MOSTLY HURLINGI MET A Limerick fan coming out of Thurles last Sunday who, while he wasn't too pleased with the result, thought that Damien Reale already was a shoo-in for an All Star this year. Very early days, I thought, considering we haven't reached the business end of the season yet.
This same fan told me he was at the 1976 Munster final in Cork when the Leesiders were too good for a fairly poor Limerick (except for Eamonn Cregan, who bagged four goals).
On the way home, in the comfort of one of Irish Rail's new luxury trains, I got to thinking about the All Star tours of the '70s. Back then the tours went to America only. The All-Ireland champions in both codes and the All Stars travelled in one big convoy in the late spring after the conclusion of the leagues. The first stop, on the four-venue trip, in '77 was the Windy City of Chicago. The players stayed with families, which meant you could be isolated and not meet much over the course of the time in each city.
But there was the game (Stars v All Ireland champs) and the post-match festivities in which hair was let down both on and off the field. There seemed to be more Irish there than were at home. I was sharing with my long-time friend Johnny Crowley who the previous September had won the first of his five winner's medals. We stayed with John's cousins somewhere out of town.
The Dubs football team were also on tour. I can't remember if they stayed with families that year but I do remember they stayed in hotels on the next tour, which, as far as I know, they organised and financed themselves. They certainly gave the impression they were better organised and more mature that the rest of us. I presume that was because they were. I remember thinking Paddy Cullen, Jimmy Keaveney and Tony Hanahoe were like men among boys. Kevin Moran was also there but he was a boy then with those men.
Then it was off to LA. This was a culture shock. It was all like we had seen on television. Sun, sea, surf, barbeques, gas guzzlers, eggs sunny side up, hash browns and a side of bacon, freeways, Anaheim, nickels and dimes, bourbon on the rocks, leggy blondes and The Lakers.
The games were played in a baseball or football ground, but they were incidental really.
All this new-found luxury and opulence left a strong impression on a young country boy's mind, so much so he tried it out for a year a while later.
Then it was off to the City by the Bay, San Francisco, next, where the Cork society was, and still is, alive and well. This beautiful city is much more compact than LA, which meant many of the players were staying with families close to the city in the area known as the Avenues, therefore there was more socialising.
The United Irish Cultural Society club out near the sea was the base for some wild nights for the week we were there.
On one such night I struck up a friendship (which is still intact) with a musician who was travelling with the Dubs party. Eddie Furey at that time was, with his brothers and Scot Davey Arthur, on the cusp of greatness, but then he was out for the craic (and still is).
Game three was played in the city but it didn't interfere too much with the partying. There was a trip to Lake Tahoe, Alcatraz and the Napa Valley, among other highlights.
Then the travelling party moved to the Big Apple for the grand finale and more parties, oh and a game in Gaelic Park.
This was a real dream holiday in a time when Ireland wasn't as flush with money as it has been for the last decade or so. It was the first time outside the island for most of the players. Most of the clubs made a collection for their representative. Wives or girlfriends, if they travelled, had to pay for themselves.
Many of the people we met hadn't been back home since they left - or very infrequently - so a visit from the best of the GAA players was very welcome indeed. Remember, there was no internet, no mobile phones, no Sunday Game and only a live broadcast of the All-Ireland finals.
All in all, a win-win situation all round.
Fast forward to the All Star tour of 2006. Only the hurling All Stars of 2005 and '04 travel. Venue: Singapore. Accommodation: the five-star Marina Mandarin on Raffles Boulevard. Duration: one week in January. Wives and (or) girlfriends are paid for.
The South East Asian Irish diaspora travel to see their heroes playing in the Singapore Polo Grounds on a very humid Saturday afternoon.
This was a very well organised tour to this wealthy oriental city. But it was very different to the tours of the '70s. Most of the players are now well-travelled and not that easily impressed. So the tours have to be to places that are interesting and different.
Young Irish flew in to Singapore for the weekend from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and even a few from Hong Kong. Muddy Murphy's bar was the place to party. All in all this was a very pleasant experience.
I've little doubt that after winning an All-Ireland senior medal, an All Star award would come very high in the list of "must haves" for all players at that level. The tour is an added bonus.
Who will be joining Damien Reale at the banquet in November? Will Brian Cowen be officiating at his first awards ceremony or will he be abroad fighting off Portuguese Men of War in Lisbon, or in Singapore looking to have the Bertie Ahern Orchid removed from the Orchid Garden's display?
Only time will tell.
But for now Galway, with Joe Canning pucking his first championship sliotar, should be too strong for Antrim and who knows, maybe there'll be a few All Star selectors in attendance.
