The selection process is kept under wraps but here are 10 things that can be revealed:
The homework is done.
Selectors are asked to furnish their 45s and 15s prior to the meetings. It streamlines as it encourages independent thinking before the rights and wrongs of their picks are debated. Choosing nominations is often treated as seriously as identifying recipients. Only in a few counties are All-Ireland medals currency. All-Stars are more widely accepted and for that reason distributing them is done with care.
Players pick their best peer.
While the shortlist of three (or four) is the responsibility of the selection committee, since the GAA and GPA amalgamated their awards 10 years ago, the players are asked to pick the best from that trio (or quartet). The vote is now done by proportional representation after thrice All-Ireland winners (Dublin on two occasions and Tipp on one) saw their vote split and others win (Lee Keegan and Austin Gleeson 2016, Andy Moran ‘17).
Debate can be territorial.
And with good reason given that the spread of journalists incorporates several who are based outside Dublin. For instance, three of the 15 on the football committee live in Ulster and they would have been at the provincial championship matches as others were watching Paudie Clifford run rampage through the Munster competition. Getting the balance right is essential as is weighting the opposition that players are facing.
Journalists are best placed to make the calls.
We would say that, wouldn’t we? It’s often disputed that journalists are best placed to pick the best players but the Powerscreen episode when the players chose themselves is not something the GAA will want to return to in a hurry. That the All-Stars can often be a subjective exercise seems to be lost on people but if what the GAA markets is true and nothing beats being there, then those whose job it is to be in attendance and who are more likely to be dispassionate are best placed.
But it’s getting tougher to judge both.
The All-Stars steering committee comprises eight journalists, seven who sit on both selection bodies. The concentrated nature of the championships these last two years has meant more games clashing. For instance, this column attended almost twice as many hurling championship matches this summer. Thank heavens for the record button.
The president decides a split vote.
GAA president Larry McCarthy will preside over this week’s meetings as his predecessors have done in the past. When they are available, the director general is charged with acting as chair. They do not have a vote but in the event there is an equal number of selectors in attendance and the vote is tied, they have the responsibility of breaking it. It has happened.
The league is considered.
Up to the pandemic, journalists had been asked to compile their top performers in the league as a reference point for the selection process later in the year. That proposal came from the steering committee but as the league was fragmented in 2020 and played over a shorter period this season it was not done. But that is not to say what happened in the secondary competition won’t be considered.
Positions are fluid.
In 2018, the steering committee voted to allow an outfield player be chosen for an award in an area other than the one in which they were nominated. The decision was taken to reflect the fluidity of both games but it was a means to ensuring the correct 45 were selected — it’s not every year there are as many good backs as forwards and vice versa. Getting the right 15 is a matter for December. Besides, flexibility adds to the intrigue.
Ten most common words/phrases in All-Stars meetings.
“Body of work”. “Through the chair”. “I would have to disagree with…” “Can we put this to a vote?” “Who will make an argument for [insert player’s name]?” “We have four names for two positions”. “Optics”. “We can revisit that later”. “He played in midfield more than anywhere else”. “But who did they beat, really?”
There is safety in numbers.
“Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent,” wrote James Surowiecki in his renowned book The Wisdom of Crowds. He may not have All-Stars committees in mind exactly but our own blushes have been often spared by the research and arguments fellow journalists have brought to the table.
