IN MAY 1988, firebrand hip-hop act Public Enemy were unlikely headliners at the annual Trinity Ball in Dublin. By all accounts, the militant rap collective delivered a blistering live set to a swaying crowd of middle-class Trinners students, dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns, who seem, largely, to have had no idea who they were.
It was an odd booking. But for GAA fans, a new layer of incongruity was added to this story by Irish Daily Star journalist Kieran Cunningham, who published a very entertaining blog post on this subject last month, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the show.
He revealed that among the security staff that night (providing a blanket defence against any inebriated toffs who might attempt to, yo, bum rush the stage) was a first year law student named Joe Brolly. And according to Cunningham, young Mr Brolly seems to have had quite a night of it – as well he might.
Three decades on, in his role as RTE’s most outspoken football pundit, Brolly probably considers himself a bona fide firebrand in his own right now. But something odd about the Derryman’s brush with hip-hop royalty struck me while I watched Brolly and Pat Spillane preview the Ulster football semi-final for the Sunday Game live this weekend.
Besides Chuck D’s incendiary lyrics, Public Enemy’s biggest selling point was Chuck’s sidekick Flavor Flav, to this day easily the most recognisable hype man in the history of rap music.
The role of a hype man at a rap show, basically, is to big up the main MCs, whip the audience into a frenzy of pre-show excitement, and then again intermittently throughout the set whenever their enthusiasm threatens to wane.
Watching Brolly preview Fermanagh v Monaghan for our national broadcaster on Sunday, it occurred to me that he was performing precisely the opposite to that role.
Here was an RTÉ employee given the guts of half an hour’s airtime before a big game his employer had paid good money to broadcast, stating bluntly that, in his opinion, the forthcoming contest would not be remotely entertaining and perhaps, in fact, not even worth the audience’s time bothering to watch.
From the outset, he zeroed in on Fermanagh manager Rory Gallagher for subscribing “very much to the blanket defence template: keeping the scores down, preventing the other team from playing.”
Comparing modern Gaelic football unfavourably to basketball and hurling, he claimed that a generation of talented Ulster forwards were being driven away from the game, disillusioned by a doctrinal adherence to a coaching philosophy predicated on defence at all costs.
“The psychology of this system is not about passion and excitement,” Brolly fumed. “It’s about containment. That’s why hurling is killing us. We’re ruining a great sport for no reason.”
The online reaction was sceptical.
“RTE sports department must be pulling out their hair,” commented one journalist.
“Must be a first to have pre-match analysis where the pundits basically tell you how crap the game is going to be and you may as well switch channels.”
Sunday Game presenter Joanne Cantwell may have been thinking along similar lines. “Our first live game, after being killed by the product of hurling, hasn’t even gotten underway,” she interjected. “And you’re already killing it as a spectacle.”
But Joe wasn’t backing down. “What do you want us to do?” he asked. “Cheerlead? People see the evidence with their own eyes. I always hear this stuff ‘Oh, the RTÉ pundits are very negative about the game.’ We’re not negative. But we have to describe what we see. Otherwise we become cheerleaders.”
By this point, every sports fan in the country was probably praying that Fermanagh and Monaghan would serve up a barnstorming Thrilla in Enniskillen just to wipe that cocky smirk off Brolly’s face.
But of course, he turned out to be right.
As a spectacle, Fermanagh v Monaghan was so turgid it made Mayo v Galway the other week look like Rocky v Apollo Creed by comparison.
From a footballing perspective, I have no solutions to offer here. On the one hand, I kind of agree with Brolly that, in the long term, negative tactics such as those employed by Fermanagh on Sunday, may well turn casual viewers off watching Gaelic football (much as, I suspect, diving and play-acting may in time turn viewers away from soccer in the future.)
But on the other, Fermanagh pulled off an unlikely victory over the hot favourites in that semi-final. And in a sport where smaller counties grapple with massive deficiencies in resources and manpower, I doubt any Fermanagh supporters will gripe if negative or defensive tactics should help land them their first ever Ulster football title on 24 June 24.
From a TV scheduling perspective, on the other hand, I have a tonne of slips for the suggestion box. First and foremost: why not let Brolly apply his brand of scorched earth analysis to other flagship RTÉ shows like Fair City or Dancing With the Stars. Imagine him and Cantwell scoring a half-time slot during the Late Late Show?
“I’m sorry Joanne, but Graham Norton is killing us, He’s got Jack Nicholson, Meryl Street and the Dalai Lama on tonight. We’ve got Francis Brennan and a bunch of rubes trying to win a Renault Clio. I’m not being negative here. The public can plainly see this with their own eyes.”
