PROGRAMME PLUS – VOLUME 1, NUMBER 6, JULY 1 st , 2016

Welcome, collectors, to the sixth edition of ‘Programme Plus’, and apologies at the outset for the one-week delay in publication which arose due to work commitments. This little offering is put together on a voluntary basis so there will be occasions when the ‘real work’ has to come first I’m afraid.

The fact that the last Friday in June fell early, on the 24 th , didn’t help the situation, but it’s a case of ‘better late than never’ I hope, and everything should be back on an even keel for the next edition which is due to be completed on July 29 th .

Some subscribers have informed me that certain collectors are of the opinion that the content of the bulletin is too negative in parts, particularly with regard to the programme reviews. I was disappointed to hear this, but not in the least bit surprised that the collectors in question didn’t have the common courtesy to inform me directly.

Neither is it a shock to note that none of the people concerned have contributed in any way to this venture since it was launched at the start of the year. Programme collecting is no different than any other walk of life, with certain people always on hand to knock the efforts of others without volunteering anything of note themselves.

Personally, I would prefer to be honest in a review rather than patting every programme editor on the back without casting a critical eye over what they have produced. As for the feeling that bad reviews might alienate those responsible, well, why not consider the alternative? It might in fact have the opposite impact and spur them on to making a bigger effort.

With that rant over, let’s get into the real reason why we are all here and take a closer look at some items of interest that came into our hands since the last edition.

PROGRAMME OF THE MONTH: One dubious claim to fame from my shortlived playing career was that I shared a field with . It happened in 1985 when Davy’s Sixmilebridge were hosted by Faythe Harriers in the All- Féile na nGael competition in . We were at opposite ends of that field given that I was in the full-back line but, for the record, he was well able to shout back in those dim and distant days too!

Our group that year also included Young Ireland’s of and the man mountain that was Pat O’Neill at the age of 14. Suffice to say that there was an exclusion zone operating around ‘Nailer’ and we didn’t have anybody brave enough or foolish enough to intrude.

The Féile left everyone with a store of memories though, and fast forward to 1998 and 1999 when it visited Wexford again and I was P.R.O. of the organising committee. In the lead-up I did a lot of background work researching and in some cases correcting aspects of the roll of honour, and I’m glad to note that my work has been used as a template for all Féile na nGael programmes ever since.

All of the above is by way of providing some background information to my selection of this year’s impressive brochure-size 156-page souvenir as programme of the month. I haven’t been a member of Faythe Harriers since 1986 (Sarsfields, football-only, is my club), but nonetheless the recent Féile had special resonance around these parts because the Harriers won the Division 1 crown for the first time, only the second Wexford club to do so after Oulart-The Ballagh in 2001.

I know aspects of the Féile have been diluted in recent years, but it’s still the benchmark under-age competition and a great achievement to win it. The main final was in Leahy Park, Cashel, on the Sunday at 11 a.m. but unfortunately I couldn’t make it due to a pressing work engagement after lunch.

The programme collector in me had to secure a copy though, and I wasn’t willing to rely on someone else to bring me one back. A scan of the remaining final fixtures revealed that no fewer than nine games were taking place in Carriganore, the magnificent W.I.T. centre of excellence, with the first also at 11 a.m.

That was ideal for me, just 40 minutes from my doorstep, so a quick in and out visit was planned. I ventured down on a very wet morning, and there was initial concern as there wasn’t a programme to be found. I positioned myself near the helpdesk and was relieved to overhear a conversation to the effect that a ‘girl with programmes will be here in five minutes’.

That’s how it panned out and, after making my purchases, I immediately headed for home again delighted with myself. I didn’t even witness one stroke of a ball in any of the finals, but that didn’t matter as I had secured the programme.

If I relayed that story to a non-collector, the response would surely be: ‘are you mad, making a round trip of nearly an hour and a half just to buy a programme?’ I think all of us with the collector’s instinct will relate to it though; it’s not the first, and won’t be the last, time for me to go out of my way to get something, that’s for sure.

Anyway, to the programme itself, starting with the very colourful and well-designed cover featuring the Féile na nGael logo along with the crests of host counties Tipperary and Waterford plus the four provinces and the GAA, and handball equivalent.

Given the quality of the production, which retailed for €5, I wasn’t surprised to see it was edited by Ed Donnelly who has a track record for excellence in this field. Of particular interest was page 15 which featured a selection of Féile na nGael programme covers over the years; nine in all, from the first in 1971 to 1975, 1979, 1983, 1986, 1998 (one of my own efforts), 2002, 2013 and 2014.

The 156 pages were jam-packed with all of the relevant information one would expect: fixtures, potted histories of the competing clubs, panel lists, rolls of honour and the like. I note a printing credit for Cube on the back page advert; given that I stated in a previous issue that I’m not a great fan of the fonts they use in the Munster programmes, let me state that on the contrary they chose wisely in this instance and came up with a bright, jazzy and overall high-quality production.

Perhaps the programme for the Féile Peil na nOg held later in the month was worthy of this award too, but I haven’t seen it so far. And as it’s purely a personal choice, this fine Féile na nGael offering get s my vote. COLLECTOR’S ITEMS: What exactly constitutes a collector’s item? Like all aspects of our hobby, that may be specific to the collector in question. Something of precious sentimental value to one collector may mean nothing to another.

That came to mind during the week when I was successful in an eBay auction for the four-page programme for the Martin Bergin Benefit games in 1967. To most collectors this programme would be worthless, simply listing the teams for two games played in : an O’Byrne Cup football game between Wexford and , and a Senior hurling tournament tie featuring the host and Kilkenny.

However, it had special significance for me because the games were played as a fundraiser for the family of Martin ‘Forky’ Bergin who died while representing my own club, Sarsfields. He was just 29 at the time, the father of three children under the age of three with another on the way.

His death came in freak circumstances after an incident three minutes from the end of a Senior football championship game against Wexford District, an amalgam of local Junior clubs, in Wexford Park on Sunday, July 9 th , 1967. After tussling for possession with an opponent, both fell to the ground which was as hard as rock owing to a long spell of fine weather. ‘Forky’ was removed unconscious from the field and conveyed to the County Hospital where an emergency operation was performed soon after his admission, but he never regained consciousness and died at 7.10 a.m. on the following Tuesday.

His funeral was one of the biggest ever seen in Wexford town, a fact made clear in three photographs published in the Sarsfields club history which I brought out in 2010. I had never seen the programme for his benefit games before though, so the €30.50 it cost me was next to nothing as far as I was concerned.

The seller provided a first-class service too, with payment made via PayPal on Monday, and the programme arriving Tuesday morning. For the record, 5,166 people attended those benefit games on August 13 th , and I am now delighted to have embellished my collection.

