Premier League looks to GAA for ideas

It looks like the furore over the ridiculous commercially exploitative idea of Premiership football matches taking place overseas has died down after FIFA chairman Sepp Blatter effectively said "over my dead body". The Premier League has been accused of an obession with money and commercialisation which has been to the detriment of the football, not to mention the supporters. I broadly agree with this analysis, but contrast this with the attitude of a great non-professional sporting body, which has always prided itself on its amateur ethos, but has come in for some criticism of late because of its increasingly money-driven outlook - namely the GAA. The Premier League must have been inspired by dis great Asso-see-ayshun in coming up with the concept of playing matches abroad. The idea is far from new - and was in fact pioneered by the GAA when they decided to hold the 1947 All Ireland final between Cavan and Kerry in New York!

What next? The FA Cup final to be played in Croke Park?

Stranger things have happened.

A Different Ball Game: The GAA up North

I've written an article on the social and political issues facing the GAA in Northern Ireland for the GAA website "An Fear Rua". It comes in two parts:

A Different Ball Game: Part I

A Different Ball Game: Part II

Rugby World Cup coming soon to France (or words to that effect)

Although I'm not a big rugby fan I'm looking forward tot he forthcoming World Cup as any event which brings together a set of disparate nations is always interesting. It's always good to see feats of David and Goliath style giant-killing when the minor teams are pitted against the big boys - except if it's your own team on the receiving end. But with New Zealand in the same group as newcomers Portugal I don't think this will happen somehow.

The final of the last tournament in 2003 when England's Johnny Wilkinson entered into legend by scoring a last minute drop goal to beath Australia was worth watching just to see the sour look on Aussie PM John Howard's face when he was handing out the medals.

Today's Times reports that Tonga player Epi Taoine has changed hs name by deed poll to Paddy Power as part of a sponsorship deal with the Irish bookies. I wonder what the odds on him changing it back after the World Cup are. Furthermore, will Paddy Power be taking bets on it?

Bats out of Hell in Jamaica

What a surreal experience I had on Saturday night - and I don't mean the magic leprechauns inside my head jumping up and telling me to down another pint of porter at the end of the rainbow.

I never thought I’d spend St Patrick’s night in an Irish pub in London with the punters fixated on a cricket match in the West Indies! Even weirder is the fact that Ireland won against a major test-playing side - in a rare sporting event where tricolours and red hand of Ulster flags were waved by people supporting the same team. Has to be a good sign! I can imagine the headlines: "Pakistan knocked out by Paddystan on Paddy's Day". I've never been a big cricket fan, but have to admit I enjoyed this match. There's still time for me to be converted.

Shock Horror – National Anthems played at international rugby match!

Isaac shows who's the Boss

The match certainly lived up to its expectations and the atmosphere at Croke Park was electric – you could even tell this from the TV! I’ve been to All-Ireland finals at Croker, but this was something else, despite the rain pissing down throughout the game. The better team won by a mile and they certainly had the overwhelming psychological advantage. It's a fantastic stadium and about time it got the international exposure it deserves.

Then of course, there was the small matter of the playing of a certain national anthem. A rather silly and pointless debate which was milked and hyped up for all its worth by the media on both sides of the Irish Sea. It’s standard practice to play the anthems of both teams at international sporting fixtures, so to suggest anything else is simply irrelevant.

It looks like the ghosts of Croke Park’s past have finally been laid to rest.

Choker in Croker

In March 2005 during the tension surrounding the build-up to the GAA’s imminent decision on whether to open Croke Park up to non-Gaelic games I had a letter published in the Irish World newspaper. The gist of my argument was that it was about time the GAA abandoned its little Irelander mentality of narrow-minded conversatism and hostility towards "foreign" games, an attitude which has no place in the enlightened cosmopolitan Ireland of the 21st century. In any case the costs of Croker's redevelopment came partly out of the taxpayers' pockets so the people who financed the project had every right to decide how it should be used. 6 months later I was in Croke Park itself at the 2005 All Ireland final when the Red Hands plundered the Kingdom top bring the cup back across the border. One of many memorable events the park has played host to.
And now the Ireland v France 6 Nations rugby match, a different kettle of fish... And we had the inevitable jokes about southsiders wary of crossing the Liffey to behold he strange world of the northside.

