'It’s little wonder that fans feel disconnected' - Flynn's Mayo GAA column

“That was a bit harsh”, came the damning verdict. 

Immediately after submitting last week’s column, I was hit with a case of self-doubt. So, I sent it on to a pal from Dublin who knows a bit about football and does a bit of newspaper scribbling of his own, in the hopes that he would reassure me I was being fair, reasonable and measured in my assessment of Galway’s defeat of Mayo last week. 

Such reassurance was not forthcoming. “Why are you Mayo people always so emotional?” he asked. A fair question. “You’re two games into the league. Cool the jets and lay off your manager until you lose at least six.” (In hindsight, I definitely picked the wrong person from whom to seek comfort. Or certainly, someone from the wrong county.)

READ: A day of deep dissatisfaction for Mayo - Anne Marie Flynn's GAA column

'Perhaps it was a bit harsh'

Joking aside, it’s been a while since anything I wrote received such a reaction. Joe Brolly even quoted a full three paragraphs from it in his Sunday Independent column, which did not make me feel any better, given his long-standing habit of taking digs at Mayo. No-one wants to be complicit in that kind of thing. But happy to have helped out with your word count all the same, Joe.

Perhaps it was a bit harsh, a bit knee-jerk. But this column was never designed for cold sporting analysis; it exists to talk about the fan’s experience, and the supporter’s journey, which by its nature is driven by emotion. It doesn’t reflect everyone’s experience, and that’s fine. The feedback on it though, suggested that it did strike a chord with more than one or two. 
My Dublin pal did ask a good question. Why, indeed, are we so emotional? 

READ: Experienced Mayo players didn’t step up against Galway - Billy Joe Padden's GAA column

There is the obvious reason. Having experienced decades of highs and lows, of coming so tantalisingly close to the Holy Grail only to be cruelly denied by a better team, by a stroke or two of rotten back luck, by tactical decisions, by match day nerves, by the odd poor refereeing decision, by not being good enough, and more recently by being extremely good, but still not good enough, we are tired.

But is more than that. During those incredible few years post-2011, in the devastating aftermath of the economic crash which hollowed out of the most rural parts of our county, when thousands of carloads of people made their way East weekend after weekend to watch Mayo compete in Croke Park, we had a common cause, a common identity and a powerful shared experience.

'They say it’s the hope that kills you'

On the football pitch, Mayo people had hope, and pride and belief when it was missing everywhere else, and they invested those, along with every ounce of their spare time and energy and a significant amount of money in getting behind their team.

Even when Mayo fans were taunted and jibed by our winning opponents’ bandwagon-jumping Johnny-come-lately “supporters”, and our players were being spitefully and personally targeted in the national media by columnists like Mr Brolly, we circled the wagons. We held tight to our hopes and dreams and turned our backs on the noise outside. Until 2021. 

They say it’s the hope that kills you. But having no hope is far, far worse. Which is why, perhaps, Mayo fans felt last weekend’s defeat so deeply, and why our neighbours were so happy to rub salt in the wounds. It is easy for people like me to hurl from the ditches, and to criticise what happens on the pitch from the privileged position of committing little else but time, cash and a bit of emotional energy, with no sight of the work done behind the scenes.

But as a columnist, I have always sought to be fair, and despite accusations of harshness, there is little in last week’s column I regret writing. Kevin McStay himself would surely agree; in the aftermath of losing the 2021 final, he wrote about Mayo fans not having the same “cold perspective” as he himself did on Mayo as a pundit; of having a tendency to “contextualise and equivocate”.

WATCH: 'The two-point arc makes Gaelic football better' - Full Pitchside episode 

He attributed his own “cold and clinical” public analysis of Mayo to being surrounded by the type of company that “have a deep understanding of what it takes to win an All-Ireland.” Winners like Colm O’Rourke and Oisín McConville and Seán Cavanagh. A remark that is every bit as fair today as it was then, and perhaps a perspective that fans have embraced. And why, perhaps, they have such high expectation of those wearing the green and red - both on the pitch and on the sideline. 

Four new tweaks to the new rules 

It is important too to note that supporters’ discontent is not solely driven by poor performances. It is a great source of annoyance to many that they don’t understand what is happening on the pitch. They don’t understand the new referee signals, and contrary to popular knowledge, there weren’t just seven new rules passed - several other amendments were made to the rulebook, of which the majority are unsurprisingly unaware.

On X, formerly Twitter, last Sunday, GAA coach and trainer on the new rules Evan Talty shared details of four new tweaks to the new rules effective from Round 3, that at the time of writing have not been announced anywhere in the media (thanks to Mayo GAA blog contributor and analyst extraordinaire TsuDhoNim for highlighting). How are supporters, let alone players and managers, meant to keep up?  

Add to this the lack of team news issued to the public, last-minute team switches rendering programmes useless, the GAA’s own disinterest in promoting its own competitions and it’s little wonder that fans feel disconnected and discontent breeds. 
Mayo supporters, however, are nothing if not forgiving, and are well capable of greeting a new day with optimism.

Tyrone will arrive to Castlebar on Sunday similarly wounded, setting up a four-pointer that on paper, should deliver no shortage of enthusiasm to win. It is an opportunity for players new and old and management to respond and to make a statement that will quieten their detractors and get the supporters back behind the team. 

And no-one would be better pleased than the emotional fans in the country. 

READ: 'Take more risks or be left behind' - Mayo GAA column ahead of crucial Tyrone fixture