That’s a precious item to me that will probably be of no such importance to the rest of you. Then again, some programmes may be regarded as generic collector’s items of interest to everybody. That usually depends on the circumstances behind the game in question or the result itself.

John Kelly correctly categorised last year’s inter-provincial games as a collector’s item in a previous edition for the simple reason that they were never played. And I’ve two more to add to that list this month, albeit for very different reasons.

First up is the DBA programme for the , Nickey Rackard and Cup finals in Croke Park on June 4 th . We all know what happened in the former at this stage, and this publication will be of more significance in years to come for that very reason; after all, how often is a team presented with a cup after a national final before being obliged to return it?

The programme cost €3 and ran to 32 pages. I liked the use of crests and colours on the cover to denote the six competing counties: Louth, Sligo, Armagh, Mayo, Meath and Antrim. One small gripe though, which is not the fault of the publishers: Nickey Rackard’s Christian name is misspelled in all official documentation emanating from Croke Park, with the ‘e’ omitted. The details of the match officials - no doubt perused closer than ever after the events of the Ring Cup final - are on page 3, with the President’s welcome on 5. There’s an article ‘as Gaeilge’ by Mártan O Ciardha on 6 and 7, followed by a two-page spread written by Christy O’Connor and featuring an action shot of former goalkeeper Liam Donoghue, now a Mayo mentor.

The full scoreboard for this year’s three competitions appears on 11 along with photographs of the captains. This is a useful record to have together in one place especially for the statisticians among us, and it was interesting to note some of the more unusual venues used such as Scarden and Solihull, not to mention a semi-final played in Kilbarrack.

There’s an excellent two-page spread devoted to each of the three finals, comprising ‘odds and ends’, ‘by the numbers’, ‘did you know?’, a referee’s profile, and, best of all, ‘club spread’. I haven’t seen this before and I really liked it. Basically, the list of clubs represented on each squad was highlighted by using their crests, and it was a very striking feature.

For example, Louth had five from Naomh Moninne, four from Pearse Og, three from Knockbridge, two from St. Fechin’s, and one apiece from Galmoy (Kilkenny), Holycross (Tipperary) and Doon (). Personally, I’m not a fan of the regulation allowing these counties to select a maximum of five ‘outsiders’, but, for the record, Sligo had players from Monageer-Boolavogue (Wexford), HWH- Bunclody (Wexford), Burgess (Tipperary) and Croom (Limerick); Mayo featured two apiece from St. Jude’s (Dublin) and Castlegar (Galway), while Meath had one from Silvermines (Tipperary), whereas Armagh and Antrim preferred to select exclusively from within.

No fewer than 48 club crests were used in all, and I hope the DBA team repeats this in programmes to come. The centrespread features a piece by Brian Murphy entitled ‘No Short Cuts To The Top’, while page 27 carries full details of all previous final dates, venues and results; manna from heaven once again for the stats nuts. The programme is completed by eight pages of advertisements, a page on the G.A.A’s charity partners for 2016, and of course the six line-out pages. Don’t discard it if you get a copy, because that Meath v. Antrim saga sets it apart.

Ed Donnelly’s cover note when he sent me the Tipperary v. Cork Munster Senior football championship semi-final programme from Thurles on June 12 th referred to it as a collector’s item, and of course he was right. The reason this time of course was Tipp’s win over the Rebels for the first time since 1944, although there isn’t a list of past meetings in this 36-pager which cost €3.

There’s 15 and a half pages of ads and/or promotional pages, with the remaining content as follows: the cover featuring Mark Collins (Cork) and Peter Acheson (Tipperary) at the championship launch; match details, a note from the editor and appeal for feedback on 3; Chairman’s welcome on 5; profiles of referees on 7; a crossword as Gaeilge on 9; photographs of the Tipperary mentors on 11; a Brian Fox questionnaire on 13; a preview by Mark Woods of the Evening Echo on 14 and 15; Junior line-outs on 16 and 17, followed by the Senior equivalent across the centrespread; the Primary Games teams on 20 and 21; profiles of some Cork Primary Game players on 23; a Colm O’Neill questionnaire on 25; a preview of Féile Peil na nOg on 27; photographs of the Cork mentors on 29; a piece on the Munster coach education programme on 31; news from Lár na Páirce museum on 33. This is another programme worth keeping for the significance of the result; I wonder is there any collector out there with a programme from the corresponding game in 1944? Now that would be a rarity if it even exists at all!

THE MONTH IN PROGRAMMES: Unlike last month, there’s plenty to review this time around. It’s that busy time of year when everything is in full flow, and this is reflected in the volume of programmes floating around. I should stress that I have no football championship programmes to review as I always leave it until after the final to buy them in bulk from the provincial council. However, if any collector out there is that way inclined, please feel free to submit a review or two from up north for next month.

Bord Gáis Energy Under-21 hurling championship: This championship is down to the last two at this stage, and I attended both semi-finals plus one of the quarter-finals. My thanks to Patrick Donegan for the programme for Offaly v. Kildare in Newbridge on May 25 th . This was a four-pager, black and white, for €1 with no reading material apart from the line-outs.

Dublin met Wexford in Innovate Wexford Park on June 1 st and the programme was eight pages in black and white for €2 with a separate loose insert for the Three Sisters 2020 European Capital of Culture bid. It was light on content, just a cover, ad on 2, coaching/Féile skills news on 3, teams on 4 and 5, ads on 6 and 8, with Wexford’s summer camp details in between on 7.

Next up was the semi-final between Dublin and Westmeath in on June 15th . This was a step up on the others, 12 pages in colour for €2 consisting of front cover; ad on 2; Leinster Chairman’s address on 3; Dublin team photograph on 4; a report on Dublin’s win over Wexford on 5 plus their extended panel members; line-outs on 6 and 7; ad on 8; Friends of Dublin Hurling news on 9; a report on Westmeath’s win over Kilkenny on 10 (what happened the greatest hurling county in Ireland that night, Jim Whelan???!!!); Westmeath team photograph on 11; an ad on 12.

It was back to basics for the second semi-final between and Offaly in Netwatch Cullen Park on June 23 rd , a four-pager in black and white handed out free at the turnstiles with no reading material apart from the team line-outs.

Leinster Senior championships: I’ll start this section with the following submission from Dominic Williams - ‘ Just received Programme Plus no. 5, another interesting issue with numerous items to savour for your e-mail contacts. Mildly surprised, however, to see no mention of the double header programme on 21st May at Croke Park, involving Wexford/Kildare football and Wexford/Dublin hurling (EDITOR’S NOTE: I missed these games due to a family Communion. The deadline was on the following Thursday and by that stage I hadn’t secured my copy of the programme in question) .

‘With so many sub standard programmes around these days, this was a very decent publication by the Leinster Council and well worth the €4 cover charge. The fifty pages did contain the usual quota of photos and advertisements (15 pages in all) but the remainder featured numerous well written and researched items of interest for all followers.

