The Dublin professor who knows Mayo GAA inside out
WHY have Mayo not won more All-Ireland SFC titles?
That question was posed in a study entitled 'Beyond the Scoreboard – Oral Histories of the GAA in Mayo' by Dr. Arlene Crampsie, University College Dublin.
Giving a talk at Turlough Park house and museum a few days after Mayo qualified for their fourth All-Ireland final in the space of six years, Dr. Crampsie gave an example of the kind of responses she got to that question from 50 Mayo interviewees.
The reasons included 'the players are not big enough or tough enough', the impact of emigration, players 'too fond of socialising', and a lack of commitment, politics, both personal and party-based, and self-belief.
She revealed: “Not one of the interviewees brought up 'the curse' voluntarily. In fact, nobody remembers hearing about it until the ‘90s and only in a sustained way since 2012. When asked, one of the interviewees believed in it. None of the players admitted to it.”
So maybe it is a complete myth. Let's leave it parked so.
Not such a myth, however, is player power, an issue that raised its head in Mayo football once again when Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly resigned as joint managers two years ago.
Previously there was a widely publicised issue during Brian McDonald's time in charge.
But rebellion is nothing new within Mayo GAA.
As Dr. Crampsie observed in her study: “Despite the promise of the 1936 All-Ireland winning team, it was 1950 before Mayo won another All-Ireland.
“Player power is a phrase associated with the modern era of the GAA, however it was very evident in Mayo in 1947 when the players revolted against the county board.
“Journalist and historian Terry Reilly explained that the team had become disaffected with the lack of organisation and planning at county board level. This had culminated with the county board failing to bring enough players to a game against Kerry, whereupon the county secretary was forced to tog out to make up a full team.
“In the aftermath of this event the team wrote a letter expressing their lack of faith in the county board and sent it to the county board and local and national newspapers.
“The upshot was that the team took over their own affairs, very successfully as it transpired, as they reached the All-Ireland final in 1948 and won two All-Irelands in 1950 and 1951.”
Parallel
There is a parallel here with the current squad, which effectively 'took control of their own affairs' in the aftermath of the departure of Holmes and Connolly, and it could ultimately be judged after today's final in respect of that action.
In fairness, the players still required a solid managerial structure to make this happen, but the point is not lost on Mayo supporters.
On a final note, emigration remains a major factor when assessing a sporting county’s situation along the western seaboard.
Stated Dr. Crampsie: “There is a very clear sense from the interviews that the period from the 1950s through to the 1980s was one in which the social fabric of Mayo was drained of not only its GAA stars but of its population in general.
“For some rural areas this resulted in an inability to maintain club structures and amalgamations of clubs occurred in some of the worst affected areas. Ballycastle, Ballycroy, Bangor and Kilcommon all united under the banner of St. Patrick’s and ran a number of successful campaigns in the north Mayo championship.
“One of the clubs which disbanded altogether in the period was Ballyvary, where the club simply ‘ran out of people’.”
There was also the issue of players planning to emigrate who opted to stop playing in case they got injured.
Dr. Crampsie's case study was fascinating, to say the least, and the hope is that it will require a glorious new chapter in the not-too-distant future.