He brought walls tumbling down

GAA/Interview with Seán Kelly: Tom Humphries hears the outgoing president sum up his philosophy: it's what you put in, not what you take out

You dial the number. Half the country has the number by now and honestly you don't expect it to work, but sure . . .

"Hello?"

"Hello? Seán?"

"Yes. Who's that?"

And the president of the GAA is on the phone. You don't have to drive through six tacklebags worth of secretaries and PAs. He's just there with a phone in one hand and a diary in the other making his way through the last few weeks of the best three years of his life.

He doesn't have any numbers punched into the phone so he never knows who is calling. He always answers, unless the situation dictates it is impolite to do so. "It's a discipline. You never know who is there, what they want. It keeps me lively."

That openness, that accessibility has become the hallmark of Seán Kelly's presidency. His three years at the head of the association have created an odd dissonance. At grass roots level, Kelly is revered and loved. In the little offices within Croke Park where they guess every day at where he is and what he is saying, the touch of glasnost isn't such a thing of wonder.

Seán Kelly's triumph has been to bring walls tumbling down, not just through the opening of Croke Park - an achievement which will someday form a line of his epitaph - but through a different way of doing things. He has been of the GAA without being perceived as being of the heavy metal GAA tendency.

You don't imagine Seán Kelly worrying about getting confession if he sits and watches a soccer match. He doesn't imagine the GAA falling apart at the seams if that soccer match happens to be going on in Croke Park. That confidence, that surprising ease in the world, has transfused itself into the giant and conservative organisation he was elected president of. It's been good.

He's done 50,000 miles a year, driving himself, mostly, through the highways, byways and clubhouses of Ireland. Being elected to the presidency of the GAA isn't so much an arrival at the pinnacle of an immense sporting bureaucracy, as it is the beginning of a journey into Ireland and Irishness. All of it. That part which draws its flavour and colour from the GAA and that part which turns its face away. You are a leader to one, a lightning rod to the others.

You ask him for a memory. He's been three years down this road and you want one memory, one picture from his brain, which will sum up the experience. He hardly has to think. It starts in a car.

He drove one day last year from Kerry to Gweedore in Donegal. A GAA president's mistress is The Function. One in every town. This particular night, The Function was in Gweedore and The Function was lovely. He was content when he turned in for the night, content and looking forward to the morrow when The Function which would be in Doonbeg , Co Clare.

He set the alarm for early. From Doonbeg he would have to travel to Dublin for nine the next morning. Typical weekend.

He was driving out of Gweedore and the sun was shining and the roads were slick and the roosters weren't long out of bed. Down below the road he noticed a football pitch with perhaps 200 little kids in it kicking football. The wonder of it struck his heart the way a beautiful landscape might strike yours. He had the time. He couldn't resist, he pulled the car into the side and got out.

There were two men in the field working with the kids. They moved like giants among the little heads, directing them here and directing them there. So absorbed were they that they didn't notice the president of the GAA coming towards them.

Seán Kelly had left many footprints in the dewy grass when he realised. The men were Tony Boyle and Declan Bonner. They were going to be there all day till five in the evening. Tony was playing a championship match that night. He was playing Declan's club and Declan was managing his own club.

"I said that's what it's all about. So much talk about players being paid. These were the marquee forwards of the game 10 years ago. There they were. I was honoured and delighted to see them. I was only a humble club player. I'll always think of that. The kids and the stars in the same field.

"I can multiply that experience by a thousand. Little things like that you never hear of. Men and women beavering away, putting it back in. We'll be strong as long as that is the principle, it's what you put in, not what you take out."

That's what he takes away from three years. A renewed belief in the grass roots. They surprised him, these people working away in clubs and communities. They surprised him with their quality and their dedication and often with their complete indifference to what was going on in Croke Park.

"There's people working away at that level who are almost oblivious to what happens in Croke Park. It's a great outlet for serving the community. When I hear things about damaging the association I think of them. In every club there's a nucleus of people who want to see people, the next generation play Gaelic games, they'll give their time and money for that."

When he goes, back to Kerry and back to the family he thought of for most of the 50,000 miles a year, he'll miss it for a while, but he doesn't believe in looking back, "in anger or in sorrow. My wife has a thousand jobs for me to do and I want to be part of the grass roots of the GAA again."

He's going back to a different grass roots

Life will be different when he returns to the grass roots. One day last spring somebody passed Seán Kelly a folded slip of paper. The words Tá and Níl were written on it and two numbers. 200. 97. He glanced at the paper and didn't need a diploma in rocket science to work out its implications. Croke Park would be opening its gates to other sports.