‘Leo McGough maintained his usual high standard with archive memories on Kildare football and Dublin hurling; Seán McGoldrick allows his imagination to run riot in his piece on the upcoming demise of Dublin football in Leinster; articles by Cian Murphy on Ryan O'Dwyer and Brendan Minnock on Matthew O'Hanlon are included, while Brendan Minnock relates the hopes and ambitions of Lilywhites’ skipper Eoin Doyle for the upcoming season.

‘Full recent background profiles on all four participants are also listed while Michael Jacob's recent well deserved induction to the Leinster Hall of Fame is well covered (his Senior All-Ireland success was of course in 1968, not 1965 as listed).

‘On a personal level the item by Gerry Callan on the glorious era of Wexford football from 1913 to 1918 was of particular interest to me. Having researched this decade for the publication of the Wexford Bible in 2008 I am very familiar with many of the interesting insights for that period and, while we differ on some of the statistics, nevertheless his is a fascinating and obviously thoroughly researched feature containing many nuggets of information, some still not generally in the public domain.

‘The circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Jamie Rossiter who was killed in action shortly after his arrival in France in October 1915 is a notable inclusion, the Castlebridge native having played a significant role as a dangerous wing forward in Wexford's first two provincial titles in 1913 and 1914.

‘Recent relevant meetings of Wexford/Kildare and Dublin/Wexford are also featured, with an upcoming provincial fixture list a useful reference point during the weeks ahead. Overall a fine production worthy of inclusion in any collection.’

Thanks for that review Dominic, and I would concur with the opinion that it was a fine programme. The baton has been passed on in Leinster as long-serving programme editor John Cotter has retired from his marketing position with the provincial council. Responsibility for the programmes now lies with Cian Murphy, a former journalist with ‘The Star’ who is steeped in the G.A.A. and is a member of the Kevin’s Hurling Club in Dublin.

Cian is doing a fine job thus far, and I like the fact that he has retained Leo McGough’s historical input into the programmes, while at the same time adding something in the form of player interviews conducted by himself and Brendan Minnock. This mixes the past with the present very well and adds to the overall quality, offering something for everyone to read and a nice balance.

Not all Leinster championship programmes come under Cian’s remit (more on that later), but he did look after the hurling semi-final offerings in : Kilkenny v. Dublin on June 11 th , followed by Galway v. Offaly eight days later.

The first programme ran to 44 pages for €3 and also included details on the Leinster Club Hurling League Division 1 final curtain-raiser which saw Ballyboden St. Enda’s (Dublin) beat Rathnure (Wexford). It’s interesting to see Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta and Pique of Barcelona adorning page 7, although there’s no need for alarm among the traditionalists - they appear in an ad for Beko, the team’s ‘premium partner’!

Philip Lanigan of the ‘Irish Daily Mail’, himself a former Dublin Under-21 hurler, has a piece entitled ‘All change since ’13’, while the page on Dublin v. Kilkenny past meetings is followed by a report on their 1979 meeting. This did prompt the following contribution from Patrick Donegan in Offaly: ‘ Last Saturday was the 15 th Leinster championship meeting of Kilkenny and Dublin since 1979. I have 13 of the 15 programmes. An account of the 1979 Leinster semi-final appears in eight of the 13 programmes I have. On Saturday, the exact same text made its sixth appearance since 2000. Will someone please make it stop?’

For the record, the exact same text Patrick refers to was in the 2000, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 replay programmes, and slight variations appeared in 1986 and 1995. Time for a change alright I think!

Cian Murphy has a two-page interview with Cillian Buckley, and likewise with Johnny McCaffrey, while there’s a photograph of the Dubs before the national anthem prior to the Wexford game because they didn’t pose for a team shot as the conditions were so poor.

Leo’s archival trawl concentrates on Kevin Matthews of Dublin and (Kilkenny), with Barrie Henriques chatting with over two pages in between. Most of the ads and promotional stuff is carried in the last ten pages, including a welcome plug for this information bulletin. All in all it’s another worthy effort.

Galway versus Offaly had no curtain-raiser so the pages are down to 40, retailing once again for €3 which is good value. Staunch Offaly man of the ‘Irish Daily Mirror’ suggests there is ‘Nothing to fear for the Faithful’ over two pages, and the past meetings focuses primarily on the 2010 draw and replay between the counties.

The player interviews, with Seán Ryan and Colm Callanan, are written by Brendan Minnock and Cian Murphy respectively, while Leo re-prints an interesting piece tracing Offaly’s hurling geography which was penned by Eoghan Corry of the ‘Irish Press’ in 1994.

Pages 24 and 25 were the star attraction for collectors, as Leo listed the Galway and Offaly 30 clubs, in other words the men from both counties who have played 30 or more times in the Senior championship. tops the Galway list with 53 from 2001 to 2014, while Brian Whelahan's 55 between 1989 and 2006 puts him three clear of .

Poignantly, and fittingly, Leo chooses an interview with the late Joe McDonagh from the ‘Sunday Independent’ on the morning of the 1981 All-Ireland Senior hurling final for his archival piece from Galway. As an aside, I was critical of the Wicklow/Laois and Louth/Carlow programme in Portlaoise last month but forgot to include the most obvious omission. Jack Boothman had died on the Tuesday beforehand but, not alone was there no tribute, it wasn’t even mentioned in the Laois Chairman’s welcome. That’s simply not good enough, particularly when Jack’s own county was playing.

As I said, Cian Murphy doesn’t edit all of the Leinster programmes, so I’ve two more that didn’t come under his remit to review here. First up is the hurling quarter-final between Offaly and Laois played in on June 5 th . The eagle-eyed Patrick Donegan referred me to two front-page typos: it’s listed as a ‘Craobh Peile Sinsir Laighean’ game, and there’s two times listed, namely 3:30pm and then 3:00pm two lines below.

It’s 20 pages in total for €3, with a few interesting pieces. The aforementioned Patrick has a page on the day in 1969 when Paddy Molloy scored 5-4 against Laois, while there’s reports on the clashes of 1972 and 1981 as well as a full page listing the previous meetings. Otherwise there’s the Leinster Chairman’s welcome, a piece on the two mascots, a handball page, details of the half-time schools game, coaching and games news from Offaly as well as details of the activities of Club Faithful.

The last Leinster programme I have this month is the 24-pager for €3 produced by Westmeath for their football quarter-final win over Offaly in on June 12 th . There’s a page on their last meeting in 2008, while Gerry Buckley outlines the scores from all previous 19 clashes elsewhere. Just over one-third of the programme is devoted to ads and promotional pages, and the reading material also includes items on handball and coaching news.

