GAA players can benefit from other codes

Last week, I ticked a small item off the sporting bucket list by paying a visit to St Andrew’s on the east coast of Scotland, known the world over as the ‘Home of Golf’.

It was there in by-gone days that the ancient game was developed and, since 1754, the Royal and Ancient has been based there, it being the governing body for golf in most parts of the world.

The reason for the trip was a day out at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, now in its 25th year. One of the key staples of the DP World Tour schedule, it’s an event that stands out amongst the rest because dozens of amateurs take part, playing alongside a professional counterpart in the team event. An individual tournament for the professionals also takes place across the three courses in use during the week: Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrew’s.

On Thursday morning, under the crisp October sunshine, most of the followers out on the links were actually drawn to a group to catch a glimpse of the amateur players, not the professionals. Gareth Bale and Ruud Gullit attracted the bulk of the crowd throughout the course of the morning and early afternoon, playing alongside professionals Marcus Armitage and Charles Howell III.

Bale’s football career was the stuff of legend. A teenage prodigy at Southampton, he matured into a world-class talent at Tottenham before securing a glamour move to Real Madrid, where he won an astonishing five Champions League titles.

The scrutiny that comes with playing for arguably the world’s biggest club, however, took its toll on Bale’s time in Madrid, where his commitment was questioned on several occasions, most notably when a mischievous Welsh flag with the wording ‘Wales, Golf, Madrid. In that order’ was produced following one of his Wales appearances.

Bale admits he was ‘slaughtered’ by the Spanish press when his commitment to golf was deemed to be greater than his desire to play for Real Madrid, but it probably comes with the territory of playing for a club where nothing less than sweeping success is considered acceptable.

For what it's worth, Bale is a superb golfer and, last Thursday, produced several shots which, if you arrived not knowing who he was, would leave you thinking he was one of the professionals in the group.

It's a curious thing, high-level sport. Outright devotion to your trade is the expected standard in most cases, but there is much to be learned by taking a peek at other sports and, on top of that, trying your hand at it too.

It's something that is particularly in vogue in Mayo, where a clip of Andy Moran delivering a coaching seminar in a wintry MacHale Park late last year went viral after this year's All-Ireland final.

In it, Moran extols the benefits of kids playing soccer in the yard at school and being willing to try nutmegs, stepovers and other tricks yet they still make plenty of mistakes trying to do it. In some ways, GAA coaches had become opposed to that mindset, though the rule changes of recent years have helped turn that trend around. So too has the way Mayo won this year's All-Ireland.

Indeed, Mayo can lay claim to being one of the more progressive counties when it comes to embracing other sports and the benefits they can bring to Gaelic football. Basketball is chief among them.

Basketball's influence on Gaelic football has been significant and, perhaps, it is starting to grow even further. In fact, earlier this year, one article in the Irish Examiner led with the headline 'The Basketballisation of Gaelic football'.

It's not hard to see why the two sports share a relatively close relationship on this island and in Mayo in particular, where basketball influence has been evident at club and county level over the years.

Liam MacHale is the main name everyone thinks of when it comes to playing both sports at the absolute top level, having excelled in a golden era for Ballina in basketball as well as being one of the top midfielders in inter-county football during a glittering career in the 1990s.

Indeed, that memorable period for the sport in Ballina will be on show at an event in the town this weekend, when 'Days of Gold and The Boys of 91' will be on stage at the Ballina Arts Centre, 35 years on from the memorable season that was 1991. That innovative production will recall those heady days in unique fashion.

It might also re-emphasise how players can excel, and benefit, from playing multiple sports.

Given the tactical nuances now involved in Gaelic football, slow attacks in particular require tactical precision and that is where basketball can help in helping translate set plays or setting up screens for shooters. Transitional play is also an area where crossover is evident.

Aside from that, though, there's a wider point to be made.

The 'ban' is long gone from the rule book, but is there still an attitude within the GAA that it can only be the GAA and there's no option to try your hand at other sports when time allows?

Burnout is a major issue, of course, and a lot of the time players don't have the time to get stuck into other sports because they are playing 12 months of the year between club and county.

But we've seen the likes of Aidan O'Shea play basketball in the winter months. Kieran Donaghy and Michael Darragh MacAuley are other All-Star footballers to have also excelled on the court.

There are drawbacks, of course, when it comes to physical exertions but there are multiple benefits from ball handling skills to tactical information and so much more.

There was a welcome return of National League basketball to Ballina last weekend, with their return to the big time marked by a deserved eight-point win over the Dublin Raiders.

Basketball's return may be good for that particular sport, but you can be sure it can benefit others too, as it has in the past.