spot the potential of a very good club in the making. Where the GAA is active promotes a strong sense of Irish community and culture. I have witnessed first-hand how GAA clubs help shape communities for expats and it is a great way to meet people and built trade links."
For the record, the more experienced Singapore Lions came out on top in the actual game, although the Celts were the clear winners when it came to getting their message out in Myanmar – check out the coverage the game was given on the Myanmar International News channel.
ZERO AND ABSOLUTE ZERO: RTÉ's creative accounting
It's long been a source of irritation to us in this parish that RTÉ persist in writing scorelines on screen with unnecessary zeroes. For instance a half-time score of 1-9 to 2-5 would be written on screen as 1-09 to 2-05.
The reasons for this escape us. We were willing to turn a blind eye to this strange practice as we assumed they were expecting the team to succeed in reaching double figures but then we realised that individual scorers were being listed in this manner too, so that can’t be the reason.
An individual could chalk up nine points and they’d still have to see it written as 0-09. The errant zero has the strange effect of denigrating even the scores that have been registered on the board. “Yeah you got nine points but still – we’re sticking in a zero to make you feel bad.”
Efficiency would even be improved by removing the zero as whoever is typing in the details on screen would be able to save themselves a vast number of wasted keystrokes.
Game do not finish 01-00 to the Arsenal. Darts players do not dream of 0180s. And basketball scorelines are not written as 097-088 – not only because they end up looking like phone numbers – but also because it would make no bloody sense.
Free the RTÉ zero.
IN NUMBERS
48 – The number of consecutive championship games the Dublin footballers will play in Croke Park if they win the All-Ireland title without replays
67 – The age of Martin Silke when he lined out for Roscommon club Strokestown in a recent Tansey Cup game
0-19 – The score racked up by Brendan Cummins in a recent Tipperary IHC game. The former goalkeeper scored 10 frees, 3 65s, a sideline cut and five from play (Presumably RTÉ would write this as 0-019)
THEY SAID THAT? Twitter twaddle
Colm Cooper @colmcooper13 Met a man who is going to Croke park on Saturday 2 matches, Sunday 2 matches and Thurles Monday for the 2 minor matches #wifewontbehappy
Declan Browne @dbrowne15 Saw 2 of the best young footballers in the country in Tullamore on Saturday, Tipp's Colin O'Riordan and Galway's Shane Walsh #class acts
@LaughCryHurl Judging by the square in Thurles on Sunday morning, anybody planning on streaking naked through Wexford should go now