It’s back to Patrick Donegan for a suggestion which came to mind when he was attending the above game: ‘ So we were there in Mullingar last Sunday as the match entered the melting pot, Westmeath leading Offaly by a point, when the inevitable question was raised - if it's a draw, is there extra-time or a replay? The logical place to look - the match programme - didn't reveal anything. Now, you probably couldn't depend on the programme for the right answer anyway, but surely a line could have been included on the 'match details page' of such programmes with either "in the event of a draw, extra-time must be played", or "in the event of a draw the replay will be announced by Leinster CCC".

‘On a not unrelated subject, another situation arises during the O'Byrne Cup/: is the match 60 or 70 minutes? Everyone knows the championship and NHL/NFL is 70 minutes, but the O'Byrne/Walsh Cups are a grey area. Stating the duration in the programme (at the bottom of the team pages) would provide clarity.’

June 19 th , Thurles - Munster Senior hurling championship semi-final, Tipperary v. Limerick: At 60 pages for €4, there was no shortage of reading material in this programme. Stephen Gleeson talked to the now retired over two pages, while Larry Cooney penned a tribute to the late Tommy Dargan, a Dualla native who contributed a great deal to the games in London.

Seamus O’Doherty charted the history of past meetings and produced another batch of ‘odds and ends’, while Jackie Cahill interviewed his namesake, Michael, and . Journalists Shane Brophy and Jerome O’Connell made contributions, there was profiles on the Portroe and Patrickswell Juvenile clubs, while Seamus J. King of the Lár na Páirce museum had an interesting piece on the Sweet Afton Cup which was presented in 1951 for the Munster Junior hurling championship.

All-Ireland Senior football qualifiers, round 1A (June 18 th and 19 th ), and round 1B (June 25 th ): We’re smack bang in the middle of the qualifiers and, in keeping with last year’s policy, DBA are producing just one programme to cover all four games. You may disagree with me, but when everything is weighed up I think this is preferable to having four separate programmes.

Why? Well, here’s three reasons. Firstly, it’s obviously cheaper (€3 for one rather than €12 for four). Secondly, it makes the programmes easier to source; I attended Carlow v. Wicklow in Netwatch Cullen Park and by doing so I was also obtaining the programme for Armagh v. Laois, Louth v. Derry and Leitrim v. Waterford. It was the same story in Innovate Wexford Park for Fermanagh v. Wexford (Limerick v. Antrim; Longford v. Down; Offaly v. London). The alternative, which we have complained about in the past, would be four separate 16-page programmes with perhaps only four change pages. Both of these were 32-pagers with eight pages of line-outs and a page of facts and figures on each game. There was ten pages of ads in the round 1A programme and nine in round 1B, and Brian Murphy, Declan Bogue, Dermot Crowe and Arthur Sullivan submitted articles.

Leinster Junior football championship: There’s nothing to get excited about here from a collecting point of view. Wexford charged €1 for a four-pager of no interest bar the line-outs for their semi- final against Longford in Innovate Wexford Park on June 2nd.

Yet, it was more attractive than the very basic freesheet for their victory in the final against Louth in Dowdallshill 19 days later. In years to come this will prove a difficult programme to nail down to the relevant game for two reasons: the cover doesn’t list the year, and neither does it outline that it was a final, merely stating it’s the Leinster Junior football championship.

June 5 th , Aughrim - Leinster camogie championship finals (Wexford v. Offaly, Senior; Meath v. Carlow, Intermediate; Wicklow v. Louth, Junior): Fair play to the Leinster Camogie Council for producing a very colourful and well laid-out 24-pager for €3. Apart from the six line-out pages, each team gets two pages with a squad photograph, Chairperson’s address, Captain’s address, and player profiles including head and shoulder photographs.

This is a rarity, a completely ad-free programme, and it also includes a welcome from Leinster Chairman Pat Martin, a full list of officers, a roll of honour page, a page on the referees, details of the half-time Go Games, paths to the final, and a back page featuring photographs of the captains. Very informative, covering all the bases, and with plenty of photographs and news, this is a fine effort in every way. P.R.O. Gerry O’Sullivan, the Dublin-based Limerickman, deserves a lot of credit.

May 2 nd , Ballymacward - Fr. Nicholas Murray Memorial Cup Senior hurling, Galway v. Wexford: I hadn’t received this programme in time to review it last month. The game was played to mark the 50 th anniversary celebrations of the Pádraig Pearses club on the Bank Holiday Monday, and the 20- pager cost €3.

The club’s favourite son, Cyril Donnellan, is pictured in action on the front in their black and white jersey. There’s a Chairman’s welcome and colour photograph of the Senior team on 3, with a page from Galway Co. Chairman Noel Treacy on 5. Page 7 carries a profile of the late Fr. Nicholas Murray who played hurling for Pearses, Fohenagh, Galway and , and there’s a photograph of him as well as one of the cup.

Page 9 looks back at the 25 th anniversary of the club’s Intermediate championship win of 1991 after three final meetings with . There’s nothing but ads beyond the centrespread, but the programme has an attractive lay-out, uses strong fonts and utilises colour to the full.

June 28 th , Páirc Uí Rinn - Bord Gáis Energy Munster Under-21 hurling championship quarter-final, Limerick v. Cork: 32 pages for €3 from Ed Donnelly’s prolific stable of programme production, with Seamus O’Doherty providing a report on the last meeting in 2011 plus the overall stats. Otherwise it’s the usual mix of interesting fare including player profiles and journalistic contributions from Jerome O’Connell and Denis . It’s heartening to see such effort put into an Under-21 quarter- final programme.

June 29 th , Walsh Park – Electric Ireland Munster Minor hurling championship semi-final, Limerick v. Waterford: A good 24 hours for Limerick continued in this game which was marked by a 16-page programme for €2. The template is similar to the Under-21 offering described above, with Ed Donnelly supplying his own preview and the Q&A with referee Nathan Wall recalling a tale of a player pulling out a full set of false teeth by way of explaining why he felt he had no need for a mouthguard!

June 29 th , Portlaoise - Leinster Intermediate hurling championship semi-final, Wexford v. Galway: There’s no need to form an orderly queue to get one’s hands on this offering, dear readers. There was just a sheet of A4 paper printed in black and white on one side only with the line-outs below details of the game, date and referee. The freebies were placed at the programme kiosk for patrons to pick up on their way in to the stand.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Last month I outlined the intention of being topical if at all possible with this new feature. Lo and behold, a tweet from the official GAA account on June 7 th outlined that the new Hogan Stand was opened on that day in 1959. That sounded familiar I thought, so I delved into my collection and unearthed the programme to mark the occasion.

I think there must have been a very large print run on this because copies of it are quite common in the collecting community. I have a swap in perfect condition with the exception of prominent rust marks around the staples (see the attached scan).

The programme has a blue and white cover with no specific details of what it’s commemorating, with the word ‘Blát’ (bláth as it would be nowadays) prominent on top and the ‘1884-1959’ at the bottom signifying that it must be to mark an event for the association’s 75 th anniversary.

