LOCAL DERBY TIME – The ‘THEM’ Bug?
My earliest memory of a local derby was when I was young lad
of 6 years old. Instead of working on ‘Busy at Maths’ as was the norm for a
Friday afternoon we were made put away the textbooks and asked to make green
and white flags using crayons and A3 paper. What a bonus, no maths! We created
a monster green and white collage which Miss hung on the window for the passing
world to see. It wasn't until the bell rang to signal the end of the school day
that one of the girls finally asked the obvious question ‘Why?’ The answer was
delivered with unerring precision – “Because WE are playing THEM Saturday
night.” It wasn't until a few years later that I fully understood the tone,
execution and delivery of that answer. What made it even more intriguing was
that our teacher wasn't even from here, she was a ‘blow-in’ as such with very
limited GAA knowledge but she had contracted ‘the BUG’.
GAA rivalry is a unique and utterly gripping experience which
we, if we are lucky enough, get a taste of every year through some colossal
inter-county battles. Championship buzz goes up a notch or two when Cork are
playing Kerry in a sun soaked Killarney. However, take a local derby in
championship between two neighboring villages and you will see even more passion,
even more boisterous opinions and additional aggression not just from fans but
from a whole community. Everyone becomes involved.
There is no passiveness or sitting on the fence in these
situations, it is your village and your community against the neighbours or ‘THEM’.
Nostalgia will be to the fore in the run-in and reality and facts gets lost in
the hyperbole and hysteria of the game. The mantra of never let the truth get
in the way of a good story is to the forefront and former players become
legends for a week or two in which they bask in.
As a player, when it comes to playing your fiercest rival in
a winner takes all championship encounter in the heat of summer the sun, after
55 training sessions, 8 league games, 3 missed stag parties and 1 increasingly
frustrated partner later it becomes a good deal more than just a game – it
becomes everything and you will give everything and more to be a winner.
But what about those outside the fence? What impact do these battles have on them? On match day do they feel the same emotions and feelings as the players that are out in the heat of battle? The answer is quite simply YES. Today, I examiner the various strains of ‘the BUG’ and how it impacts on the everyday normal life of members of the community in advance of playing ‘THEM’.
1.
The Benign Strain – Two dairy farmers at the
local agricultural store
A
chance meeting between two auld pals at the Co-op in town. It’s been a few
years since they last bumped into each other and they start chatting like they
were best pals. They talk about the long stretch in the evenings, the
temperamental weather being experienced at the moment, the price of diesel and
oil, the water charges, the price of the toll on the motorway and they even
give the Late Late show a passing mention. Both men have little or no interest
in GAA let alone having a conversation around it. Interestingly though they
finish off with one line which shows that they have contracted the minor strain of the BUG……..‘I hear our lot are playing
ye’r lot this weekend, I might see you at it’ to which Paddy replies ‘you might’. Not fanatics, not even fans
but both men will be there this weekend and both men will take great pride if
we can get one over on ‘THEM’.
2.
The Involvement by Association Strain - Ladies
at the local shop
It’s
Thursday evening and Mary has no bread for the supper. She pops down to the
local shop where she picks up a nice fresh loaf and while she is there picks up
a copy of the local newspaper and a pint of milk. On her way out she bumps into
Betty. Their sons went to primary and secondary school together and they
exchange the usual pleasantries before the talk of the weekend derby comes up.
Both their sons are on the panel for Sunday, but only one of them a regular
starter. They talk of contrasting emotions in both house during the week. Mary
notes that she has never seen her son so worked up and nervous about the game
while Betty mentions that her son Kevin is cool, calm and collected unlike herself
who has is a bag of nerves (she plays bingo with ‘THEM’ on a Tuesday
evening). While Mary doesn’t say it she knows that Kevin isn’t within an ass’s
roar of the starting team and it’s easy for him to be like that. Both women
have ‘the
BUG’ but in very different ways.
3.
The Consistent Supporter Strain - The back
of mass brigade
The Sunday morning of the game they’ll congregate at the
back. This will be a more important ceremony than Christmas or Easter to most
of them. The priest makes reference to the game in his opening , a little bit
of banter from padre when he suggested the church coffers would be in a much
healthier state were we to play ‘THEM’ every week. Even he is not
safe from ‘the BUG’. This is the last the lads will hear from him as they
launch into their own pre-game analysis that wouldn't be out of place on the
Sunday Game. The hand shake has the impact of cooling matters down for a few
minutes as matters become slightly heated when discussing the starting line-up.
They all leave at communion to talk, only a slight octave higher, outside the
front door. The impact of ‘the BUG’ is quite clear when they
go home. They’ll be asked by their
respective Partners what happened at mass to which they’ll reply ‘the priest
said we’re going to win’.
4.
The Hidden Agenda Strain - The outsider who
married in
‘The
Bug’ is very obvious at this stage. Sean won three county medals in his
time playing GAA……but all with ‘THEM’. He met a nice local girl
while studying Arts in UCC and low and behold the rest is history. They now
live locally and their kids go to the local national school. Despite at the
time it giving him a pain in his gut they also play with the local GAA team
where he is now a coach with the UNDER 12’S. 95% of the time he will support
local but not this weekend. He grew up as one of ‘THEM’, he played as one
of ‘THEM’
he still drinks with ‘THEM’ and in this local derby he is
one of ‘THEM’. He keeps his cool when discussing the game with the
locals, trying not to give much away but he is as passionate now as he was when
he celebrated the winning point in the last competitive meeting between the
sides 10 years ago. A Legend………….but not in this town!!
5.
The Fanatical Strain - The Never miss a
challenge match supporter
If
a game was fixed for the side of a mountain on the back road to Kenmare from
Cork in the middle
Of
the night during a hurricane, good old Jamsie would be there roaring on the
boys and reporting back to the village when he finally made his way home.
Dedication is his middle name and this game is his World Cup Final. He replays
every kick of the ball between the two clubs in the 1970 divisional final and
he was selector the year the clubs played out three replays in the blistering
summer of 1995. He talks about the victories like they were in the top 5
moments of his life but he never mentions the defeats, they still hurt. He’ll
proudly take his position long before the teams make their way out for the warm
up and will be wearing a splash of green and white in case anyone was in any
doubt about who he was supporting. It is the clearest strain of ‘the
BUG’ as any talk of ‘THEM’ will get him worked up and agitated
but when he calms down her will talk full of passion, raw emotion and will have
yarns about classic encounters going back years.
As a player, the
feeling of playing in a local derby is something special. As a supporter, the
feeling is no different.
