It's the poor losing managers I feel sorry for

Given the impact on a county of winning an All-Ireland, it’s hard to understand why a huge level of input should be on a purely voluntary basis

HOW QUICKLY we forget the sufferings of yesteryear. If the GPA never achieved anything else it would have had a worthwhile existence for the reform it indirectly sponsored 10 years ago. Part of Croke Park’s ingenious response to the foundation of a players union back in 1999 was to follow it around reacting to everything it did. A representative body for players? Yes, we have one too and the Players Advisory Work Group was turned into the more robust Players Committee.

After the Marlborough recruitment agency sponsorship created shock waves in the summer of 2000 – a time when clearly we were easily shocked – by announcing an endorsement deal with the GPA the GAA hit back the day after the All-Ireland hurling final and announced its own sponsorship scheme for a number of players.

But most importantly the Players Committee, under the chair of Jarlath Burns, got rid of the awful joint-teams lunch that used to be held every year mostly in the Burlington. It wasn’t unusual for the winning team to be staying in the hotel with the result that the losing players from the day before would have to shuffle disconsolately through the foyer to the beery “acclaim” of their conquerors’ (still) celebrating county supporters.

In some years the word would go around that the losing team wasn’t going to turn up and no one could really have blamed them.

But players frequently had the sort of resilience that was already distancing the painful events of the previous day and starting to look at how to utilise the experience.

And of course a fat vein of black humour throbbed away in the carpeted corridors.

“Back to the drawing board?” said Keith Barr in answer to a polite attempt at conversation in the wake of one of Dublin’s boxed set of All-Ireland disappointments in the early 1970s. “Sure we’ve more drawing boards than Sullivan Bluth.”

(Coincidentally the US studios then based in Dublin and the foundation stone of the Irish animation industry eventually went out of business in the same year, 1995, that Keith and colleagues finally got their hands on the All-Ireland – thus one imagines fatally undermining the production of drawing boards altogether.)

But the people I always felt really sorry for were the managers of losing teams. Players are younger and tend to gather in groups whereas managers were always sought out for media duties or simply well-intended commiseration.

They had to maintain a certain diplomacy and patience in the most public of environments. I remember one of their number eying me up and down in personal conclave and saying wearily: “You don’t know what it’s like, do you? You haven’t a clue what it’s like.” Resisting any temptation to reel off my own troubles, I simply agreed and why wouldn’t I? It was true.

And it’s still true. Some managers are helpful and some are downright obstructive and many sit at points in between but viewed objectively, they have an almost infernal responsibility to bear, particularly at that level – the highest where everything you do is taken down and may be used in evidence against you.

Jack O’Connor was seven minutes from wrapping up his fourth All-Ireland in six seasons in charge. The match was unfolding as many had expected and Kerry were just squeezing the hyper-space button to shoot away to whatever galaxy welcomes 37-times champions. Unfortunately for O’Connor, Star Trek was about to turn into The Twilight Zone.

He was notably gracious in the immediate aftermath before locating his inner curmudgeon back home in Kerry. But it must be impossibly difficult to remain peaceable in the face of constant inquisition and under the burden of crushing disappointment while bracing yourself against the onslaught of punditry.

This is an interesting time of the year – a kind of alpha and omega of managerial life – and there’s nothing quite as omega as being the manager who loses an All-Ireland that might well have been won nor as alpha as negotiating your way through the sub-committees that vet and approve new appointments as well as the sometimes querulous county committee meetings that rubber stamp – or at times rubber bullet – your appointment.

It’s striking to think that nearly every All-Ireland success begins with a manager addressing a bunch of impressed or sceptical players on an autumn evening somewhere, laying out plans and aspirations. The sceptical will recall previous orations that didn’t end at the intended destination or in the case of a new appointment, the similar aspirations of a predecessor.

The manager has to win two battles. The players have to buy into the plan and then he must play his role by nurturing and encouraging the team – inspiring confidence that if things aren’t going well on or off the field, he can address the problem decisively and effectively.

He has to learn all the time, discerning what’s gone wrong in a defeat and often more importantly, what’s gone wrong in victory, and apply the lessons.

In their statement of resignation 12 months ago after leading Tipperary to the All-Ireland Liam Sheedy and his team said that they had at times been putting in 16-hour days between work and hurling. Given the impact on a county of winning an All-Ireland and the importance to the GAA especially in hurling of seeing silverware move around, it’s hard to understand why that level of input should be on a purely voluntary basis.

Finally and to return to the subject of entering The Twilight Zone, you can’t help wonder what happened to the discussion document on payments to managers drawn up by the director general Páraic Duffy heading on for a year ago.

Addressing the subject of amateurism and under-the-counter payments, which he described as “a cancer” in his speech to annual congress last April, GAA president Christy Cooney said: “There are number of keys values that epitomise Cumann Lúthchleas Gael. Personally, I am strong on these core values and attempt to remain loyal to them at all times. Collectively as an organisation I believe we have to work hard to uphold and crucially protect these same values if we are to continue to represent the beliefs that underpin the GAA.

“With this in mind I propose to call together the chairpersons, secretaries, treasurers and Central Council delegates to a discussion forum within the next two months to gather their views on this topic.” Maybe the timetable was too ambitious but nearly six months later this convocation still hasn’t happened. smoran@irishtimes.com