Southerners can learn a lot from ‘nordie’ attitude

Against the Breeze
By Paddy Heaney

First Published March 10 2009

AS Tadhg Kennelly walked off the Bellaghy pitch on Sunday evening, a posse of newspaper journalists waited for him at the corner of the ground.

Tadhg was the story. After spending 10 years in the outback that is Aussie Rules football, he had finally made his debut for Kerry.

Smiling and chatting as he made his way towards the changing rooms, Kennelly probably knew the crowd of grim-faced reporters was waiting for him.

“Can we get a word, Tadhg?”

“I’ll speak to you when I come out,” came the cheery response.

Kennelly is a skilled media practitioner. They loved him in Australia. He danced a jig on the podium when the Sydney Swans won the Grand Final.

His popularity was evident during last year’s International Rules Tour. Members of the Irish squad who spent time in his company readily testified to his appeal. Women stopped him in the street. Good-looking women.

And yet there was none of the jealousy that normally comes with such popularity. He is one of those rare specimens, loved by women, admired by men.

After showering and changing, he was true to his word and presented himself for an interview to the waiting journalists.

With his tan and white teeth, he jarred with the pale, yellow-toothed hacks surrounding him.

Or maybe it was his comments which didn’t seem to tally with his new environment. When asked how he felt about making his senior debut, Kennelly said: “I felt a bit emotional before the game. When Jack called me to come on, I kind of welled up a bit.”

My reaction to Kennelly’s response was instantly negative. ‘Tadhg still thinks he’s talking blarney to the Australians,’ I said to myself.

It is all well and good Riverdancing in the MCG. But this is the GAA and Tadhg Kennelly was in Bellaghy, a place where men don’t ‘well up’ before they play a game of football.

Of course, my response to Kennelly’s statement says more about me than it does about the Kerryman. As my uncle Pat once observed about his own family: “The Heaneys don’t have hearts, they’ve pumps.”

This emotional vacuum means my default position ranges from scepticism to outright distrust. Or, as a southerner might say, I’m just a typical Nordie.

Too cold. Too blunt. Too cynical. Too forthright. And far too damned serious. This is how our southern cousins are increasingly viewing us lot ‘up North’. Our zealous behaviour on all issues

regarding the GAA is increasingly becoming a source of irritation to them, and has led to a growing north-south divide.

In the south, they just couldn’t be bothered with the hassle. It’s not like there was no opposition to the players’ grants or the International Rules outside Ulster.

But, there was no way they would be driving to hotels on a cold winter night to demonstrate their opposition. Similarly, none of the other provincial councils would bother debating a motion about the International Rules, an issue which is an irrelevance to them.

But that’s just the way we seem to be in Ulster. More militant. Always shouting from the sidelines.

Take Tadhg Kennelly as an example. After opting not to play Gaelic football in favour of a career in the AFL, the Listowel man has already been appointed as the coaching officer for North Kerry.

We can only assume that the Kerry County Board overlooked candidates who have been

actively involved in coaching Gaelic games during the decade in which Kennelly was playing Aussie Rules.

Yet, there has been no public outcry. Just imagine if that happened in an Ulster county. There would be a riot.

It can be assumed there will be some ill-feeling in Kerry. But it will be suppressed and contained. This isn’t an entirely healthy way of dealing with issues (see ‘The Field’ by John B Keane from Listowel, North Kerry).

Buried anger doesn’t go away. It only festers and ferments until the days comes when it can’t be stifled any longer.

This is precisely what has happened in Cork where a dysfunctional and power-hungry county board has been allowed to go unchallenged for too long.

A catastrophic error from chairman Jerome O’Sullivan has finally brought the situation to a head. The defining moment in the saga came when O’Sullivan stated that the clubs of Cork would have no say in deciding who manages the county hurling team.

O’Sullivan made the mistake of confirming what the clubs had known for a long time – the county board was a law onto itself, an inner sanctum that ran its business without feeling any need to consult the people they were supposed to be serving.

And now the clubs have risen. At long last, they are prepared to give voice to the frustration that has been building for years.

The question that must be asked is: why did it take so long? Why did the clubs allow themselves to be marginalised by the

power-brokers at Pairc Ui Chaoimh?

The answer is simple. No-one was prepared to speak out. No-one was prepared to offend or to be offended. Too much hassle. Better to say nothing. It’s not worth it.

But it is worth it.

Southerners may feel that we in the North are a little too ‘precious’ about the GAA.

This attitude is not because Ulstermen are better gaels than their southern counterparts. It is because there is a greater

appreciation in Ulster that the GAA is ‘precious’. It needs to be protected.

Whether you agree or disagree with ‘Of One Belief’ and Mark Conway’s strident opposition to the player grants is irrelevant. The same applies to Mickey Harte and his stance on the International Rules.

The important thing is that there are individuals and groups who are prepared to challenge

anything which they believe contradicts the ethos of the GAA.

It’s true, we nordies could sometimes benefit from adopting some of the laissez-faire attitude of our southern cousins. We can be a bit po-faced at times.

But the Gaels in the south could also profit from copying their placard-wielding Ulster

counterparts.

The clubs in Cork kept their heads down for so long that the county board forgot they were there.

When it comes to the things in life that are of value, it is absolutely necessary to stand up and speak out.