Some of the wide boys of the Gowlnacalley-John Redmonds club got a great laugh the other night when someone brought in a copy of the Country Edition of ‘The Evening Herald’ with the headline: ‘Rugby Fans to be Disinfected’, writes An Fear Rua …

There they were, sitting in the back snug of Ma Molloy’s famous drinking emporium on Main Street laughing and skitting at the plight of the poor rugby lads who were planning to travel to Wales for the rugby international. That was, of course, before the ‘ofeeshals’ in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development got up off their backsides and did the right thing – calling on the IRFU to postpone the international.

There’s no love lost between some of our lads and the ‘rugger’ types beyond in the town. They were in convulsions at the idea of the bank manager, solicitor and doctor being hosed down with disinfectant like criminals entering Mountjoy, after years of looking down their noses at the GAA lads clad in their overalls and shite-covered wellies. One wag in the snug commented that the disinfectant would probably be needed because of all the dead sheepskin coats the ‘rugger’ types like to wear going to and from matches. Someone else said ‘twas more than disinfectant you’d want of a Saturday night after a rugby international in Dublin if you ventured down to one of the Leeson Street night-clubs. And, there was the lad who said you’d probably want to bring a good dose of disinfectant with you too if you were in the Gents’ in the hotel the evening after an Ashbourne Cup camogie final, if some of the goings-on reported on our Camogie ‘Speak Out!’ Forum are to be believed. Check out: Ashbourne 2001

At the time of writing, virtually every sports organisation in the country – led by the GAA’s prompt action - has banned games for the foreseeable future. That is as it should be. There is too much at stake, to take even the slightest risk. Many of us, not least AFR himself, will suffer something akin to withdrawal symptoms with the loss of our favourite field sports. There’s no doubt that if the postponement lasts for more than a few weeks, it will cause chaos with the fixtures list – especially with the addition of all those addition football championship games. However, that decent man, Seán McCague, and the various managers who have commented so far, are all to be commended for the sensible approach they have taken.

The prevention of Foot and Mouth disease entering the Republic is not just an issue for farmers or rural dwellers alone. (Indeed, at this point, we offer sympathy to our separated brothers and sisters in the North who are today faced with the reality of this disease). If even a single case of Foot and Mouth is confirmed in this part of the island – and the odds are very much stacked against us escaping at this stage – it will mean that the EU will ban all exports of food and processed food from here for six months after the final date the country is declared disease-free. In other words, there might be no exports of Irish food products for the best part of a year. In those circumstances, you could foresee massive lay-offs in the big agri-business conglomerates, some of which have become major world players in their sectors. The knock on effect of that loss of jobs in services sectors could be catastrophic and we could end up with tens of thousands of people on the Dole.

Already, you can see signs in the village that the seriousness of what face is getting through. Mary Ellen, in the chemists, has put out a big disinfected mat at her front door, as has one of the local banks. Some of the older members of the Gowlnacalley club well remember the last time we were affected by this dreaded disease in the county Tipp. During the outbreak of 1941, the government imposed travel restrictions – not that anyone was travelling too far in those days anyway because of the wartime petrol shortages! Tipp were due to play Cork in the Munster hurling semi-final, but they withdrew because of the travel restrictions. Kilkenny couldn’t play in the Leinster championship. So, the Leinster Council nominated Dublin to contest the All Ireland final. They met Cork, who had beaten Limerick in the other Munster semi-final and ‘The Rebels’ won the day. After the travel restrictions were lifted, Tipperary played Cork in what was termed ‘The Real Munster Final’ and defeated them by 5-4 to 2-5. In fairness to the Dubs, they showed they were probably worth their place in the All Ireland because when they played Kilkenny in the postponed Leinster Final, that October, they ran out worthy winners.

In the current potential crisis, Kerry Manager, Páidi Ó Sé – having apparently kissed and made up with Maurice – commented jocosely that maybe if the entire League was postponed until around October, Kerry might be able to pick up a few elusive points then. Many people would agree with Páidí that is probably is Kerry's only chance of winning a League game this year. Indeed, there are probably a few other footballing counties around that will never make it to a Croke Park final unless all the other thirty-one counties were prevented from travelling by a Foot and Mouth ban.

Anyway, these are testing times for our communities everywhere across the island and, as sports fans, we must support the cancellation of games if that’s what it takes to defeat this menace. After all, wouldn’t it be grimly ironic if the Celtic Tiger died of Foot and Mouth disease ?