The Angry Hedgehog: The Community and Celebrity Banisteoir experience

Last evening I was at the final of "Celebrity Banisteoir" in Parnell Park, Dublin. I've never been to Parnell Park before so it was a bit of a interesting feat to be in the home of Dublin GAA. The match was between Westmeath's Maryland and Cork's Mayfield and what a cracker of a match it was. For those of you who have no idea what "Celebrity Banisteoir" is, check out the RTE website here:

I was there to support Maryland, mainly because I thought they got a bit of a raw deal when they had to swap Managers mid-way through the series from Mary O'Rourke TD to Marty Whelan, Broadcaster. On top of that, the lads in Maryland looked like they took the spirit of the GAA to a level which I was used to seeing at underage level.....and they were also not too bad on the eye as well ;-).

However the whole "Celebrity Banisteoir" idea is a fascinating concept and something so Irish its amazing. We have all heard the stories which come from Irish GAA dressing rooms, of coaches who used to break the hurleys off the seats to put the fear of God in you in order to win a match; to the greatly refined coaching skills of others. Growing up in North Tipperary, arguably one of the best GAA counties in the country- (Note I said one of the best, not the best; that was for the benefit of those Cork readers before they bite my head off)-GAA has been in my blood since I was born. I may never necessarily have gone out and played for my club-(I officially retired at the tender age of 11 and helped my Dad coach instead)- but that does not mean that I do not understand the unique sense of pride which one gets for playing for one's own local parish. It is something which only you can do. Something which is inate and unless you have a connection with that place, you will not feel that sense of pride of place that goes with it.

Why then did Celebrity Banisteoir work? These are the best parish teams of 8 counties on the island of Ireland coming together to battle it out, surely it should be the case that it would only appeal to a certain select group of people. Yet it has attracted ratings and has shown the level of dedication, sweat and tears in excruciating detail which goes with playing for your own place. The late night training sessions, the dramas of inter-county teams vs the county board players, as Baz Ashmawy found out in the quarter-final stage. Well I'll hazzard a guess. It worked because those who watched and followed the series, all has the sense of place which goes with growing up anywhere-Urban or Rural. That is the success of the series, tapping into that sense of place and promoting it in all its gory details.

It makes great TV but also comes at a time when this Government is pushing for greater participation within our communities using the Active Citizenship model. Funnily enough their own Taskforce on the issue last year found that Volunteering is not dwindling but just not as noticeable in our fast pace society. Even Brian Cowen last weekend when he returned to Clara in an empassioned speech talked about togging out in the Black and White of Clara. All this falls under the need to have a more active citizenry. Also last week, RTE did a story about Gort GAA club's pilot programme for integration of the large Brazillian Community who live their within the Community. One of the Members of the Gort Club said he looks forward to the day "when we are talking about Brazilian Hurlers or Irish Hurlers, just Hurlers". I agree but I think that also applies to every other facet of Irish life. Communities take time to prosper and that is an admirable start, Among many other projects which are appear across the country.

Yes it is hard. Yes we all have our commitments. We have a responsibility to get involved in our communities and build up strong communities. However if the support I saw at the Game yesterday is anything to go by, that sense of strong Community, no matter what your parish/town, I felt, we have a very solid base to build up a more proactive citizenry in this country.

So I have some pictures and videos which I will upload on here or on my Bebo page. There is one Video in Particular which I have included on this post simply for its sheer Randomness. The half-time entertainment was provided by the Artane Boys Band who broke into a medley which was completly unexpected but marvelously put together.

As for the result of the match, well let's just say the best team won and it will be shown in its edited version on RTE 1 tomorrow evening at 6.30pm.

PS ignore the background din provided by myself and those in my company. Also My vocals were not the best so ignore those also. ;-)