The business of winning Championships
By Maitiú Monaghan
This week, as August drifts into September, there will be a migration of sorts and we will temporarily see the end of a rare species- the full-time club footballer.
Otherwise known as ‘the teacher’, these people dedicate the period from June to August solely to club-football, and possibly a bit of travelling.
One of the things that sets them apart is their amazing tan, although they will fervently deny that they spent any time on the beds.
They’re easy to spot in the clubhouse; flat white in one hand, foam roller in the other.
Or you might not see them at all, learning through Instagram that they’re in Buenos Aires and such places, but will be back just in time for the Championship.
When they get home they will immediately text; “Are you coming for a cold-plunge?”
It’s half-nine on a weekday...
Unfortunately, these professional wing-forwards will have to take a sabbatical next week when the starting bell tolls for another academic year.
The whole thing promises to wreak havoc on the Club Championships over the coming weeks.
If they’re working until four, the teachers will be exhausted come training at seven. Standards could drop, and a whole Championship season could unravel. Is there a case for the Union to be called? We’ll see after the mid-term.
Of course, we can’t blame the teachers. Why shouldn’t they make the most of what is a generous break in an incredibly important job?
Employment can often be the undoing of a good team, especially at this time of year.
Many managers are finding their (paid) job harder to do because their players keep on putting life before the game.
How can a manager to be expected to win an Intermediate Club Championship if his most promising young forward decides on a whim that he wants to become a doctor? And that he’s leaving for UL in three-weeks - it’s unacceptable.
Or if the GPS data reveals that a player isn’t performing to optimal levels because they spent the day before working outside in the garden or worse - golfing.
Around every corner there are threats to Championship winning teams. Seriously, who put Electric Picnic in the middle of the season?
At least with the students a club can insist they travel all the way home for training every Tuesday, and no, they will not be paying for mileage.
When the youngster gets injured in November, it’ll just be one of those things. Unavoidable really.
You would lose sleep worrying about the lads who are going soft working in offices all day, or the tradies who are clean wrecked at training after a day on the sites.
If only these players were half as committed as the teachers are.
The newest existential threat facing Gaelic games is coming from flights from Sydney and Melbourne.
Mayo’s Kobe McDonald is the latest high-profile GAA player to be tempted by the bright lights of the Australian Football League (AFL)
He could have been off to college next month (and back for training on Tuesday) to become a teacher. Then it’s just four years studying, and he could have been a professional GAA player every summer.
Instead, he’s gone off to Australia, where he will be paid to play a remarkably similar sport, full-time in an elite environment.
The audacity of the AFL is plain for all to see. Their shameless pursuit of our Gaels has gutted the game of its finest players - although just one Monaghan player has ever signed for an AFL men’s team.
The situation has reached crisis point, legislative action is surely needed.
Could we meet with Australia’s top diplomats and explain that they should take our best hurlers instead? Or we could insist that for every Gaelic footballer they take, they send us a nurse back?
The silence coming from Leinster House is deafening- although they too are on summer holiday.
Clearly, the situation cannot be allowed to continue.
Winning a Championship is a full-time job.