Mobile Version
|
Register
|
Login
home
|
speak out!
|
content zone archives
|
"speak out!" archives
|
vote on it
|
soap opera
|
pub crawl
|
links
|
contact us
|
search
Follow us!
Content Zone
Wed 14-Nov-2001 13:18
More from this writer..
An tImreoir
'On Dodgy Ground'
RTÉ’s long awaited drama “On Home Ground”, finally hit our screens on Sunday night week last, and for the past fortnight An tImreoir decided to forego the regular Sunday evening ‘scoops’ and wisdom of his ‘local’ to sit in and take a good look at this
“…bright new dawn for Irish Drama”
(copyright RTÉ PR Department). Actually it was well timed, ‘cos I’m trying the oul ‘November-for-the-Holy-Souls’ anyway, Bertie-style
Now, in case you haven’t seen the first instalment, let me fill you in. The series is centred around the fictional Kildoran club in County Kildare (it’s shot in Kilcock, so maybe there are more similarities there than we think). Kildoran is (like Kilcock) a village satellite of Dublin and the characters we’ve met so far are directly or indirectly related to the town’s GAA club. Well,
football
club actually, as there was no mention of hurling, handball, Scór or anything else we have in most clubs that I know of.
The Kildoran “Kils” haven’t won the county Championship since 1962 and manager Feargal Collins (played by Seán Mc Ginley) is under pressure from all and sundry to relieve this long standing drought. Collins is in his tenth year as manager and local patience is beginning to run thin with his failure to bring home the title. Even the local radio presenter has a go at him in the first couple of episodes.
The Club Chairman, and local bar owner, is the most anxious to see Feargal’s reign come to an end. He has foisted a new selector on Collins in a bid to add new ideas to the training regime. Collins perceives the new man (Tony O’Keefe) as a threat, and sure why not, as we find out later in the show that’s he’s an ex-county man who lined out for Galway against his own Kildare in the ’98 All-Ireland final (finally those Lillywhites getting a taste of their own medicine, eh?).
Add to this mix … Collins’s two teenage daughters (one a rebellious Tomboy)… a freelance local journalist looking to make it big … a tearaway alcoholic as the team’s star player (Brendan Ruane) … an affair between the Chairman’s wife and Kildoran widower and club Secretary Micheal O’Farrell … rising tensions between the locals and “blow-ins” from Dublin… and a young businesswoman who’s returned to Kildoran after a few years away (another O’Farrell), with the opportunity to provide sponsorship for the Kill’s from the technology company that’s just set up in the area (Intel how are ya?). And that’s all just in the first two episodes.
Yep, no doubt about it, there’s plenty happening in Kildoran alright. The problem is the first couple of episodes are all over the place and the acting is just not that convincing. More noticeably, despite the fact that the central theme of the whole show is the day-to-day life of a GAA club, there hasn’t been one laugh in the first two hours of viewing. Now I don’t know about you, but the only bloody reason I stay with the club at home is for the
craic
and the hilarious characters and episodes that evolve on a regular basis.
There’s not a single eccentric character in the whole of Kildoran, and their club meetings simply lack any sense of reality (where’s the anoraks and the gas heaters?). So does their mauve or turquoise kit (which looks like it must have been designed by some the ‘GI’ crowd). And while I know Kildare have been going through a bit of a bad patch lately, surely their club football isn’t as bad as it appears ‘On Home Ground’. Yep, it’s largely a question of credibility, and this show just doesn’t seem to have it.
Take their Championship match with Castleroberts for instance. It was 0-12 to 0-11 at half time in the drawn game. Sounds like a hell of a game, but the final score was just 0-13 apiece. Or last week, where the boys ask who’s going to be playing full forward and Collins throws the number
11
jersey at Tony O’Keefe (who’s transfer by the way sped through in the space of a week!). Full forward wearing number 11? Collins must have got his coaching manuals from that nice Mr Loughnane in Co. Clare.
Speaking of O’Keefe, have you found his voice a little familiar? Well a regular contributor to AFR informs me that he is none other than the voice over guy from ‘Breaking Ball’. Now there’s one for you! Also, eagle eyed watchers will have spotted Kildoran’s secret weapon in their quest for Championship glory, popping up in Episode Two. Who was it? None other than “To-day’s my day Danny” himself from that annoying fecking Lucozade Sport ad. off the telly. Fact. There he was kissy lips, fancy trainers and all, sitting at the corner of the counter supping a pint of Arthur’s finest. Always knew
he
was a fake….
The crowd scenes are also rather unconvincing. I mean there isn’t any sign of a rarin’ lunatic threatening to decapitate the ref. There wasn’t a single over-protective mother swinging a handbag in anger, and nobody, not one person attempted to jump over the fence to get at the opposition subs bench. It was supposed to be a winner takes all Championship battle, but both the game and the crowd came across as having all the passion of a GOAL charity game between hungover All-Ireland finalists. The bloody Caslteroberts crowd were still waving their black and red flags at the end despite having conceded a late goal to lose the game. Now if that happened in our club, the locals would still be waving the flags alright. About an inch away from our heads….
And therein lies the problem with this show for GAA fanatics. The show is an attempt to dramatise something, which is already highly dramatic, and – frankly - in my opinion it falls drastically short. It is not representative of any GAA club I know and judging by the poll of AFR readers elsewhere on this site, it’s not too representative of any club ye know either. Still, we must salute RTÉ for at least trying to produce a drama that concerns Gaelic Games. The fact that the GAA is a thread intrinsically woven into the fabric of Irish society has been sadly overlooked in virtually every other RTÉ produced drama/comedy of note.
Poor oul Miley never got to exclaim “Ah Holy God!” on hearing that the Glenroe Gaels had been eliminated from the Championship; Billy in Fair City should have given the opportunity to express all that pent up Bully boy anger in a Junior C league game (I’d pay to see that one!) and the Cassidy’s mightn’t have become such an annoying shower of false, cultureless, accent-affected Gobshites if their father had rented them to the County Board to sell soaking wet programmes in the pissing rain at a National league game in Charlestown.
So, at least ‘Well Done!’ to RTÉ for finally realising that the GAA does exist out there. It is part of who we are, and it does play a huge role in the lives of a large percentage of the population. Sure, “On Home Ground” is far from perfect and the little anomalies and inaccuracies that it contains will probably drive us GAA buffs nuts and give us lots to talk about over the coming weeks. But at least they are recognising the contribution of the Association to daily life in Ireland. And, if you are in the ‘buff’ category, just treat the show as a drama that involves the GAA, rather than a GAA drama. You’ll enjoy it far more. Honest.
Related Topic:
An Moltóir: ‘On Home Ground’ – Renamed as ‘D’Unbelievables’?
‘Vote On It!’ Poll:
What Do You Think of the RTÉ series ‘On Home Ground’?
‘We talk just like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs…’.
Whatever Happened to….
Anyone you know in your club?
Bin Tags Don't Make a County
‘Some a’ Dem’ Lads are only Dow-en for the Showers….’
Heavenly Hurling: How the Gods pass their time...
GAA Time and Real Time
Saint Patrick and the camogie princesses
Keats and Chapman at the Munster Final
Mass, the Mater, ‘The Dergvale’ and Mullingar…
More "Content Zone" Topics >>
More "Speak Out!" Topics >>