Featured in this weekend's Fitzgibbon match programmes

An Fear Rua hasn’t yet had the ineluctable pleasure of spending time in Liam ‘Hurling in the Field’ Griffin’s magnificent and luxurious new health farm below in the model county of Wexford... Hot stone therapy and leg waxing has yet to make much of an impression on the good people of the parish of Gowlnacalley and its environs, though some of the more forward members of the 'Junor' camogie team are considering the idea of a hen weekend down there.

AFR, therefore, has no knowledge of what magazines and newspapers – if any – are laid out in the reception areas for the amusement and edification of guests and visitors. No doubt, these may include copies of Dr Joe Lennon’s worthy books on ‘The Rules of the GAA’, or the late Bráthair Ó Caithnia’s magisterial work ‘Scéal na hIomána’ or perhaps even bound volumes of that inspiring magazine ‘Ireland’s Own’, published in Enniscorthy, not too far away from Liam's hotels in the county of Wexford.

For American visitors, there may be a few well-thumbed copies of ‘Newsweek’ magazine lying about. In which case, the good Liam should take himself down to the reception area and filch a copy of a recent edition of ‘Newsweek’. Griffin has made a particular study of sports psychology and used his knowledge and learning to great effect to bring ‘The Yella Bellies’ to an All Ireland senior hurling title in 1966.

This particular edition of ‘Newsweek’ had a fascinating feature on the sheer mental steel that lies behind the spectacular success of the incomparable Tiger Woods in golf. Now, AFR belongs to that diminishing minority of people who see golf as ‘a good walk interrupted’. Nevertheless, there are some great insights into the mind of a great athlete and what it takes it to win.

The article is suitably titled ‘The Dominator’. It accepts that Woods is extremely gifted physically, but his stardom goes well beyond that: ‘Dominators possess uncommon emotional control and unlimited reservoirs of passion’. Ponder now, if you will, on your county team in last year’s championship… The ‘uncommon emotional control’ of Kieran Donaghy or Henry Shefflin or the ‘unlimited reservoirs of passion of Tony Browne? … Yes, indeed. Now you’re getting the idea.

The article lists The Five Rules of being a Dominator:

Genius is 99% Perspiration
‘It begins with good old-fashioned hard work. There is no magic pill, no such thing as effortless grace. Too many athletes have too low a tolerance for practice and preparation. It’s not the pain. Practice is just too boring for many.’

Let the Other Guy get Nervous
‘The bigger the game the calmer you should be. The Dominators let the other guy’s butterflies become a weapon on their behalf.’

Don’t Just Dominate, Intimidate!
Basically, do anything you can to ‘psyche out’ your opponents, including keeping your distance before hand from the other team.

Now, this may seem a tad extreme in an amateur sport like Gaelic games. On the other hand, the famous Saint Louis Cardinals’ pitcher, Bob Gibson, is quoted as saying: ‘The guy who said ‘It’s not whether you win on lose, it’s how you play the game’ – he was full of bull !…’ The ‘guy’ was, of course, Baron Pierre de Coubertin revivalist of the modern Olympic Games and, when you see the drug-ridden shambles they’ve become, you have to say Gibson kinda has a point.

Have a Sense of the Historic
Tiger Woods is a one of the great athletes not because he wins tournaments, but because he wins so many major tournaments. You have to sense that you cannot be a legend without winning something great. In Gaelic games terms that means never saying things like ‘We’re just glad to be in the final anyway …’ or ‘I’m glad we’ve come this far …’

Never, Ever be Satisfied
This is kind of a variation on the previous one. ‘Most athletes work hardest when trying to reach the top, but Tiger has seemed only more committed to improving his game since leaving the competition in the dust. For a Dominator, losing is like slow asphyxiation. It’s unimaginable. The drawback for the great ones is that the satisfaction of accomplishment rarely lasts very long. Dominators have a difficult time savouring victory and they dwell on their defeats almost obsessively.’

So, there you have it. Pin it up on the back of the dressing room door maybe? Think of so many GAA teams that are the exact opposite of the Five Rules for success … Mayo in the Nineties … Kildare as well … Dublin so often in recent Leinster football championships … Waterford hurlers … They all break the Five Rules. Then think of names like Loughnane … Boylan … Ring … Heffernan … and you begin to see that a ‘Tiger Woods’ approach is not unknown, even in Gaelic games.

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