We all know that Ireland is changing at a phenomenal speed.
Living in the country is so different now to what it was even ten years ago. The advances that have been made in science and technology is nothing short of incredible.
Imagine the difference between a young GAA player in the 1940’s and a keen youngster of the modern era.
There is no real comparison between the two.
In Mick O’Dwyer’s youth, there were no mobile phones, there were no televisions, there was nothing to keep the kids inside. What the majority of them wanted to do was play, play and play.
It was an outdoor world, if you weren’t farming you were playing football. There was no gyms in Mick O’Dwyer’s time, the farm and some good old-fashioned elbow grease was their gym work.
“If you picked potatoes or did stuff manually, it would help your body growth, manual work you couldn’t beat it. We don’t have that anymore, all the guys now are behind computers,” said the Kerry legend to Independent.ie.
There appears to be a hint of regret in O’Dwyer’s comments, as if he feels the generation of today are spoiled, are pampered.
It was an all-action youth that he lived and the 12-time All-Ireland winner (four as a player) wouldn’t swap it for the iPhones, the computers of today.
In rural Ireland, there was nothing else to do other than farm and play GAA. It instilled a bond, a longing in his generation for the GAA.
“We developed a lot of our skills by going to the field every evening, there was nothing else to do…You’d be lucky if you had two footballs and 30 young fellas trying to win possession of that ball. You had to be good at catching and intercepting and kicking. The rule at the time was you got it and you kicked it,” said O’Dwyer.
O’Dwyer links this to the historic prosperity of rural GAA clubs in GAA competitions, and he can’t help but worry about the future.
Nevermind the future, because it’s happening in GAA clubs around the country at the moment. The numbers just aren’t there, the same enthusiasm that burned brightly in the rural areas of the past just isn’t there.
Club’s are being forced to join together to field underage teams. Certain youngster don’t have the same interest, they are more enchanted by phones and electronic gadgets.
They have nothing to keep them in their rural roots.
“Amalgamation is a big worry for the GAA — the employment just isn’t there in rural areas anymore and that must change. The Government has been putting all their eggs in one basket, Dublin, Dublin, Dublin.”
The world has changed but O’Dwyer is desperate for the GAA’s importance to stay the same.