That landmark decision had a sub-plot, which was central to Kelly's way of operating for the past three years.

He tells a story, prefacing it with the perhaps unnecessary observation that a little Kerry cuteness goes a long way in life. When he took office he thought, naively, he says, that because he wanted something and could articulate that want, well then the whole of the GAA would fall in behind. Instead, he found resistance.

"I was going at a quicker pace than people thought I would. I realised that you could be blocked and if you were blocked one year the chances of coming around again weren't great. I wanted to move things pretty quickly so I got sub-committees in place with particular terms of reference for a year. That system enabled me to get a lot of things done.

"I was anxious early on to get Hill 16 finished. I thought that once I said that everyone would say, 'that's right Seán, we must get that finished'. But there was resistance and I was wondering why. I'd asked Peter Quinn to stay on as chairman of the committee dealing with completing Croke Park. I went to Peter and I said, 'I'm going to go to Central Council on a particular day. I'm going to let people speak on this, but you speak last. When you've spoken I'll give my reasons'.

"Because of Peter's background and history, his business acumen and economics, it swung it. It's like playing a match. Get the right people on the field."

He has been something of a maverick, he says - partly a conscious political decision and partly just his nature.

Rule 42 or "The Croke Park Business" was his biggest gamble. He laid his presidency on the line for the issue and up until the time he got handed that little piece of paper, he thought it was lost. Still, he would have had no regrets. He fought the fight once and was willing to fight it again when he had the chance to walk away.

"There was a major blockage on getting the motion on the Clár for Congress the first time and that was difficult. There was no way of overcoming it unless you changed the terms of the motions committee. In my first year I was certain and sure the motions would be in order. When they weren't I had no place to go."

He could have walked away and kept his head down.

"I had to decide on a different strategy. The rule book had to bechanged, if people want something on the floor at Congress it's our function to make sure it gets on the floor, not to be stopping it. There was a Special Congress coming up I availed of to put down motions. That gave us an opportunity to frame the motions and get a second chance if they were out of order. That got them on the Congress Clár.

"Strategically, I think there was a couple of things, we have no rule for a referendum and I had to get around that. I asked all clubs, through the media, to discuss all motions at their club and to go to the county board with their views. There was an all-embracing strategy there and it gathered momentum. There were a few counties who had taken a decision previously and they said they weren't going to discuss it."

Kelly went to the chairmen personally.

"What's your position?"

"It's been discussed."

"What did ye discuss?"

"Opening Croke Park."

"Well there's a difference between opening Croke Park on a permanent basis and some of the motions that have come in about opening on a temporary basis. You owe it to members to discuss the motions ."

A few of the chairmen went back to their county boards. Several had difficulties. There was enough traction to keep things moving, though. "There are a few things that you believe in and you want them to happen so much that when you look back you wonder how did it get through.

"I didn't honestly expect we'd get the two-thirds majority. So many people in powerful positions all across the GAA who were against it. I saw counties like New York against it and that was very demoralising. I couldn't understand it. I could respect it, but not understand it."

It led to unity, though. By and large.

"Even though some people remained against it they said there's no issue here, it's what people want. There was great people from Ulster, who said, 'Seán we were against this, but it was debated and we accept it and we'll get on with it'."

And from Cork?

"Yes. I got that from a lot of clubs and grass roots in Cork. No doubt about it, and why not, people in Cork are no different to people any place else."

Croke Park open but a pang in the heart

And on the day when the first pampered infidel places his Nike-clad professional's foot on the sacred turf that has soaked up the blood, sweat and tears of generations, Seán Kelly won't be triumphant.

"People will have mixed feelings. I know that. A lot of really committed GAA people will have pangs in their heart on that day. Maybe I'll feel the same myself. I'm sure I will. Old GAA people, that we all are really, will wonder for a second, 'is this the way'?

"I think another part of us will say 'thank God, we're old enough and we've grown up enough to make this contribution'. We will be happy to utilise the benefits and the money to improve our own game. We have a decision in principle that the finance we get will be used at grass roots level. We can say we made €10 or 15 million, whatever it will be, and say that's there now for the grassroots."

He hopes the smaller counties - the Louths, Wicklows, Fermanaghs, Longfords and Leitrims of the world - "would be given a good scelp. They don't have the wherewithal for the infrastructure to develop county teams. They have to put out the same number of county teams as everyone else. If we could help them strategically it would be a great thing."

