Overcoaching is totally ruining our great game

Overcoaching has turned football into a horrible watch Pat Spillane is a great man for a controversial soundbite that will make waves and national headlines. He is, after all, the man who coined the phrase “puke football” after watching Tyrone’s defeat of Kerry in the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final. When appearing on the Late Late Show on Friday night last, he was keen to inform the nation that he has a new term for our national game – “shite football”. He compared modern day football to a washing machine where “reset” and “recycle” are the buzz words. A peculiar metaphor but probably quite apt!

Now, Spillane says a lot of outlandish things for publicity and to remain relevant. Many would accuse him of living in the past as he harks for football from a bygone era but there is a kernel of truth in his views. I only got to see two championship matches in Mayo at the weekend but I have to admit that the Kerryman’s interview with Patrick Kielty was ringing in my ears as I watched both games.

Myself and an army of Shrule/Glencorrib supporters travelled to Westport on Saturday afternoon in the hope that the club could finally reach its first ever junior county final. No more than the Irish rugby team faltering repeatedly at the quarter-final stage of Rugby World Cups, overcoming the junior semi-final hurdle had become an issue for Shrule/Glencorrib. Three successive semi-final defeats made Saturday’s game a huge one for the club.

The football may not have been vintage stuff but the result was massive for the border men. Cill Chomain were much vaunted all year having gone so close to capturing the junior title in previous seasons and after their impressive success in the Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta in Donegal in June. On Saturday last, however, they were poor and lacked any real threat. The absence of some key forwards blunted their attack but Shrule/Glencorrib were full value for their victory, having dominated possession and controlled the match. Lahardane will pose a different threat in the final for Tom Burke’s men but Shrule/Glencorrib’s defence is solid and does not give up many opportunities so another tight tussle could be in store.

It was the first junior championship game I’ve seen this year and I was disappointed to see that some of the negative, safety-first, men behind the ball tactics so common at senior level have now infiltrated the junior grade. Punters are almost resigned to tight, turgid affairs in the senior championship as players are supremely conditioned and tactically over-coached but the naivety, free-spiritedness and abandon you would associate with junior football seems to have disappeared now too.

There’s no doubt that serious junior footballers are now in good nick too so that closes down some of the space in matches but the unwillingness to go forward and take risks was striking. Shrule/Glencorrib had approximately 75% possession in the match but less than ten shots. They did not score from play until the 55th minute. It was two points to one at half-time. Cill Chomain only scored one point in the second-half. There was a strong enough wind but conditions were generally benign for a mid-October match.

I watched a junior soccer match in Galway in the morning before heading to Westport and there were four goals in the first-half i.e. more goals than there were points in the opening half of the GAA match. Similarly, there were more tries in the first-half of the Ireland-New Zealand rugby match on Saturday evening than there were points in the first 30 minutes of the Gaelic football match in St Patrick’s Park.

There used to be such a premium on scoring goals in soccer or getting tries in rugby as both were so difficult to score. In Gaelic football, is it time that we gave two points for a kick over the bar? Or four or five points for a goal? Would this encourage players to at least have a cut at goal more often and give supporters something to get excited about?

On the other hand, would increasing the value of scores in Gaelic football promote an even more defensive approach among teams for fear of conceding some of these extra valuable scores? To improve the spectacle, any rule changes considered in future years must reward risk-takers and adventurous teams.

The players from Shrule/Glencorrib and Cill Chomáin left everything on the field in a tough, committed battle so I’m not having a go at them specifically. That match was symptomatic of a wider malaise in Gaelic football right now. One could have watched a dozen other games nationwide last weekend and it would have been the same story. God knows, I have played in enough dull games in recent seasons that would make you question your existence as a corner-forward. If I was to be reincarnated in another life, then I would come back as a goalkeeper or wing-back. These are the only positions on the field nowadays where you get space and can kick ball.

Indeed, the showcase match of the Mayo club season between Ballina Stephenites and Knockmore produced more of the same muck. Few scores from play, no goals, no space and loads of men behind the ball. Just the five scores in the first-half in this one. I often think that we could save ourselves a lot of time by just attending the second-half of these games.

Nothing happens in the opening exchanges as teams just cautiously and methodically feel each other out. At least after half-time, the games’ decisive moments occur as the play opens up a little with bodies fatiguing and victory in sight. The only magic on view in Crossmolina on Sunday was a few super long-range scores from Evan Regan, a player who was willing to take a risk and have a crack.

There were massive crowds at both games and while the Ballina and Shrule/Glencorrib fans were all delighted with their victory, I don’t think any supporters left either venue totally satisfied with the current state of Gaelic football. Fans of their own teams are partisan and will always attend their club’s fixtures but it’s the neutrals who will vote with their feet and stop going to these chess matches.

Maybe I was just unlucky with the games that I attended this weekend as there seems to have been some other entertaining encounters elsewhere, particularly in the intermediate championship where goals are still allowed to be scored. However, high-scoring, high-octane, end-to-end championship matches are now the exception, not the norm.

Having said all that, semi-finals are there to be won. The winners will argue that the end justifies the means. Managers would prefer to win ugly rather than get beaten playing pretty football.

At this stage of the season, players and supporters want to win a county title by any means necessary.

The upshot of this win at all costs strategy? A load of shite football.