PROGRAMME PLUS – VOLUME 1, NUMBER 7, JULY 30Th, 2016
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PROGRAMME PLUS – VOLUME 1, NUMBER 7, JULY 30th, 2016 Welcome, dear readers, to the seventh edition of ‘Programme Plus’, arriving one day behind schedule due to work commitments. My day job revolves entirely around deadlines which simply must be met; thankfully, there’s a little more flexibility with this offering due to the voluntary nature of it, although I still apologise for the slight delay. First of all this month, there’s a couple of slight tweaks on the technical side of things. I usually send the bulletin in a Microsoft Word document, but I have reverted to pdf format due to popular demand. Secondly, I’m sending the associated images in a separate e-mail. I have opted against using hi-res scans because I discovered that some subscribers didn’t have the capacity in their accounts to receive these. Therefore, what you see are simple, straightforward jpgs photographed by an iPhone. Given that it’s a very visual hobby, my main aim is to ensure that everyone gets to read and see the images in the most simple format for all. And by sending the jpgs separately in this way, I can distribute more of them to the maximum amount of people. Not surprisingly given the time of year, this has been a bumper month for programme production, and as a result this is the biggest edition thus far. So, without further delay, let’s get cracking with the real news. PROGRAMME OF THE MONTH: My choice for this month’s accolade is the 64-pager for €5 issued for the double-header of Leinster Senior football championship semi-finals in Croke Park on June 26th (technically the ‘wrong’ month, I know, but I only received it in July!). The games between Dublin and Meath, and Westmeath and Kildare, may have been forgettable affairs, but editor Cian Murphy went to great lengths to mark the famous four-game saga of 1991 in what is labelled on the cover as the ‘25th anniversary souvenir edition’. Above those words is a lovely graphic with the years on either side of a circle featuring the numbers 2 and 5, the 2 in the blue of Dublin, and the 5 in the green of Meath. In terms of 1991 content, it starts on 26 and 27 with reports of the four games. Brendan Minnock follows with an interview with David Beggy on 28 and 29, and he also contributes the next two pages titled ‘4 Games That Changed Everything’, featuring a wonderful action shot of Mick Lyons tackling Vinny Murphy. The rest of the general content is first class too. Seán Creedon offers a timely two pages after the trip to Kilkenny to play Laois, listing the results of the 54 consecutive Dublin championship games played at headquarters from 2006 to 2015. Colm Keys highlights the key role played by Stephen Cluxton in ’”80 not out” for the game’s biggest influencer’, while the modern-day player interviews are with Ger Egan, Keith Cribbin, Paul Flynn and Mickey Burke. There’s the usual mix of previous meetings, reports on past encounters, and, given that it’s a double bill, we are treated to no fewer than eight pages of Leo McGough’s ‘From The Archive’ material. Interestingly, it’s explained on page 23 that Kildare didn’t pose for a team photograph before the Wexford game because the weather was so poor, so captioned head and shoulders images for the full panel of 2016 are included instead. This is one of several fine programmes produced this year by Cian Murphy, a newcomer to the Leinster editor’s chair. In that sense it could be viewed as a cumulative award, but I opted for this rather than one of the provincial finals due to the effort made to look back on 1991. Here’s one suggestion that might improve matters even further going forward: how about using some of the programme covers from past games? Collectors all over the country would be more than happy to oblige with scans! FIRST AND LAST: ‘First and Last’ is a fairly common genre of programme collecting among the soccer fraternity in particular. It’s not unusual to see specific requests in this area, and it may cover a variety of situations. For example, many professional clubs have moved into new grounds in the post-Hillsborough era, so some enthusiasts will collect the last programme produced at their old home, and the first one at their new abode. Another example would be when a club gains promotion to League 2 from the National League; collectors will seek the last programme from the non-league days along with the first after arriving among the coveted top 92. I have yet to come across a G.A.A. collector with this specific desire, although many of us will sub-consciously collect programmes from the