Feck it, I’d watch it at least.
- P.S. On a personal note, the Mayo GAA pain train embarks on it’s travels again this weekend, when we take on Limerick away this Saturday. Our crack team of All-Stars and household.names will travel to the Gaelic ground to take on on fifteen random Limerick residents who happen to own football boots and have no other commitments on that day.
Given Mayo’s history in the qualifiers, the consensus on Mayo WhatsApp seems to be that we’ll sweep to a decisive victory by a single point after extra time… Yeah, boyeee!
Originally published at 13.35
Good on you, Joe Brolly. The best pundit, bar none, on GAA.
@Kevin Hayes: Are you wise? This is the same man who brought us the Black Card and what an omnishambles that has been.
@Tír Eoghain Gael: The black card rule was to be instated before that Monaghan v Tyrone match anyway. I can remember the proposed rule being described in the match programme that day!
@Tír Eoghain Gael: He didn’t get it brought in. He famously mentioned it after that toe rag Sean Cavanagh dragged Conor McManus to the ground, but it was passed by congress previous to that.
@Kevin Hayes: and by the sounds of it Joe is now also taking Tyrone training sessions!
Spoke with one of their players privately….. So that player wasn’t expecting it to be headline news a few weeks later Then!!!!! Joe brolly a man you can trust
@Anthony: what player was it? Brolly has protected his identity so the player(s) in question can have no issue with what he has said. I’m sure Joe didn’t torture him to get him to say it.
@Eireann go brach: you’ll have to ask Micky harte what player it is as I’m sure he’s currently in the process of finding out. So you think this player said this to Joe in order to publicise this to the wider public or he said it privately most likely in passing thinking it will go no further.
@Anthony: ah come out of the fog, the dogs on the street know if Brolly was told this about any squad in the country he would announce it in a similar manner when he felt it warranted it! Mickey Harte has been Tyrones most successful manager and he should be forever lauded for what he has achieved for Tyrone, both on and off the field, but maybe it was the member of the panel that felt if he was protected by anonymity, as an individual, then this should be made public knowledge. There is a reason he wasn’t given the full extension he was asking for, will he get another extension? I have my doubts.
@Eireann go brach: he spoke with one of tyrones really good players so it’s safe to assume it’s not a disgruntled player on the panel. Agree with your assessment on Micky harte but irrelevant to our discussion. Heres how I see this ‘private’ conversation go down. Brolly and a Tp meet at a funeral, function whatever in passing. Tp :hi Joe. BROLLY : How’s Tp, how’s training? Tp: going sh!te, lost the last couple of games it’s depressing stuff, cya later.
My point is Joe has a history of over exaggeration and read any of his paper articles he’s full of tales of people he met in passing who seemed desperate to unburden themselves with information that could harm them.
Anyways we’ll see in the summer where Tyrone are, my bet is they won’t be very far away at all…
Joe Brolly also said kerry football was finished as underage were poor. How many all ireland minors and schools have kerry won since? All joe wants with his comments is a reaction
@Tomf: kerry minors are unbeaten since he wrote that! Hard to take Brolly and Pat too seriously but they donget people talking which is their job I suppose.
@niall daly: ^ do get!
@nialk daly donget sounded better in a southern deep texan drawl
What a total runt.
@Tom Collins: Harte has to go
@Tom Collins: Be worst if he told him to say chase me chase me to the ones on the other team???
Joe is a master at self-publicity. Paper never refuses ink and Joe will commit anything to writing to keep his name in the spotlight whether that is slagging off Dublin’s ‘arrogance’, Donegal’s ‘puke football’, Kerry’s ‘demise’ or Tyrone’s defensive strategy, Joe doesn’t care because it get’s people talking about….Joe. You simply can’t take him seriously as a pundit because he’ll say anything to court controversy.
Brolly is the GAA version of George Hook, Hook is the rugby version of Dunphy, Dunphy is like a farmers foreskin……
@Bryan Holmes: Don’t even know what that means Bryan but gave me a laugh anyway!!
@Bryan Holmes: holyshit can’t get that image out of my head ,
Man Joe.Way to stir the pot .
I’ve a lot of time for brolly but this obsession for Tyrone is getting annoying now
Love Joe. Cares about the game.
Has lots of conversations with players without naming anyone.. can see obvious reasons for that, just find it hard to believe half them have actually happened!
Not likely to be spoken to ‘privately’ again Joe.
Has he money on Tyrone for the All Ireland!
Joe shut up please
@Joe Kennedy: Smelly, wrinkled and full of bullshit.
It really has become hard to watch. Enjoyment sucked right outa it.