I admit to being more than a little peculiar.
In my younger days, I would never have had the courage to admit this. Indeed, I would have argued vehemently against the assertion. However, I have come to accept that rather than perceive this as personal predicament, I have actually grown quite fond of this particular aspect of my personality. I grew to understand that peculiarity is individuality in action.
I had been brought up in a world where conformity was all the rage. Ireland in my younger days wanted regular people behaving in regular ways and irregular behaviour usually received regular punishment, normally of a physical nature. One was meant to conform, and while to an extent it worked, in truth it developed a distrust of authority in many and in some an openly rebellious nature.
Peculiarity is all things to all men. The Dublin I grew up in contained many individuals who exhibited all manner of strange behaviour, ranging from talking openly to themselves to shouting at people in the street. These individuals were accepted as ‘characters’ in the city and if you are of a certain age you will fondly remember them. If not, ask your parents or grandparents. In the PC world we now live in the same people would be construed as dangerous and yet they were almost deified in a sense.
In professional football, individuals are expected to conform to the guidelines laid down by those charged with running the game, whether this be clubs or the relevant associations pertinent to each particular country. Most of us who have been professional footballer players will have been in hot water somewhere along the line.
There has been more than the odd occasion when I have been mortified at some of the indiscrete actions perpetrated by the younger me.
When I first went to play in England I found it difficult to come to terms with the servility expected from players. The vast majority of players had been in pro football since they left school and would have little if any experience of what went on in the outside world of employment. One of the most intriguing and at the same time most damaging parts of this was that when it came to retirement from the game at the age of 32 or 33, the vast majority of these still young men had little or no preparation for employment in the real world.
The impact of the enormous upheaval caused by moving from an almost cloistered environment into the harsh demands of genuine work created such emotional consternation that many players took a long time to settle, and some just didn’t.
I too had a few problems when the time came for me to step out of my treasured profession, but I was better prepared than most, probably because I could talk to anyone.
I was captivated at the irony contained in this because it was this propensity to engage in dialogue that got me in hot water with managers and referees during my career.
By the way, I watch rugby with awe. I see these big tanks of men batter each other, stand on each other and whatever else they do to each other when they get in that scrum, and yet, when the referee calls them to him they, in an instant, become incredibly meek and mild, schoolboys in the glare of the headmaster.
Can you imaging this happening in professional football? Can you imagine the referee talking to footballers during the flow of the game, telling them to ‘leave it’ or ‘stay back’ and them listening?
Like many of my generation I liked to talk, due perhaps in some little way to being reared at a time when children were mandated by the chastening rebuke to ‘speak only when spoken to’. Anyway, I did question the actions and decisions of some managers and referees who I felt tended to seek the easy route or soft option, rather than remain loyal to the principles of responsibility that most of us felt should always be attached to those important positions.
League of Ireland football too is more than a little peculiar. Where other sports like GAA or rugby can exist for and by themselves, Irish domestic football has no such freedom.
As part of the world game the League finds itself compared with - and in many ways is in competition with - professional football in England and across Europe.
This has induced something of an inferiority complex in many of those involved with the game here over the past decade or two. As a consequence, it has been a difficult and demanding proposition for clubs here to prosper.
We have lost many supporters over recent years and for many reasons. A lot of people find live matches on TV more than enough to satisfy their interest and others travel to Premier League or Championship games. This peculiarity places an extra emphasis on those involved here to entice more fans through the turnstiles. The only real way managers and players can play a significant part in this is by improving the product on the park as much as they can.
The essential difficulty here is that many managers and players feel that winning, both games and trophies, is fulfilling their part of the bargain. I strongly disagree with this mentality. Bohemians won the League and FAI Cup last season in a canter, but their attendance figures were extremely poor. This proves success alone is not enough. So it is therefore imperative that the product must compare favourably with that shown on TV and this means managers must commit to a more exciting style of football that provides more goals.
Many involved in the game here disagree with my utter conviction that it is the responsibility of all to ensure that we make our game more of a spectacle. For example, Cork City won three excellent points in Dublin last Saturday on the back of their impressive first-half display. However, although three goals up and playing against 10 men, they took their foot off the pedal in the second and the game became a complete anticlimax. It was live on television and an opportunity was lost to ram home the quality I know is contained in both the team and the League.
I watched Bray Wanderers and Drogheda on Friday night and it was a poor advertisement watched by a meagre 1000 spectators. Roddy Collins told me he was in Dundalk on Friday and while the home team beat Galway United, the standard was inadequate. To me this is worrying, and especially so in these times of financial confusion.
I have admitted my peculiarity. I have also stated my belief that more persuasive action is required to improve the image and the attraction of the League of Ireland. I do not accept that my personal peculiarities are connected to, or are responsible for, my desire to see managers and players accept their full responsibilities to commit to a better style of game. To my mind this is only common sense.