The full details are provided on the first of the 48 internal pages as we learn that the programme is for the official opening of the new Hogan Stand, with the Railway Cup hurling final between Connacht and Munster providing the on-field entertainment.

There’s a message from G.A.A. President Dr. J.J. Stuart on 2 before a full outline of what the new stand comprises on 3 and 4. A detailed history of the first 75 years starts on 5 and concludes on 19, entitled ‘A Story of Great Endeavour’ and sub-divided into three quarter-centuries. There’s portrait photographs of all past Presidents as well as General Secretaries Luke O’Toole and Pádraig O Caoimh.

The inter-provincial hurling and football competitions history is on 20, and details of the pageant taking place to mark the opening are on 22 and 23 along with a brief paragraph on handball. The Connacht and Munster line-outs are across the centrespread, followed by a five-page history of Croke Park. The four Vice-Presidents of the G.A.A. at the time are pictured on 31 - for the record, Frank O’Neill (Tyrone), (Cork), Richard Ellis (Leitrim) and the next President, Hugh Byrne of Wicklow. A number of the subsequent articles are written in Irish, including one on Michael Cusack, and the only adverts are helpfully placed out of the way towards the end of the programme, from page 43 onwards and also on the inside back cover. It’s a nice little item, containing as it does the full history of the first 75 years of the G.A.A., and it’s also a rarity for that era in that there appears to be several copies knocking around.

THE PROGRAMME - BY JAMES A. LUNDON (LIMERICK VIA GALWAY)

‘We are all pretty much programme collectors, yes? I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who collects just GAA books, or just GAA magazines, or just GAA player autographs, or whatever...and not programmes! Some of us may primarily collect such things but almost all of us keep the programmes we come across, or are given by others. Some of us are just programme collectors and collect - nay, accumulate - nothing else!

‘Programmes are most collectors’ currency de jure. There are always programmes to collect or swap or buy or sell: in the past, in the present, in the future. It’s a tyranny of sorts. It’s a never-ending search for the missing programme or the programme to fill ‘that’ gap. There is always something missing, something to be collected, something to be inquired about, something to be bought on eBay, something to be gotten from the matches we all inevitably go to, something from the club, something from the ‘championship’, something from the county - Senior, Under-21, Minor, under- age, camogie, women’s football, etc. There is always another programme around the corner. Old or new; big or small; expensive or no.

‘I collect Limerick programmes only. I have no interest in collecting anything else which does not involve either Limerick or a Limerick club playing outside the county. I have had to stop myself on a few occasions from spreading my collecting wings, to stop my obsession from expanding into areas that do not fundamentally interest me. There are a small number of exceptions to this rule and I will mention but one here, a collection I recently completed: Munster football finals 1960-1973 (15 programmes).

‘This slight deviation was done in memory of a dearly-departed friend, John Martin O’Sullivan of , who would have been delighted to see the work that Alan, as ‘Programme Plus’ editor, has done to bring us all closer together during 2016. On the other hand, some others collect every single programme they put through their hands, irrespective of competition, cost or team (race, colour, or creed?). I am a quality-over-quantity man, so I am!

‘Most of us collect the various finals - All-Ireland, Provincial, League, Under-21, Minor, Junior/Intermediate, Railway Cup (R.I.P.?), Oireachtas, Grounds Tournament, pitch opening, challenge, club. Some collect semi-finals as well. Some collect by the aforementioned county, some collect by the championship, i.e. all the games in the Munster hurling championship every year.

‘I know one collector who strives very hard to collect all the qualifier games every year. That is a hard ask, but it’s being made easier by the fact that DBA now do group or roll-up programmes for each qualifier round rather than for all the individual ties. This has both good and bad aspects to it.

‘Programmes are historic in many ways. They are GAA history. They are local history. They are social history. This is especially true of most very old (*) programmes, which were produced by many different people and organisations before the mid-1980s. Programmes have been standardised a lot in more recent years. The local quirkiness and individuality has been pretty much squeezed out of them over the last generation. And with it, some of the magic of collecting too. That is not the fault of the GAA, or DBA, the provincial councils, or the other programme producers; it’s the way of the world, and there is no going back to the good old days now.

‘(*) What constitutes an old programme to me is not what constitutes an old programme to a man who is 20 years my senior, or junior. People constantly offer me “old” programmes but old to me really means something that is pre-1975. Some people are really insulted to hear me sniff at anything post-1990 as not worth throwing out but hardly worth keeping either; that is my opinion of them from a cold monetary perspective.

‘Anything post-1975 is not really old as it’s easily within my lifetime but also pretty easily collected (with a few well-known exceptions but that is an article for another day). Anything pre-1975 is always worth keeping and pursuing, whether relatively common or not. Knowing what is common and what is not is the preserve of the experienced collector. It ultimately separates the casual dabbler from the expert connoisseur of our game. The same is true of any such trivial pursuit.

‘Landing that missing programme is a lot like landing that prize fish. It takes patience, luck and perseverance. It also takes a lot of knowledge, but also both mental and physical energy to be prepared when the opportunity arises. To be always ready! What Gary Player famously said many seasons of Sundays ago still holds true today: “The harder you work, the luckier you get”. This is true of everything in life.

‘Collecting takes a lot of time and a huge amount of both physical and mental effort to do right. I know that myself and I see it in all my other serious collecting friends. After all, that elusive piece of paper was thrown away by many people who bought such programmes up to quite recent times. I have possession of a quirky programme from the early ’80s which proudly has on its front cover the following words: “Na scaip bruscar. When finished with this handbill, pass it on or place in a litter bin please”. And I used to wonder why programmes from some games are very scarce. Wonder no longer!

‘Will the next generation of collector look upon the programmes being produced today with the same fascination that we look upon the programmes produced by the last generation? I don’t think so. The world is a changed place, for the best in most walks of life, but it has also become a much more standardised place in other ways.

‘Where once there was a distinctive Galway or Cork hurl, or style of playing the game, that isn’t so much the case any more. Where once there were very distinctive programmes produced in various different parts of the country, that isn’t so much the case any more. That is progress of a sort but it also means that programmes aren’t quite as unique as they once were. They have become, in many senses, commodities. I take no great joy in collecting modern-day programmes but I still get a great thrill in adding something old, or unusual, to my little Limerick collection.

‘I still accumulate (collect is hardly the right word as there is little joy in it?) all the modern stuff, albeit I need many more boxes because of the increased space they require, but it is very hard to love them when compared to the older stuff. Am I the only one to think like that, or am I just getting old? Enough, sorry for rambling on!’ LABOURS OF LOVE: I’m happy to report a good deal of movement on the club histories and general books front this month. First and foremost, Killeevan Sarsfields in Monaghan have produced a 364- page hardback book written by well-known journalist and clubman John Patrick (JP) Graham. I have a particular interest in this given that my own club is also named Sarsfields, one of several dotted around the country, and the familiar crest adorns the top left corner.

