First, do no harm. That’s what they teach the medical students. Look at the situation, size it up, reason out a plan of action – but whatever you do, don’t make it worse. As a fundamental principle, it ought to be plastered in block capitals across the walls of every minority sport association in the world.
The women’s football final threw up two genuinely incredible stories on Sunday and yet if the general sporting public paid any attention at all, it was a third one that grabbed them come Monday morning. Nobody was talking about the Cork team that had just won a sixth All-Ireland title in a row, the greatest team in Irish sport still winning even as it regenerates. Nor was anybody making much of the 34,445 crowd, even though it represented a doubling of the attendance from just four years ago.
Nope. If it wasn’t Hawkeye and it wasn’t the possibility of an appeal from Dublin over the umpire’s mistake that led to Carla Rowe’s first-half point being waved wide, it wasn’t anything anyone wanted to talk about. The All-Ireland final on the fourth Sunday of September is the one position of strength women’s football is guaranteed all year – and it was torpedoed by a completely avoidable, self-inflicted controversy.
When something like this happens, there is no room for nuance. Cork were the better team? Doesn’t matter. Cork would have been more careful about conceding a penalty at the end had they been three rather than four points ahead? Doesn’t matter.
The umpire should have made what was an easy call in the first place, negating the need for Hawkeye? Doesn't matter. All that matters is that there's a mechanism available to stop this from happening and the LGFA didn't make use of it. If you can have Hawkeye, you should have Hawkeye. End of conversation.
Yes, it might cost a few quid but so did those two-page ads in the papers over the weekend. So did that preposterous Ladyball campaign. You can't on the one hand expect people to make a big noise over the Lidl deal – which everyone did, because there is goodwill and because it was a genuine coup – but then on the other brief that Hawkeye costs too much for one day a year. Even if that's true, nobody cares. All they see is farce.
It was the same with the camogie coin-toss farrago last year. Ask any reasonably engaged sports follower what happened there and chances are, the particulars of the situation barely lasted through the ensuing weekend, never mind 13 months later. All most people remember is that there was a monumental cock-up and it was the only reason anybody talked about camogie last summer. That’s entirely unfair but it is the reality.
Life in the world of minority sports is hard enough already. You spend every day pushing against consensus. The belief you have in your sport sets you apart from the crowd, the effort you put into it every day makes you an oddball. But you do it because it’s who you are and if you didn’t, it would wither away to nothing. In the face of ignorance, in the face of indifference, you plug away and you try to get people to see the sport the way you do.
And then something like this happens. Something that not only could have been foreseen, it actually was foreseen. Only 12 months ago, LGFA president Marie Hickey gave their reasons for not following the Camogie association in using Hawkeye for the finals in Croke Park.
“We did discuss it,” she said at the launch of the 2015 finals. “But we decided not to go with it this year, we’re going to look at it again for next year. At the time, when we looked at it, we realised that there had to be a recalibration for the size of our ball and that would actually have taken longer than the time-frame that we had. There’s a cost factor as well, obviously, so we’ll look at it again next year.”
The notion has been put about that they didn’t want something to pertain in the final that isn’t available in provincial grounds. But that too is nonsense. For one thing, everything is different in Croke Park – just ask any of the players’ families who are accustomed to congratulating or commiserating on the pitch after a game, regardless of the outcome. Try that in drearily humourless Croker these days, see how far you get.
But even beyond that, this is the shop window for the sport. This is what they put all the effort into getting the thousands into the ground for. All they needed from the day was a conclusive result and the year could be pronounced a success. Instead, we have a collective facepalm.
Controversy in sport is like water spilled from a jug – it will find its way into the last unprotected corner, however small you think that nook might be. It’s easy to see how the LGFA could decide not to use Hawkeye. The only way it would become an issue is if the All-Ireland final came down to a one-point game and there was a contested point somewhere along the way. And how often does that happen?
Enough, is the answer. Enough for you to know that eschewing such a simple solution is tempting fate. And when you’re a minority sport looking to put your best side out, tempting fate amounts to wilful neglect.
First, do no harm. A task at which the LFGA in this instance has sadly failed.
