“If you told all the stories that happened over the years – the trips, training fields, and weekends away – half your boys would be jailed.”
The game is changing.
As recently as 2010, most county teams took no issue with journalists coming into dressing rooms, players dealing with their own media requests or stopping to share some thoughts – kit-bag slung over the shoulder – on the way out of the ground.
Modern GAA is different. Press officers, conferences, sponsorship deals and canned quotes are part of the landscape.
Players are so often afraid to stick their neck out in fear of a word or opinion being taken out of context. Best to bring out the ‘Ah sure, lookit, we’ll see how we go’ and leave it at that.
Kieran McGeeney knows better than most how a stray comment here, or misconstrued idea there, can dominate headlines for weeks and months.
Interviewed by Colm Parkinson at The GAA Hour Live, on Friday night, the former Armagh player [and member of the county’s current coaching staff] opened up on why there is a serious lack of characters in the game. He said:
“The problem is, with having characters, you’re not allowed to have them anymore.
“It’s okay to be a character after you win but if you’re a character before you win, you’re a loser or a drunkard.”
McGeeney continued on the team as he discussed the modern reluctance to engage with the press.
Referring to a story by Senan Connell about a chance encounter with actor Colm Meaney, McGeeney said:
“Most players genuinely don’t want to talk to the press because no matter what you say…
“The way the press works – and once you understand that – they’ll do an interview but the sub-editor picks a line. You want as many clicks as possible, you want as many downloads as possible, so you have to say something.
“You’re not going to go ‘We had a good chat last night’ and then you log-in… the story could be mixed up and I could be disrobing by tomorrow, in front of Colm Meaney.”
"I believe I'm too soft" Kieran McGeeney @SportsJOEdotie #GAAHour Live pic.twitter.com/ZmAzPGmkea
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) September 16, 2016
McGeeney recalled an interview, given when he was Kildare boss, when a reporter asked him if then All-Ireland champions Donegal deserved top billing in a league game, at Croke Park, instead of Dublin. He told the reporter he could see his point of view. He remarked:
“Next thing, on the back of the paper, [it reads] MCGEENEY THINKS HE SHOULD BE TOP BILLING.
“What the… ? That’s why you’re more guarded. You’re not allowed to have that approach in the press, where you can become the character.”
GAA fans, then, only get a glimpse of what is really going on. McGeeney reasoned:
“If you told all the stories that happened over the years – the trips, training fields, and weekends away – half your boys would be jailed.”
It seems we don’t know the half of it.
Characters exist, just not in print or on the airwaves and television screens.
Check out our GAA Hour All-Ireland preview special, featuring Jack McCaffrey, Paul Galvin, Colm Cooper, Peter Canavan, Kieran McGeeney, Senan Connell, John O’Leary and Vinnie Murphy. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes.