Apart from the front and back cover, this is a black and white publication with the full title ‘Killeevan Sarsfields GFC: A Centenary History 1915-2015 and A Parish Record’. The G.A.A. aspect of the book runs to just over 200 pages, and then the parish record boasts impressive detail on items such as the local national schools, valuation records, church history and the like.

The book costs €20, and I purchased mine in Martin’s convenience store in Newbliss village which is close to Clones. I was en route to report on a soccer match in Derry this day last week (hence the delay in getting this bulletin done) and took a slight detour on the way. Since then the club P.R.O. has responded to an e-mail I had sent earlier in the month, so I’m happy to report that the book may be purchased by sending a cheque for €32 (to include postage and packaging) made out to Killeevan Sarsfields GAA, c/o Brian Mac Uaid, Ard Chúirt, Lios Darach, Co. Mhuineacháin.

Staying in Ulster, St. Patrick’s in Lisburn brought out a book recently to mark the club’s 50-year history, having been founded in 1966. I am looking forward to seeing this, as no doubt the story of how a young club managed through the Troubles in a non-traditional G.A.A. area will make for interesting reading. Alas, I am having trouble tracking it down.

I did get a response from the Secretary to the effect that he would pass my e-mail on to the author. I didn’t hear anything back though, and a follow-up e-mail back to the Secretary conveying that news brought me no joy either. If any of our Ulster readers has an address where this book may be sourced, please pass it on.

Moving to Sligo now, my thanks to James Lundon for sending me on a copy of ‘Cloonacool GAA Club - Celebrating 100 Years 1916-2016’. James gets a credit in the foreword from the author, Brian McIntyre, for his assistance and advice. It’s 98 pages plus cover, although I don’t spot a price…no more than €10 I would reckon. A helpful map on the back shows exactly where Cloonacool is located, in a small rural area in the south of the county close to the Mayo border, and flanked by a couple of big gun clubs in Tourlestrane and Tubbercurry. No doubt James Lundon ([email protected] ) will be able to oblige anyone looking for contact details for the author.

Moving to general books, ‘A Year in Wicklow with Micko’ is on my list of items to purchase, and I hope to have a full review next month. It’s written by Ciarán Byrne, a native of Dublin and teacher in Arklow who is doing great work for Cumann na mBunscoil in his adopted county. He enjoyed unfettered access to the Wicklow camp during the 2009 campaign when they embarked on their memorable run through the qualifiers, with the genial Kerryman waving his magic wand at the helm.

Ballpoint Press, run by Offaly-born journalist P.J. Cunningham, a current Wicklow selector himself and father of full-forward Paul, are the publishers, and P.J. also edited the content. The ‘’ went to the trouble of producing an eight-page supplement for Micko’s recent 80 th birthday, and the man is still revered in Wicklow. Unfortunately, he missed the launch night through illness, but I imagine the book will sell like hotcakes in the county’s G.A.A. heartlands. Finally, my thanks to Longford collector David Nolan, now based in Dublin, who contacted me with the following information on ‘The Glory Years - Longford GAA 1965-68’ which I mentioned in the last edition: ‘ I see you mentioned the book on the Longford team of the late ’60s. I’ve read it and although there were a few mistakes in terms of formatting and poor quality pictures it’s an interesting read and in A5 like format covering 100 pages.

‘It was put together by a local named Mattie Fox whose father was the County Board Chairman at the time. He kept diaries on the games of that era but like a lot of sports fans he was still able to remember from memory the details of the most important games.

‘However, as is common in G.A.A. circles, a row developed in the mists of the success which saw Bobby Burns, who scored eight of the nine points against Galway in the 1966 league final, leave the panel prior to the 1968 Leinster success. The book doesn’t really hint at all the reasons for this fall- out and it probably wouldn’t be too wise to start digging up old wounds with locals after all this time! It seems unbelievable, when compared with now, how competitive they were for a period but like a lot of counties it was probably timing that a bunch of 15/20 players all came good at once.

‘Even after the league success of ’66, the County Board wouldn't look for a delay in the first round of Leinster against Louth which was fixed for just two weeks after the league final. So after all the excitement and celebrations, they were ambushed when fancied to win Leinster. This seems to have been a missed opportunity as well but perhaps made them more determined the following year!

‘In 1960 they conceded 10-13 to Dublin and then lost all their matches in 1964 so this was some turnaround even if an All-Ireland final appearance eluded them unfortunately. It’s hard to imagine what the excitement would be like now if they managed some relative success like even getting to a Leinster final (we haven’t won two consecutive games in Leinster since 1988), but lack of belief and trying to get all the best players in the county to buy in is a big problem as in a lot of other counties.

‘You might have picked up a copy on your recent visit in the main but small local newsagents which was formerly an Easons, but there are no other bookshops in the town itself, never mind one that would stock a selection of G.A.A. or sports books!’

YEARBOOK WATCH: I managed to obtain two yearbooks mentioned in previous dispatches recently, thanks to Liam Rabbitte and James Lundon respectively. First up was the Galway GAA Annual 2015 with a fine photograph of their celebrating Minor hurlers on the cover. It’s €10 for 108 pages with a heavy emphasis on getting the message across through the medium of photographs. They are fortunate to have the services of KPW in Ballinasloe, a printer whose praises I have sung before. It may be low on reading material but every possible competition is covered with pics, and I like the fact that editor Seamus Finnerty has gone to the trouble of making sure that all photographs are captioned.

‘Limerick GAA - On The Rise’ is also €10 and runs to 152 pages with a good balance between club and county activities. Naturally enough, the All-Ireland Under-21 success secures plenty of deserved coverage, and I’m sure it prompted the optimistic nature of the Yearbook’s sub-title also. Local journalist Matt O’Callaghan was a diligent editor, and I’m delighted to re-produce James Lundon’s submission which of course will be of special interest to collectors:

LIMERICK GAA YEARBOOKS - A SHORT HISTORY, BY JAMES LUNDON

‘The current number is the 27th published on Limerick since the first one was produced way back in 1972. The years are as follows: ’72, ’73, ’75-’86 (inclusive),’89,’93/’94, ’95 Annual, ’96 Annual and Yearbook, ’98-’99,’04, ’09, ’11-’13 and now ’16. It has been a chequered history but one worth noting in some detail below.

‘The first "yearbook" was published in late-1971 and was entitled "Luimneach Limerick's Year 1972" and has the 15 players who won the NHL for Limerick that year on the front cover. It cost 40 new pence and is 80 pages. Page three had an anti-smoking advert which said, "In a fast moving world - smoking slows you down". We have found since then that it does much more than that! It was a Gaelic Press Publication. They produced the next two too, including "Limerick's Heroes" with Eamonn Grimes on the front and ‘Liam’ in his hand.

