Mayo manager's exit after health scare shows need for respect in Gaelic football

The news on Monday evening spread across Mayo like wild fire: Kevin McStay stepped back from his duties as manager of the senior football team due to health issues. 

Recently, McStay has been subjected to awful comments on social media. It is important to know: Correlation does not imply causation. But this sequence of events raises serious questions about the way we all treat one another.

Bill Shankly was a bit of a fool. The famous manager of Liverpool FC is credited with telling the world how football is the most important thing on earth. He's reputed to have said; “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.”

READ: Kevin McStay steps back from Mayo GAA manager role

Surely he could not have been serious when uttering those two sentences. Maybe he meant them sincerely and if that was the case, I can only shake my head.

How anyone could be that wrapped up in any aspect of sport defies logic. Those of us who love sport invest a lot of time and emotion in the pursuit of success, but there certainly are more important things in life.

For some, sporting success is going for a walk in the evening, for others success is hitting a golf ball in a relatively straight line; others feel happy when they lift weights or kick a ball or run a lap or two.

Sporting success isn't always bound up in the winning and losing of matches, fights, races or challenges. Sporting success is the joy experienced along the way.

Sporting success is the memories made during the journey and the joy they embed in the psyche. Personally, I'm not involved with any team this year, which is a change for me.

However, I don't miss the matches, or the nervous tension or the big days – I miss the fun in the dressing room, the craic at training, the jokes and the stories and the bit of messing that comes with being involved with a group of people all pulling the one way.

The joy I get from sport comes from the people I encounter along the way and the fun we have. 

On Saturday evening, Bill Shankly's quote rang hollow around Castlebar. Mayo senior football manager Kevin McStay had taken ill at a training session and was removed to hospital.

Anyone who thought football was more important than life or death needed to shake a bit of common-sense into themselves when that news began to spread.

Thankfully, Kevin is well cared for and recovering. That's all that matters. Health is everything. Football really is irrelevant in the big picture and the McStay family certainly know that this week.

Six days earlier, Kevin had stood on the sideline watching Mayo lose to Cavan. In the last few minutes of that game, some of the vitriol directed towards him from a small band of humans had to be heard to be believed. How this could occur defies belief, but it doesn't surprise me. All Mayo football followers were disappointed to lose to Cavan, but to abuse anyone is crazy.

Did people actually think that Kevin McStay, Stephen Rochford and their management team set out to lose. In truth, those guys probably wanted to win more than anyone.

The disappointment in McStay's demeanour when he came to the press box in the aftermath of that game told a story. The man was hugely disappointed and his voice betrayed that emotion.

Of course, the social media hounds were on him in the days that followed and no matter how one tries to avoid the comments of the 'expert class' it sometimes seeps into the real world.

I'm not saying the vitriol and abuse had anything to do with McStay's illness, but I am saying that there was no need for it. I am saying it was wrong and I am saying that people need to cop themselves on.

What right does anyone have to abuse others because a game of football didn't go the way they wanted? What right does anyone have to degrade someone's character online and/or in public?

I don't understand why some Mayo followers do this? I don't understand why they did it all week after the Cavan game.
Why take the time to sit and type out abuse towards players or management? What will be achieved by this? What positivity comes from those actions? Maybe people get a thrill and maybe it makes them feel important for a moment, but surely they could find something better to be doing with their time and energy.

Well thought-out criticism of tactics is one thing. Well thought-out comments about what Mayo should do against Tyrone on Saturday night is another thing, but abuse and smart comments online is pathetic.

Of course, I will be the butt of the 'expert class' online after this column, but I couldn't care less. Those learned types have no impact on my thinking. In truth, they make me smile and make me value my life even more.

Kevin McStay, Stephen Rochford, the Mayo management team and just as importantly, the Mayo players past and present deserve respect. They are trying their level best.

If it's not ultimately good enough, then they will be moved on. That's the way life works, but they certainly do not need, want or deserve, the 'expert class' commenting on them in the most disrespectful of ways.

Of course the vast majority of us are much better than that. Many real supporters will be in Croke Park on Saturday for the hurling final and in Omagh later that evening for the clash with Tyrone.

They won't have time to shout abuse at whoever is guiding Mayo's fortunes from the sideline. They won't have the inclination to type out sad, stagnant comments in the aftermath and they will be readying themselves immediately for the next journey in support of the Green and Red.

One can only wish Kevin McStay a speedy recovery. Assistant coach Stephen Rochford will take over from him in the meantime and guide the team for now.

We all should remind ourselves: Life and health is more important than anything. Bill Shankly hadn't a clue. On Saturday evening when word spread that Kevin McStay had endured a medical episode at Mayo training, the importance of winning or losing football matches became glaringly apparent. Football is meant to be enjoyed. Winning is brilliant. Losing isn't the end of the world. There is always tomorrow in a sporting sense. 

READ: Mayo manager in hospital after falling ill at training session