It was a shame about the result, but Europe’s fourth biggest sports stadium was a genial host. I watched the game on the BBC, who didn't fail to play up the sense of occasion. They even provided a brief history lesson in the run-up to the game. Even BBC Radio 4 had a piece on its Sunday morning news by Ulick O’Connor with references to Bloody Sunday in 1920 and De Valera officiating at an All-Ireland hurling final.

From floodlit matches to "foreign games", Croke Park has truly come circle. Few will doubt that the right decision has been made. The GAA would allow highly offensive spectacles such as U2 concerts and even Leinster finals at Croke Park, but not so much as a rugby or soccer match...that is until now. The organisation, once commonly referred to as the Grab All Association would have been mad to turn down fees of £1 million per match in any case.
So the GAA's infamous Rule 42 has at last been (albeit temporarily) laid to rest. The very number cited by the universe's most powerful computer, according to the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the answer to the question of the meaning of life. Surely it can't be a coincidence?

Hammersmith Irish book fair (and some rugby)

Made the trip west today to catch the Irish book fair at Hammersmith. As well as enriching my personal library with a few second hand Flann O'Briens and a Spike Milligan to add to the nascent collection I attended two highly entertaining readings by the writers Billy Keane and Patrick McCabe.

Billy Keane, son of the famous John B. read amusing snippets from his book The Last of the Heroes, a semi-biographical novel of family life in rural Kerry, which went down well with the assembled throng.

As a wearer of many hats - raconteur, wit, publican, columnist, ex-solicitor and Kerryman - Keane seems to have incorporated his experiences into his writings. Of particular note was his observation that the ideal training for a writer is to work behind a bar. That way people tell you things (in some cases depending on the level of alcohol consumed some very intimate details of their personal lives), you hear the local gossip and get to know all sorts of colourful characters. Then you can base the characters in your novels on them. Maybe I should jack in the legal research and get a job at my local.

Being conscious of the time Billy was keen (no pun intended - well, actually, yes it was intended) not to overrun so as to let the punters catch the Ireland v Scotland Six Nations rugby match. He was after all "officially" at Lansdowne Road (not at a book fair in London) to cover the game for his column in the Irish Independent.

Although I am somewhat familar with the writings of both John B. and Fergal Keane, I hadn't seen any of Billy's work. However I was suitably impressed by his readings and impromptu wit that I joined the queue of elderly women to purchase a signed copy of Last of the Heroes.
"Have we met before?" he asked as he signed his best wished on the title page. I have to say I was flattered, but have to think this over for a second. I've certainly never been down Listowel way. Did I offer him condolences at last year's All Ireland final? Had he seen my picture on the site? Maybe he'd stumbled across it by accident when looking on Google for information on the REM sleep patterns of armadillos. "I don't think so", I replied, but I did mention the blog and mooted the possibility of writing a glowing review of the book - so watch this space!

So unlike Peter Canavan and "The Gooch" Cooper, there was no bad blood between the Kerryman and the Tyroneman on this occasion.

Next up was Pat McCabe, author of many novels, two of which - The Butcher Boy and more recently Breakfast on Pluto have been made into films. McCabe displayed his writing skills and his flair for accents, not to mention acting prowess through various readings from his works.

Having scrapped my original plan to catch some of the Australian Film Festival at the Barbican, I made an early exit to a local alehouse for the second half of the rugby match - the one that Billy Keane was supposed to be covering for the Indo. So courtesy of the BBC, I was transported virtually from an overcast Hammersmith to the pissing rain of Lansdowne Road to witness Ireland's hard earned victory in a tense match. Despite Andrew Trimble's valiant attempt to strike a blow for Ulster the game was to remain tryless. So, nice try Andrew - even though it wasn't!
How fitting it was for the last Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road before the action switches to Croke Park next year, that the game should end with Ireland on course for the Triple Crown and possibly the Six Nations title.