‘Seán Murphy produced his first yearbook in 1976, which was researched, designed and produced in Limerick. This began Seán's long association with the yearbook. It is 102 pages and cost 50p. The same format was followed for the next seven numbers, right up to 1983, but the price had increased to £2 by this stage. The GAA's prestigious McNamee Award was won for a number of Limerick yearbooks in the late ’70s. There is a picture on page three of the 1981 yearbook of a very young Páraic Duffy (current Director General of the GAA) of Monaghan being presented with the 1980 McNamee award by Seán Murphy, the previous two years' winner.

‘The venerable Seamus O Ceallaigh provided "research" for the yearbook during this time. He was a one-man publishing industry, with many seminal books to his name, as well as a weekly column in the Limerick Leader under the pen name An Camán.

‘The format changed for Centenary Year and the year after, with a stubbier yearbook but slightly more pages, both high quality productions. The older A4-ish format returned in 1986 and saw Seán Murphy's last outing as editor.

‘The yearbook then went on a hiatus for three years but burst back onto the scene in 1989, with Michael Weekes at the helm. It helpfully included four very informative pages of all the divisional and county final results from each year since 1986 on its middle pages, something that has much historical value. It should be repeated in all yearbooks.

‘There were two "Official Annuals" produced in 1995 and 1996, by Mick Wright, but also a yearbook by Sandra Marsh in the latter year. I include both types in this survey. Sandra was the editor of two more yearbooks before the end of the ’90s.

‘Another yearbook appeared in 2004 but this got a very limited outing and is very rare, so scarce that I only got my hands on it in recent weeks after many years, to complete my collection. It was produced by Denis Carroll. It weighs in at 107 pages and cost €10. It is much smaller than anything that went before it but was produced on very good paper. Why is it so rare though?

‘The next yearbook was produced by Ger Downes in 2009 and is a mammoth production of 342 pages, again for €10. Cormac Liddy produced the next three, between 2011 and 2013, with the latter known as a "Limerick GAA County Magazine". A yearbook in all but name? ‘Limerick's efforts in the yearbook stakes is not at the top table, but neither is it to be sniffed at. There are only a handful of counties who produce one yearly, one less after Clare did not go to print in 2015, breaking a sequence going back to 1977. Cork's long unbroken sequence was snapped in 2013, going back every year to 1976 before that. Did Dublin produce a yearbook for 2015, though they have produced one every year since 1975? Only Tipperary and Galway remain with an unbroken sequence going back into the 1970s, with Tipperary's streak probably slightly longer. On the other hand, Kerry have not produced a yearbook since 1999, while Mayo have not done anything since 1998.

‘Producing a yearbook is ultimately a positive sign of the inner strength of the association in a county. It is also an important print record of the activities of the local clubs and County Board at that particular time. More so with the advent of social media, which is by its very definition impermanent, and likely not to survive the passage of time very well. This makes the production of a paper yearbook all the more important and vital a task. Much kudos to the people who keep this worthy tradition going, especially in these very difficult times for all print media, both newspapers but especially magazines.’

James received the following additional information from Tipperary collector Michael Barry as a result of his article which he was keen to pass on: ‘ I noted your article in the Limerick GAA yearbook. Dublin did not produce a yearbook last year for economic reasons. Kerry produced one in 2006, edited by Sylvester Hennessy of Kerry Eye newspaper. The Limerick one took a while to hit the shops (they were selling them through the clubs first). I think you need to get them out there into the shops. The Cork one is only available in one shop in the city for the last few years. Kilkenny and Tipp both have a number of pages of adverts and these probably help to keep them viable. Also the Christmas market is probably the ideal time to have them for sale.’

At some point it would be a wonderful exercise for this bulletin to print a definitive list of all the yearbooks produced down through the years. Any collectors in a position to help out with their own county’s details, please get in touch.

SPECIAL REQUEST: Many thanks to David Nolan for his Longford book review, and after that much- appreciated contribution I am happy to accommodate his special request. He is looking for some highlights of any of those Longford games from the ’60s. After contacting the RTE archives, they explained that permission would be necessary from the G.A.A. which owns the copyright, and even if RTE had anything available it would then cost €123. Is there anyone out there in the collecting community who can help David? Either someone with highlights from those games, or a helpful name to contact. E-mail [email protected] if you are in a position to assist.

You may recall a special request last month when a Tipperary woman sought the 1971 All-Ireland final programme as a present for her father. The bulletin was only minutes ‘off the presses’ when P.J. Maxwell made contact to say he could offer help, so I’m glad to say we had one satisfied customer! Thanks to P.J. for his assistance in this matter, and also for helping Patrick Donegan in his quest to complete a full list of Féile na nGael representatives from Offaly.

THE CROSS OF CASHEL: My sincere apologies to ‘The Cross of Cashel’ author Jim Fogarty for the error in his e-mail address last month. Thankfully, Jim rectified it himself immediately and contacted everyone directly. Earlier that week I had received a request to be added to the mailing list from a second Jim Fogarty, whose details are included in this month’s directory. And when I was writing the piece on the Under- 21 history book, I inadvertently noted the address of this new subscriber rather than the author. Just to repeat therefore, the correct contact details for Jim if you want to purchase ‘The Cross of Cashel’ are [email protected] or 086-1512946.

My thanks to Jim for sending me a colour photocopy of the All-Ireland hurling final programme of 1913 between his native Tipperary and county of residence Kilkenny. An advert for the ‘Gaelic Athlete’ newspaper caught my eye, a real call to arms which read as follows:

‘ A Word with you, Gaels! A strong, self-supporting newspaper of its own is of vital necessity to the G.A.A. Will you help to make the ‘Gaelic Athlete’ strong and self-supporting? Will you get your acquaintances to become yearly subscribers, and become subscribers yourselves? Will you get your business friends to advertise with us? Will you send us your printing orders? Will you patronise our advertisers and mention our paper? Gaels: Do these things and the G.A.A. will have a strong, self- supporting organ of its own. Tell your friends to write for free sample copies. ’

Of additional interest was the manner in which the 15 players were listed: a goalkeeper as per the norm; three ‘fulls’; three ‘halves’, but instead of two midfielders as we are used to, the next line featured four ‘three-quarters’. Then there was three ‘forwards’ and, with a line all to himself, the ‘full-forward’. If the teams lined out in that manner, it would appear that overcrowding in the middle third of the field isn’t as modern a phenomenon as many would believe.

