I’d say the Canon O Brien was the last manager to wear a suit.
Looking back at old games Micko, Heffo and Cyril looked dapper on the line.
Even a manager in a pair of slacks like Nicky in 01 or John Meyler more recently looks well.
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Doing it used to be much more fun
Memories do tend to be deeper from childhood there has been an unquestioned blandening in society in terms of personality and that’s reflected in GAA and in other sports.
Like, look at Irish society in general in that 1985-1995 period I was talking about and the totemic figures that were in their absolute pomp or emerged, whether you liked them or disliked them.
Charles Haughey
Gay Byrne
Jack Charlton
Bono
Bob Geldof
Eamon Dunphy
John Hume
Garrett Fitzgerald
Sinead O’Connor
Roy Keane
Nell McCafferty
Alex Higgins
Terry Keane
Vincent Browne
Kevin Myers
Terry Wogan
Mick Doyle
Christy Moore
Dave Fanning
Gerry Ryan
Bill O’Herlihy
Ian Paisley
Dermot Morgan
Dolores O’Riordan
The fake voice of Gerry Adams
Paul McGrath
Bishop Casey
Barry McGuigan
Mike Murphy
Roddy Doyle
The cast of Glenroe
I’m sure there’s loads I’ve missed there. These were all totemic and culturally immensely significant figures in Irish society who mostly divided opinion in a very healthy way. Whether you liked them or disliked them they were all very formidable and culturally very significant figures and there just aren’t such equivalent formidable figures now in Irish society, or very few, which I think means Irish public discourse and Irish society is less interesting.
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Worth a re-watch
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PJ O’Connell is integral to the aura of that Clare team. He is somebody who is supposed to crop up in those pictures of Feile in Thurles, inadvertantly snapped leaning against a telephone box, sipping from a flagon of cider with a cigarette in his left hand, wearing a pair of slip on black shoes and white socks and a white Saw Doctors t-shirt tucked into a pair of jeans pulled high with a black belt and a buckle, and a lumberjack shirt tied high around his waist.
Ross Carr of Down was another player who had a magnificent gait.
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The Meath teams of the 90s had a great collective gait. Like fucking peacocks they were strutting after the Artane boys band. In contrast the struggling Dublin team of the late 90s/early 00s walked around with a weight on their shoulders, like men going into court awaiting a guilty verdict.
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John Meyler immediately sprung to mind alright with lovely black shoes and black pants combination.
I think skinny O’Neill’s tracksuit bottoms look abosoluty awful on managers in their 50’s.
I’m loving the umpires these past few weeks in the warm weather showing off their crisp white shirts and tie combination. Looks very well.
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One or two were.
Ah fuck it, that one was too easy.
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At club level, you’ll often see a selector coming straight from work to a challenge match midweek wearing a suit, and they look magnificent walking the sideline.
Seen a few managers in Parnell Park in the years pre-covid wearing denim jeans and workboots. The fluorescent Bainsteoir bib on top made them look like lads on a building site.
Sure the best club manager we ever had used wear a fancy cowboy hat.
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I wouldn’t mind someone turning up like that with a cut of work about them. A cowboy hat is high risk, but if you can pull it off, then why not?
What I don’t like are selectors/coaches turning up wearing shorts and sandals like you’d see on fellas off to the beach for a day (O’Neill’s shorts on selectors are just about acceptable but you wouldn’t have seen Brian Cody wearing them).
Another pet hate of mine are flip-flops. Completely unacceptable and Erik Ten Haag was dead right to ban them at Carrington. Wear proper runners. The Boss had a similar rule in place back in the day. I know Sean Dyche is a stickler that the only type of shirt to be worn on match day is a white shirt.
RIP Teddy, a Rebel through and through and a proud Republican.
The father used love a suit on the sideline when he was managing/selector. He was made wear a bib one evening by the jobsworths in whatever ground it was and it looked fair funny.
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A great word. Faughs have pair of twins now at it. You prob know them. Pure doses. They have another 50 years at it too.
The story of Anthony Daly going into a pub in Blackpool one night and having a fuss made of him and an auld fella at the bar goes “and how many All Irelands did ye win?” “Two” says Daly. The man takes a sip and says “we’d a fella did that in a fortnight”
RIP Teddy Mac
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Doesn’t ring a bell but I’d imagine I’d know the name
It’s having to be uber professional is what’s killed it.
The old man HATES the puritanism of the GAA today.
I just finished reading Two Brothers by Jonathan Wilson about Jack and Bobby Charlton. After around 1996 Jack wouldn’t even be considered for the Ireland job, let alone get it.
When I was VERY young I actually thought the McCarthy Cup was named for Teddy McCarthy. I was very young. And I had (still have) a teddy called Teddy, in my defence.
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