BARELY two weeks have passed since the All-Ireland final replay and RTÉ were providing live coverage of the draw for the 2017 All-Ireland Championship on Thursday night.
I’m sure it didn’t entice too many people away from their daily devotion to Eastenders or whatever else they normally watch on a Thursday evening. For me it was all a little too soon. Dublin have not even stopped celebrating yet, while Mayo have not had sufficient time to mourn their loss. I can recall as a player back in the day not being that overly-concerned about who we would be playing at this time of the year.
I do, however, recall vividly that you would always receive the dreaded phone call about two days after the draw in the middle of October that county training would begin the following week in a venue that probably didn’t even have a football field but did have a running track or gym. It never filled me with any form of excitement or positivity.
I know most county managers will tell you that they won’t be meeting until after Christmas due to the new rules regarding county teams training too early... but seriously, I would trust Sam Allardyce or Donald Trump before I would believe anything that comes from county supremos regarding how early or how much training they actually do.
While the draw was one thing guaranteed to happen this week, what usually coincides with it is a raft of county players deciding that now is the time to hang up the old boots and retire. And who can blame them as the third Sunday in September seems a lifetime away from the third week in October.
Marc Ó Sé has just announced his decision after a virtual lifetime’s service to the Kingdom. Rumour has it that ‘the Gooch’ is also contemplating making the difficult move, so too Kieran Donaghy and Aidan O’Mahony. Four of their most high profile players walking away at the same time would create a seismic shift in the dynamic of the Kingdom’s team.
‘The Gooch’ is very pragmatic about the whole thing and says there was a great Kerry team before they came along and there will be a great team when they leave. But sometimes the decision to leave is much easier when you have a back pocket laden with gold Celtic Crosses than 10 or 12 years of frustration.
At times we all think that we are pivotal to all we belong to in life whether it is sport or your vocation. Yet I and so many have found that you are replaced quite easily and sometimes retiring can be a hard enough line to walk.
Highly-paid professionals who have made enough money throughout their careers to bask in the glory of luxurious retirement still struggle when they leave their respective sports, as Pete Sampras once wrote
“It’s not easy to retire at 31. In one respect I was glad I was done. But after a few years of having fun, I got a little restless. When you’re 33, 34, and you don’t have a focus, you can get kind of lost. As a man, you feel a little bit unfulfilled.”
Malcolm Forbes stated that “retirement kills more people than hard work ever did,” and while retiring from playing inter-county football won’t end your existence on this mortal coil, it can for many be a huge void to fill.
I think myself and Cathal O’Rourke retired at the same time and we had spent a similar number of years in the county colours and, many would say, visited the same dietician.
I can recall we both got a framed picture of some action shots from our career at the county dinner dance and I can remember looking at Cathal and feeling a sense of total anti-climax and thinking
‘13 years for a framed photo’, even if it was actually a nice gesture. That might seem somewhat ungracious and condescending.Football has provided me with so many highs over the years and many have walked away with absolutely no recognition and medals, but I can’t help the way I felt at the time.
I have genuine sympathy for the many inter-county players who toil for their respective teams for 10 months a year, sacrificing their lives, families and job opportunities as if their dedication and commitment is expected. Then when it is all over, they walk away without being rewarded in some manner.
Training requirements are at a stage now where county players are professional in every manner but financially – and I maintain my position that they should never be paid. Yet a small token of acknowledgment would also be a nice form of appreciation for a lifetime spent in the trenches.
It would not be difficult to police as any player who has dedicated, say, eight years to their county team could perhaps be awarded a holiday voucher whereby he or she can take their family away. It would somewhat soften what has been probably a very one-sided relationship regarding commitment up until then.
Financially it would definitely not break the GAA as the revenue from the All-Ireland final replay would probably cover it for the next 20 years. It would also provide your last memory of being in a county squad with a very positive ending.
This week, I watched a programme on RTÉ about Kilkenny hurling great Henry Shefflin called ‘Winning’, an in-depth study of what defines and what motivates winners in most sports.
It was indeed very interesting, but you cant help feeling that ‘King Henry’s’ decision to retire after a glorious era in Kilkenny hurling after numerous accolades was so much easier than, say, a Mayo footballer who is still trying to make that breakthrough.
The other alternative is what we are witnessing in many counties – particularly in Derry – whereby players have opted out of their squads long before retirement age as they can no longer commit to a sport that requires so much dedication with so few chances of success and accolades.