PROGRAMME FAIR: Our friends in South Tipperary are doing their best to facilitate us with another planned ‘fair of sporting memorabilia’. Seán Nugent was in contact with news of their next venture which will be held once again in the South Tipperary G.A.A. Centre on the Western Road, Clonmel, on Bank Holiday Monday, August 1 st , from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

Bar facilities, teas and coffees will be available, and collectors and sellers are cordially invited to attend. Sales positions, free of charge, must be booked prior to July 25 th with Seán Nugent (087- 2669304 or [email protected] ), or Noel Byrne (086-8076080). Admission is €3 with accompanied children free. The venue adjoins Clonmel Sportsfield on the Western Road opposite South Tipperary General Hospital. All proceeds will go to South Tipperary G.A.A. Centre.

DIRECTORY OF COLLECTORS: The sixth edition of the directory of collectors is attached in another Microsoft Word document, and there is one addition from number five: Tipperary collector Jim Fogarty. Thanks to all those who took the time out to forward their details, and it’s not too late for others to follow suit. I intend to attach this directory every month, so any additions or amendments will be accommodated. Hopefully it will help collectors in their quest to establish new contacts or liaise with people with similar interests.

TALKING POINT - STATS AND RECORDS: The vast majority of counties are lucky enough to have one or two G.A.A. fanatics with a passion for collating the accurate facts, records and statistics of our games. In many cases these people regularly supply material to their County Boards for match programmes, and it’s quite common for the amateur statisticians to double up as collectors themselves. After all, there’s no better way of increasing one’s knowledge than by getting hold of as many programmes as possible and adding to the vast store of information already available. One such statistician whose name is a feature of all Munster championship and programmes is Seamus O’Doherty, the Roscrea native who is part of the backroom team with a promising young St. Patrick’s hurling team in Ballyragget in Kilkenny where he now resides.

In the course of an e-mail conversation with Seamus last week, he made the following valid suggestion: ‘ Every county should engage a couple of statisticians who are funded by the G.A.A. (provincial level), to produce a complete list of specified records for that county to ensure consistency. The G.A.A. at Croke Park should then pull it together as a national database and employ a few archivists to maintain, update, expand and audit the details.’

Seamus offered the following example to back up his point: ‘ A good question now is how many times have Waterford played Championship hurling at the and how many League games have they played there? The facts would trump the bland generalisations that will appear in print…‘Not too often’, ‘ don’t recall too many games’, ‘ I never played there’, ‘not a regular venue’.

I am aware that some people both subscribing to and reading this information bulletin are directly involved in G.A.A. administration, some at a relatively high level. I wonder if any of them agree with the suggestion made by Seamus above and would be willing to pass on the baton?

Would it be worthwhile forming an ‘Association of G.A.A. Statisticians’? The criteria for entry would be fairly straightforward in that the members would have to be able to show evidence of research they have undertaken which has been published, in programmes, history books and the like.

In a similar manner to programme collecting and this bulletin, it would be a means of getting as many like-minded people as possible under the one umbrella. And it would also help in settling any long-standing arguments or, just as importantly, correcting any errors.

As I see it, when something appears in printed format as a G.A.A. fact, it remains that way without being questioned even though it may actually be incorrect. There is no real mechanism at the moment to change that, and there is also a reluctance on the part of some people to question what they read. That is human nature: if I see a glaring error in, say, a 300-page book of facts, I don’t want to be regarded as a know-it-all by highlighting it. We all make mistakes, and I have made several down through the years in programmes and books, but it’s not the done thing to query a fact out of respect for the work put in by the author in the first place.

A centralised body would solve that particular problem though. If there was one person to report a seemingly erroneous fact to, it could then be thoroughly checked by reverting to the member statisticians from the relevant county or counties. Once common consensus was reached then, the corrected fact could be sent via the central body to all of the relevant parties.

All of this may sound like much ado about nothing, but the simple aim is to achieve accuracy which isn’t a strong point when it comes to G.A.A. facts, stats and records in a lot of areas. Imagine how wonderful a database it would lead to, not just with national records but with the correct details for every single county. It’s certainly food for thought, and I know of a lot of readers cum statisticians who would jump at the chance to participate in such a body. Now all we need is for somebody with an appreciation for our work to make the running on our behalf and bring the idea to the corridors of power…..

Is there some aspect of programme collecting that irritates you, that you feel could be improved, or that you would just like to get off your chest? If there is, this ‘talking point’ section is designed for you. I’d like to hear from collectors with any genuine grievances, and perhaps by outlining the situation and getting reaction from readers we can come up with solutions. Any topic to help us in pursuing the hobby we love will be considered, so don’t be shy!

SWAPS, WANTS AND SALES LISTS: A reminder that Seamus O’Doherty is selling a batch of National League programmes from 2000 to the present day, primarily for hurling games held in Thurles, while Jim Whelan in Graiguenamanagh published a varied swaps list during the month. Their e-mail addresses are listed here, so please make direct contact if interested:

• Seamus O’Doherty ( [email protected] ) • Jim Whelan ([email protected])

ADVERTISING THIS BULLETIN: If you know your local programme compiler, please cut and paste the following and ask them if they would be kind enough to include it in their upcoming programmes:

‘PROGRAMME PLUS’ INFORMATION BULLETIN

'Programme Plus' is a new monthly information bulletin for collectors of GAA match programmes, histories, yearbooks, magazines, photographs, etc. It is distributed via e-mail on the last Friday of every month and is free of charge, with its sole aim being to highlight all aspects of collecting for enthusiasts. In order to be added to the mailing list, please forward your e-mail address to Alan Aherne who is compiling the information bulletin ( [email protected] ).

FUTURE EDITIONS: The publication schedule for the remainder of the year is outlined below. If anyone wishes to contribute to the content, the deadline will be the Tuesday before the publication date. I still have some contributions put on hold, but I will get to them in due course.

Here is a full list of publication and deadline dates for the rest of the year, and there certainly should be no deviation next month unlike the one-week delay this time around:

• Volume 1, Number 7: Friday, July 29 th (deadline: Tuesday, July 26 th ) • Volume 1, Number 8: Friday, August 26 th (deadline: Tuesday, August 23 rd ) • Volume 1, Number 9: Friday, September 30 th (deadline: Tuesday, September 27 th ) • Volume 1, Number 10: Friday, October 28 th (deadline: Tuesday, October 25 th ) • Volume 1, Number 11: Friday, November 25 th (deadline: Tuesday, November 22 nd ) • Volume 1, Number 12: Friday, December 30 th (deadline: Tuesday, December 27 th )

CONCLUSION: That’s all for this month folks. I hope you found something of interest in this bulletin and I would urge as many collectors as possible to contribute to the July edition. In particular, it would be great to receive programme reviews; either compile them yourselves, or send me a copy of the programme; if that’s your preference, I’ll then give my own opinions, and I’ll send you something in return.

My e-mail address is [email protected] , and I’d love to hear from you to discuss all aspects of our hobby. Don’t forget to print and post the bulletin to any collectors you know without e-mail access, and feel free to contact me with any information worth sharing in next month’s edition!

Mise le meas,

ALAN AHERNE