Let me make one thing absolutely clear. Well, two or three things actually. First I like Joe Brolly. I like his mother Anne and his father Francie even more: I have a splendid pic of Anne on the wall in front of me as I write, smiling that beautiful smile of hers. And I remember Francie as a likeable, dark-haired darting forward playing soccer (yes, soccer) in St Columb's College in the mid-1950s. Good lineage, then.There's a fresh quality to Joe himself - an originality dating back to those days when he used to blow kisses to the crowd as he wheeled away from scoring yet another point or goal for Derry. As a pundit, his clashes with Pat Spillane were always entertaining and sometimes informative. Yesterday he did a bit of highly successful or shamelessly self-serving punditry, depending on how you look at it.
Personally, I'm convinced his tirade against Tyrone footballers, management and in particular Sean Cavanagh was a blatant attempt to position himself as moral guardian of authentic GAA football. In short, Gaelic football's Eamon Dunphy.
The fact that he's a barrister shone through. Like actors, barristers are very good at switching on the display of a mood or an emotion. That's what Joe did yesterday. He came near to frothing at the mouth as he denounced Sean Cavanagh's foul on the Monaghan player McManus. The whole team had achieved "something rotten". They were "a total and absolute disgrace". In fact, what happened was "a total and absolute obscenity". "There is no other sport apart from Gaelic games where that is permitted". (Joe clearly has had limited exposure to Canadian ice-hockey). If Sean Cavanagh had produced a knife and plunged it into the Monaghan player's side Joe couldn't have sounded more disgusted.
I went off and made my bread between the Tyrone v Monaghan and the Dublin v Cork game. I half-assumed that Joe would have stalked out of the studio or at least have appeared huffy or out-of-sorts in his punditry on the Dublin-Cork game. Not a bit of it - he was cracking jokes, perfectly relaxed, his usual boyish self.
If you want to get a donkey's attention, they used to say (and mark - I'm not suggesting I approve), first hit it over the head with a post. If you want to get the public's attention as a sports pundit, first hit it over the head with a verbal post. Say something that will really annoy lots of people.
I said at the top of this piece that Joe's outburst was either highly successful or shamelessly self-serving. I was wrong. It was both.
Maybe Joe has recognised the Pat Kenny vacancy and with his ability to tell people what they have seen he would make an excellent replacemet
ReplyDeleteMmm. Not sure he has the gravitas. Then again, the opposition would be Miriam O'Callaghan....
ReplyDeleteIt seems Joe has managed to get some pundits frothing at the mouth
ReplyDeleteWell said,Jude.One would have expected better from Joe.Such rants will certainly not endear him to Tyrone followers.I take it that you will never forgive Miriam for daring to ask Martin some awkward questions!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was an over the top rant, but it doesn't mean he's not right (you're seriously comparing football to ice hockey? Have you seen the amount of protective padding they wear, along with helmets and sticks?!). You should give us your opinion about the tackle, Jude, instead of just your critique of Brolly's reaction to it.
ReplyDeleteGood to see him speak up for fair play. Well done Joe Brolly.
ReplyDeleteDelac - We're agreed on the ott rant but after that we diverge somewhat. Joe said 'No other sport' - he's the one made the comparison. The tackles (and fights) in ice hockey are far more vicious and frequent than in Gaelic football. As to I 'should give us your opinion about the tackle' - you're entitled to think so but I'll give my opinion on whatever I feel like giving my opinion on, not under instruction, OK? But since I'm feeling even more kind than normal today: the tackle involved pulling his opponent to the ground. I've seen it dozens of times in Gaelic football. I've even in my time both delivered and received it. In just about all cases the result was a free kick for the sinned-against team. Of course you could argue that it deserved a red card, just as you could argue that some Monaghan players deserved a red card in the handbags stuff as they left the field at half-time. But in this game as others, the referee makes the decision. Some you love, some you don't. Either way, Joe's talk of 'obscenity' and encouraging kids to play tennis instead - pu-lease...Now. Could I be nicer than that?
ReplyDeleteBody-checking for the 13 and under is now banned in Canada as they are trying to focus on skills and cut down on injuries and violence while emphasising sportsmanship and fairplay to the younger players coming up.Rough play will always be a part of ice hockey but more and more people are getting turned off by the dirty plays,career ending hits and the sight of blood on the ice.
DeleteThanks for the reply, Jude. I don't think anyone seriously believes Cavanagh did the "right" thing by pulling McManus down (including Cavanagh himself, based on what I've read he's admitted the tackle was cynical) but when the chips are down a good player is going to do what he has to do to get his team across the line, up to and including getting a sending off for it. Hyperbole aside, Brolly's rant has at least focused attention on whether the black card rule change will go far enough to tackle this kind of play.
ReplyDeleteEven a day after,Joe (on Talkback ) didn't appear to be any way contrite about his remarks.Surely he needs to get some sense of perspective on the whole matter.One would think that Sean Cavanagh was appearing in a court charged with a serious offence.As Mickey Harte would appreciate better than most,there are other things in life bigger than football.That doesn't mean to say that we all won't root for our own county!
ReplyDeletePS It's ironic that Brolly, who showed heroic generosity in that kidney donation should lambast Mickey Harte, who showed heroic courage in coping with his daughter's murder. Funny old world.
ReplyDeleteJude, don't bring a family tragedy into a football debate.
ReplyDeleteI think Joe Brolly has done Gaelic Football a favour. Cynical fouling as displayed by Tyrone and other counties needs to stop.
There's a good dollop of common sense in Paddy Heaneys article in the Irish News today.It provides a useful counterbalance to the current hysteria about Tyrones style of football.But tellingly he makes the comment "In the absence of any form of a counter-argument from Tyrone,the nation is being presented with a very lopsided view of games".I appreciate that you rarely read the Irish News now but you should try to access this article.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (21 08)
ReplyDeleteI think Jude is entitled to make the comment he did illustrating the heroic dimensions of both Joe and Mickey.What Joe is not entitled to do is to paint Mickey Harte as some evil Svengali orchestrating all sorts of underhand and cheating moves on the football field.You might read the article mentioned above by Paddy Heaney as a corrective to the media hysteria.
What makes the GAA games so great beyond being fantastic to watch or play is that they are played by amateurs with more intensity and commitment than most professional sports.The central ethos is to build character,comradeship,sportsmanship or a sense of fairness while impressing the ethics of what hard work,discipline and dedication to the younger generations coming up can do as far as building that character.It's more than a sport to most players,it's a way of life and for a player/players to win by less than honest means is not worth winning at all.Like Joe said you have to be able to come off the field after the game and be able to look your opponent in the eye.I think Joe is right and the last thing the game needs is a tribal win at all costs mentality,it demeans and undermines what the sport is all about.
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