Why Mayo GAA needs to change radically and move with the times

Dr. Richard Martin

I remember when I returned to university in Galway in September 2014.

The first introductory lecture was in the O’Flaherty lecture theatre on a Monday morning. All the first year science students were there.

A couple of hundred or so.

I came late and couldn’t find a seat. I waited just outside the lecture hall and got talking to a few Clare lads standing beside me.

One of them asked me where I was from. I said Mayo. Chokers, he said straight away. Bottlers. Mayo had just lost to Kerry in Limerick that weekend in an All-Ireland semi-final.

I just nodded and said nothing. What could I say? That always stayed with me. He didn’t even know my name or anything about me, just where I was from. And because I was from Mayo I was a bottler and a choker. And that was his first impression of me.

I think any Mayo person reading this will identify and relate. When you leave the county, you will be met with jibes and jokes about Mayo football and how pathetic they are.

But, it’s not a joke. At its heart GAA is tribal. It’s about identity and pride in place.

When I meet friends from Cork I always avoid discussing football. Every conversation always ends on the same note. Mayo football is a joke and you by extension are a reflection of that. A bottler. A choker. Too nice. A bit soft. Ad nauseum. On repeat.

Years later when I worked in AIB, I always avoided any discussion of football.

If GAA came up in conversation with work colleagues I would keep stum and just shrug my shoulders and say I’ve no interest in football. I’ve learned the hard way.

That avenue of conversation will lead to insult and hurt. You just have to sit and take it.

For me the Tyrone final in 2022 was a turning point. My sense is that it was the same for a lot of other supporters in the county also. We were in a final against a team we should’ve beaten and we somehow discovered another way to lose.

I watched the match at a wedding in Mulranny.

When Ryan O’Donoghue missed the penalty I walked out of the function room and went for a walk on the beach. I came back to the hotel later when the match was over and said goodbye to a few people and headed on home.

I didn’t just leave the wedding that day. Psychologically, I’ve pulled back. The disappointments, disasters and hurt have left a mark.

I believe I’m not alone. In fact I know it.

Only 7,000 turned up to MacHale Park for the Cavan game. Mayo once again found a way to lose.

In the first few minutes the Cavan centre half-back sauntered up the pitch, straight through the heart of the Mayo defence and kicked a nice point with his left foot.

About seven solos of the ball weaving his way through the Mayo defence like a hot knife through butter and not a hand laid on him.

The performance of some of the Mayo players on the day was embarrassing.

In the aftermath of the defeat the pressure on the management team was ratcheted up a few notches and, in fairness, the players did deliver with an unexpected and impressive win over Tyrone at the weekend.

But the result does not deflect from the fact that there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians in the Mayo management set-up and that's been the case from the outset.

Results have shown that players crave guidance and leadership. Uno duce. Una Voce. One voice. One leader.

There has been an obvious lack of leadership on the sideline and on the pitch.

However, what of the players themselves?

Whatever about the Omagh victory, I still fear the worst when we meet Donegal.

Donegal under McGuinness mean business and will show no mercy

In the overall context, Mayo football is dysfunctional from top to bottom and one result does not change it.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the repayments Mayo GAA make for the stand that was built in MacHale Park.

They need to make a clear, decisive and forthright statement which puts the matter to bed. The longer this row rumbles on the more damage it will do. It’s sapping moral in the county and creates a negative image of Mayo GAA.

After the loss to Cavan, James Horan described Mayo GAA’s facilities as “farcical for an inter-county setup."He also said: “We haven’t built structures or laid down foundations like we should have over the last decade. We are behind so many other counties, what they have done and how they have progressed.

“Their structures, their coaching, their pitches, their academies, I think that is where so much needs to be looked at. How many counties have CEOs or performance directors?”

There is huge business in Mayo. Multinationals. Construction magnates. But how many of them want to get involved with Mayo GAA? A major sponsorship and fundraising drive is needed to build a complex like what James Horan outlined.

Kerry GAA did it. They built a state of the art training facility in Currans which cost €5.7 million. They held numerous fundraising events in New York, Boston and Chicago. No fuss. No drama.

They quietly went about their business and built a complex to develop future generations of players. Dublin GAA has a war chest of money from all the big corporate businesses in the capital. Dublin GAA are very effective and efficient in how they go about their business.

No fuss. No drama. All very low-key. And lots of All-Ireland successes. We could learn from them.

The standard of club football in the county has fallen dramatically. Everything begins and ends with club. It’s where players are nurtured and developed.

We have only won two provincial club titles in the last 20 years. That’s a damning statistic.

Winning is a habit. This county is not winning enough at underage for school or county. The key to the change in fortunes of the Limerick hurlers over the past 10 years is the work they did at underage.

They developed and nurtured players and it’s paid off handsomely. Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí.

It’s not enough to reach All-Ireland finals any more. It’s time to start winning them.

The great Ger Loughnanes once said: "Mayo don’t play to win they play not to lose."

He was right. The joke isn’t funny anymore. It’s too close to home and it’s too near the bone.

If nothing changes nothing changes. It’s time to start playing to win.