first finals for various competitions. All this is by way of commenting on the Celtic Challenge 2016 finals programme. All five deciders were held in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, on June 18th, so I actually meant to write this for last month’s edition but it slipped my mind. To the uninitiated, the Celtic Challenge is an Under-17 hurling competition which was the selected flagship project of the Hurling Development Committee. It involved 38 teams from 31 counties, with over 1,000 boys playing a combined total of 115 games from early May onwards, culminating in a finals day which saw five games on the trot played from 10 a.m. all the way through to 4.40 p.m. I was there for three of them, and for the record the overall Division 1 winners were Offaly who pipped South Kilkenny in a thriller. The other finals saw South Wexford beat Kerry in Division 2, North Wexford beat Dublin Plunkett in Division 3, Wicklow beat Westmeath in Division 4, and Waterford City beat Laois in Division 5. Given that it was the first-ever staging of the competition, I thought collectors might be interested in acquiring a copy of the programme. The good news is that it’s a DBA production so is readily available from their office. It ran to 24 pages for €3 and started with a contents page on 2 and the Clár an Lae on 3. Next up were messages from Aogán O Fearghail and HDC Chairman Paudie O’Neill. The competition rules were on 6 with a Cúl Camp message on 7. Then we get into squad lists rather than the conventional 1 to 15 in line-out style with substitutes underneath that we are so familiar with. Waterford City, Laois, Westmeath and Wicklow occupy pages 8 to 11. The centrespread features a full-page photograph on 13 with one representative from each competing team standing in a tunnel in Croke Park. It’s a colourful spectacle, and it should be noted that O’Neills designed attractive jerseys complete with the Celtic Challenge wording and logo across the chest. Page 12 outlines the background to the competition in a piece headlined ‘The Celtic Challenge - Origins And Structure’. The plan was to provide a seven-week programme of meaningful, pre- scheduled games, with everyone qualifying for their own level after a series of regionalised group games. It certainly succeeded in its aim and I was very impressed with every aspect of the competition. Seeing two Wexford captains lifting cups probably helped a little in formulating that opinion! The line-outs continue from pages 14 through to 19, before two pages on the paths to the finals and an explanation on the ‘best and fairest’ award. One player from each team was selected for this honour by the match referee in consultation with his officials and, apart from skill levels, it was devised in order to recognise respect shown to officials and general sportsmanship. The programme ends with the Nowlan Park safety regulations on 22, a photograph of the trophies with representatives from the sponsors, the Past Hurlers’ Association, on 23, and an O’Neills ad on 24. I wasn’t aware of the existence of this Association beforehand I must admit, but the key men involved are Tipperary duo Noel O’Dwyer and John O’Donoghue, Waterford’s John McGrath, Michael Carroll of Kilkenny, and retired Croke Park official Seán O Laoire from Clare. The quiz buffs among you may be interested in the names of the cups, all in honour of some victims from Bloody Sunday at Croke Park on November 21st, 1920: Michael Hogan (Division 1), John Scott (Division 2), William Robinson (Division 3), Michael Feery (Division 4) and Jerome O’Leary (Division 5). We talked about collector’s items before, so does this programme fit the bill given it’s for the first- ever competition? I’ll let everyone decide that for themselves! THE MONTH IN PROGRAMMES: There’s a vast array of programmes to review this month, including top-quality Senior finals from all four provinces plus the usual host of qualifier offerings. July 2nd - All-Ireland hurling qualifiers round one, Wexford v. Offaly, Limerick v. Westmeath, Clare v. Laois and Cork v. Dublin: DBA produced another ‘four-in-one’ programme for €3, running to 32 pages and along familiar lines. The pairings and venues are outlined on a cover complete with the eight county crests, and details of the times and officials are on page 3. Mártan O Ciardha has a two- page spread, ‘Cleachtaithe Go Maith’, on 4 and 5 with an action shot from the meeting of Clare and Laois in 2013. Next up is another spread from John Harrington of GAA.ie titled ‘Rebuilding Confidence And Gathering Momentum’, a snapshot of what the qualifiers are all about - for some counties at least.