Other parts of his journey have been less high profile and more mind-numbingly intricate. He thought he had the discipline issue sorted out when he implemented new structures based on the Australian model. The fine-tuning period has been a time of high-profile embarrassments for the GAA, however.

"We're getting there. I think the adjustments we are putting place in Congress will get us over the line. After that we will start to change the culture within the GAA."

As a self-professed hurling man he takes satisfaction in the achievements and recommendations of the Hurling Development Committee.

He sees it as a priority that current clubs remain strong and that new clubs are developed, not on a whiff of emotion, but on the basis of available infrastructure and back-up. At county level, it is almost the same formula. Keep the stronger hurling counties going and pull the next layer upwards.

"I would hope that the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups would bring on the counties. Players are getting to Croke Park now and getting trips and encouragement and we are tending the grass roots in those counties. A breakthrough by Laois, Antrim Dublin, Wicklow, Westmeath or somebody of that level is what I want. I want to see counties like that coming through. Then we can look and say we have made progress."

His final weeks in office were almost overshadowed by war. The GAA and the GPA rattled their sabres lustily for a week or two in a manner which surprised many onlookers. Kelly says he understands where the GPA was coming from on the issue which triggered all the gunboat diplomacy.

"At the first Central Council meeting I was at we passed a raft of player welfare measures which had been in the pipeline since Seán McCague's time. Most players and most county boards were happy. Then the relationships needed to develop. Getting players a representative on Central Council was a good step forward. When this idea came up about the grants the meeting was fixed for March 8th.

"The GPA asked me would I go along and out of courtesy to them and to John O'Donoghue, I was willing to go. When it came up at management and central council level Nickey (Brennan), who is taking over, said he would like to have an opportunity to meet the GPA before making any decision.

"Management respected that, Central Council respected it. I think the GPA thought, though, that the meeting would take place prior to March 8th. Nickey didn't want to meet till he was in office. That basically maybe sent out the wrong message inadvertently to the GPA.

"They met the minister with nobody from the GAA there. The matter I think has been basically put to rest. They didn't press the nuclear button. They had a protest. The message is clear. Let's sit down, let's discuss things. I think things can be worked out without any great difficulty."

When the GPA put their list of grievances on the table, Kelly says he was disappointed and surprised that some of the player welfare items were still an issue in some counties.

He feels the GPA were right in that sense and hopes that with better revenue sharing in the near future no county will have an excuse to not look after players.

As for the bigger picture? Does he feel there is any sustainable model of professionalism the GAA can absorb?

"No. And I don't think we should be looking for one. I don't like imitation, why do we have to imitate America, England or wherever? Look at what they have and model it to your own circumstances. We have something unique here, a wonderful amateur voluntary organisation. That is worth fighting for dear life to preserve. I believe that.

"We can look at other organisations and take on board certain things they do without compromising on that core value. We have to look after players. There is a line there we don't go beyond though. We'll hold that line. Hopefully forever."

And grants?

"Grants will have to be discussed. Nickey asked for counties to discuss this. There would be issues there. When tax credits were given there was a feeling, though, that the GAA players were left out of the loop.

"When the GPA appeared first everyone said, 'oh no here's a shower of troublemakers, hopefully they'll fall by the wayside'. They didn't. And they haven't done much harm either; they've done a lot of good I would say. We should remember that.

"I said to Dessie Farrell, 'for God's sake, take this pay-for-play off the table and put down in writing what you are looking for and let's work around it in that way'. I would hope we can do that. It's a bit of a challenge, but challenges can be met."

Battles ahead to test GAA to the very core

In the end, it comes back to Tony Boyle and Declan Bonner in a field one morning in the Glenties. It's about the optimism of the man who puts it back in.

Seán Kelly knows there are battles ahead that will go to the core of what the GAA is about. He feels the association can walk forwards confidently, though. The GPA, he says, have inspired a lot of good things which have happened in recent years, "especially in getting people to become more conscious of players and player welfare. I give them credit.

"Maybe I'm an optimist, but I think I'm realistic in saying we are all GAA people. It tugs at our heartstrings. We'll go a certain way down this road. We won't destroy the GAA. I think every GAA person knows in their core what the dividing line is and I think the GPA know that too."

He leaves behind a vibrant association, with an enhanced standing in the community they serve.

And any regrets?

"Too few to mention," he says with a smile, before remembering he was invited to participate in RTÉ's celebrity dancing palaver.

"It started five weeks too early. A bit later and I could have been the new Flatley. Could have made a fortune and retired."

Light-footed, he takes his bow anyway. No fortune to claim, but a legacy to leave.