Spare a thought for the journalists in the press box.
We know the stories too well of inter-county sides naming dummy teams during the week leading up to a game, and then making a host of changes by the time the game comes around.
Managers release their teams a few days beforehand, but you always have to take them with a pinch of salt because of the detailed mind-games that have now become synonymous with the GAA.
It’s a farce, really, naming a player corner forward but having absolutely no intention to have him playing there or playing at all on the day.
You’d have to feel for the players who become the victims in this. In the public eye, they’re starting and if they’re chatting to any supporters, friends or family, they’ll go along with the notion that that they are starting so as not to break team code.
Recently, these tactics have seeped into club level games, but surely no dummy line-up has ever taken the biscuit quite like the St. Brigid’s team that took on Ballymun Kickhams in the Dublin Senior football quarter final on Saturday.
The contrast between the programme team and the actual team really beggars belief.
Here’s the programme team that was down to line out the game.
Any spectators who travelled to Parnell Park and picked up an early programme would have expected this team to line out.
Here’s the team that actually lined out to play.
This was spotted by Conor McKeon who was at the game.
So apart from the goalkeeper, none of the players started in the line that they were down to start in the original programme.
There was supposed half forwards playing full back, there was corner backs playing corner forward. There was a number 23 playing half back.
The spectators probably didn’t have a clue who was on the ball at the various stages of the game, and probably spent more time looking at their programme than at the actual game.
Ballymuns’ wasn’t much better with captain Philly McMahon named to line out at corner forward of all places.
It was no surprise that he was soon back in the backline where he belongs.
St Brigid's just broke the world record for a dummy team. Lined out like this: 1
5, 12, 6
23, 18, 10
22, 14
19, 8, 21
11, 17, 4— ConorMcKeon (@ConorMcKn) September 30, 2017
The logic behind such ‘mind-games’ surely must be questioned as it hardly makes that much of a difference if there’s so much obvious chopping and changing going on, but surely teams should be fined for such indifference to the spectators present.
It just undermines the whole thing.
Eventually, the St. Brigid’s mind games had no bearing on the result of the game, with Ballymun running out comfortable winners on a scoreline of 1-17 to 1-9.
