Until last Sunday, one of the wonders and delights of the GAA over the last five or so years for me was not just the opportunity to watch David Clifford play football, but the opportunity to point out to people outside the sport – and remind those in it – that probably his greatest ever performance didn’t even play for a senior club.
In almost every other sport, with the exception of professional sports, every player becomes a de facto free agent at the end of the season. Loyalty or return to your current or home club is not something to be taken for granted. Especially for a player of Clifford’s talent.
If he had played football, basketball or any number of other sports you could mention, he would have been forgiven for thinking – and no doubt being advised – even as a teenager that he should move on. Leave Fossa and hop into Dr Crokes just a couple of miles away on the Killarney ring road. Play with the best players. Gain access to higher quality, proven coaching. Without such self-improvement, self-improvement is impossible.
This ideal can have a devastating impact on club and sport volunteers. They can fully understand why a move to a bigger club is best for the player. In most cases, they only want the best for the child. They understand that he or she belongs to no one. But with every parting, another part of you dies. You are reminded of your place in the food chain. The cycle continues. Essentially, you are a sales club, a stepping stone – fodder – for the big boys.
Even the GAA, with its parish government and the incredibly strong attachment people have to their local club, is not immune to talented players moving on to bigger clubs. While the GOAT of football remained with Fossa, the hurling player moved from Cloyne to Glen Rovers. We could give a similar case in every county.
Over the decades the club in my area, Ballea, has tended to lose its best players to nearby Clarecastle, one of Clare’s traditional hurling superpowers. But when Tony Griffin refused to comply with such offers and remain in the club where his brothers served, the flood stopped. The trend has gone awry. After Tony Griffin stayed, Tony Kelly and all the other hurlers at the club stayed.
This is the norm in the traffic police. Griffin, Kelly and Clifford remain with the clubs where their fathers served and where their classmates still play because the unique structure of the sport encourages it as much as its culture dictates it.
As teenagers they all attended some of the most famous GAA academies in the country – St Brendan’s Killarney in Clifford’s case, St Flannans Ennis in Kelly and the Griffins. They also have other opportunities to play with top talent without having to leave their club or guys at home. And in Clifford’s case, because the divisional system was so strong and supported in his home county, he and his brother also had to play for East Kerry.
In other sports there is no such option. This link is missing. To play with the best players, you need to leave your own club.
There is a lesson here for other sports. Including, as it happens, throwing.
David Clifford could play at the highest level of his sport even when Fossa was playing youth football just four years ago. Just like any Kerry youth footballer can compete in the County Senior Championships by playing for their division team. Play them well enough and you can play Kerry too. Your capabilities are equal to your talent.
However, a hurler in Cavan or Mayo cannot say that. There you can be Clifford and remain a mystery to the rest of Ireland, unless, for obvious reasons, you switch from a small ball to a big ball.
While there’s nothing wrong with William Maher being on John Mailer’s hurling advisory committee, he knows the rules of the game aren’t the sport’s biggest issue. This is how the sport works outside the four white lines, not inside them. The county system generally works well for football, but outside of Munster it barely works for hurling.
He must emulate the Kerry model of football. However, let this Cavan hurler play for Cavan and his club. But also let him play for the Ulster team (except Antrim, which is self-sufficient). Just as a Mayo hurler can play for a Connacht team (excluding Galway) as well as for his club and county.
At the moment, every footballer can play either Sam Maguire football or Tailteann Cup football. The same should be true in throwing. No matter your geographical location, you can play Liam McCarthy or Joe McDonagh Cup hurling. Financially and strategically support all mid-level Leinster counties – Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Carlow, Laois – as well as Kerry to ensure they remain competitive Joe McDonagh – and perhaps Liam McCarthy – teams in their own right.
What is the reason for abandoning such a system? Because Louth, Longford and Wicklow’s best player doesn’t have an obvious Joe McDonagh team to play for? As with everything, there is a will, there is a way and a solution.
As it turns out, Clifford’s talent is so ridiculous that I can no longer say that his club is not even senior. Thanks to his amazing 15 points in the Intermediate County final beating Kilcummin, they now have them.
However, this would not have happened if he had not had to play with stronger players for Kerry, just as it obviously would never have happened to them if he had gone to Dr Crokes.
Kerry footballers have found a formula that delivers the best of all worlds.
Other sports, including hurling and Maher, should also take this into account.