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It’s all about to kick off. Or throw in as the case may be.
Imagine if every county captain gave his speech at the start of the year instead of the end, the things he would say, the hopes, the expectations, the dreams. The people that have brought us to this great day. Only four men can lift a provincial football championship and only one lucky man will ascend those Hogan Steps.
Getting a team to the championship starting line is a big enough ask. Every man and woman has his or her part to play no matter how big or how small. The Co Board flat out sorting tickets. Logistics in the form of food and transport for players. Maybe a minor team to sort out as well. All hands to the pump..
Pundits may speculate on the potential of a different format for the GAA fan everywhere, but when it’s warm weather, and the smell of fresh cut grass filling up the senses, it means one thing and one thing only, The Championship.
For management and players this week is what they’ve all been waiting for. Since the draw was made back so long ago. All the winter training, the runs, the slog in the mud and the rain. The birthdays missed, the stony silences from the long suffering partner, the nights stayed in, the diet, the teetotal months. This is it. The biggest battle of the year.
Game plans, match ups, defensive systems, attacking ploys, and God forbid the blanket. All will be in place. Meanwhile the kit man will be making sure The New Jersey is washed ironed and folded neatly in a bag.
You know the match day routine from the club. The kitbag full of shirts thrown onto the battered physio table with a few lumps out of it from a hurl or two buried in it at half time on a bad day. The manager names the starting 15 and the jerseys are summonsed from the depths of the bag on fire across the dressing room. Micky you’re number two. Lads the fullback Jersey still missing from the last day, so Davy you wear 17 but you're starting at 3. The usual form.
Ask your dad about the football jerseys back in the olden golden days. There might have been one or two sets between the clubs teams and the chances were the manager forgot to get them washed, or maybe his car was in for a service with the jerseys in the boot. They would appear for the next match with the stanch of the previous Game’s sweat and ordure. There's nothing like a few days in duffel bag with 20 other jerseys with the weather nice and hot to ripen things up. And them caked and clarried with mud. Nice.
Some teams have a jersey ritual. In some teams it’s a ritual remembering who took them home after the last match with the usual panic.
With Tyrone Mickey Harte placed a premium on the County jersey and how special it was. It had to be treated with respect and so he and his wife Marian and the kids, Michaela, now sadly gone, and Mattie took care to wash, dry and press the jerseys. They were folded neatly in a bag before being presented to each player before the game. All players donned the white jersey at the same time to signify they were as one – a team.
Other teams have their jersey rituals. In Tipperary and Armagh we’ve seen mysterious looking squiggles on the reverse of a shirt. A psychological stimulus, a secret sign that’s known to the other artists who soldier in the same uniform.
For Rugby teams like the All Blacks and the Lions, the symbolism of the jersey being presented by a former player under pins the idea that the jersey is only borrowed to be passed on one day. The Lions have the selection number and the match embroidered on the jersey. Every Lion since the teams was founded has a unique number.
The team jersey is a sacred thing. The next time you see it crumpled on the floor of a dressing room. Lift it, fold it out the right way and replace it in the bag. I heard it once said that you can’t ask men to die for the jersey if it’s not a jersey worth dying for. And that’s true. Treat it with respect. Wear it well. Treasure it. And pass it on in better shape.
That’s what the men representing their counties this weekend and every weekend in the championship will be aiming for. It is an honour. Good luck to all county men as the championship gets underway. Especially those men pulling it on for the first time in a Championship game.