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HISTORY OF BELIEF PART THREE

Belief must have intelligence substance to support it. It was Albert Einstein who coined the phrases “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new” and “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.  For those of you who missed HISTORY OF BELIEF PART ONE, click HERE and HISTORY OF BELIEF PART TWO, Click HERE. You will need the background in advance of…

STUDY CONCLUSION

Any study of success can be emotive as some will feel they are being undermined if part of the past. Paranoia and insecurity are symptoms of the lack of belief. Embracing change can be a challenge. Belief itself is almost impossible to measure.  For my part the belief is concrete and steadfast.  The case studies are ones that I am very familiar with (Windgap and Piltown). In reality, the ones I am most qualified to analyse. No point in talking about things you don’t really know, unless you admit that you don’t really know. Honesty is the always the first step. I will always believe unwaveringly that both clubs have the ability to challenge competitively at the highest level for sustained periods of time and not just in the short terms of the past.  However, the study results can be applied to any club in any county or even any team sport where success has been sparse at the highest levels.

Firstly, it is important to rule out some myths given as reasons for the lack of sustained success by using as much science or maths as is possible. Let’s first of all recall the figures. Windgap was formed in 1954 (70th year in existence) 54 years of those have been spent in the Junior grade (77%). Piltown was formed in 1953 (71st year in existence) 55 years of those have been spent in the Junior grade (77.5%). It is clear and beyond doubt both clubs have a pretty much identical record.

POPULATION

Windgap will often refer to population. There is no doubt Windgap is a small parish population wise. In the 2022 census the population was stated as 475. The 33rd highest in Kilkenny. Only Conahy [Shamrocks] and Glenmore have less.
[Note: Mooncoin, Graignamanagh and Freshford all have two clubs in their parish so cannot be spilt using the Census]
In contrast Piltown lie 7th overall after the 2022 census with a population of 4139, 9 times more than Windgap.  Just the City clubs, Slieverue, John Lockes and Thomastown have more. The most successful club in Kilkenny in modern times, Ballyhale [Shamrocks] have 1329 (3 times more than Windgap and 3 times less than Piltown).  It is very clear considering the difference in populations that population is not a factor unless you wanted to make the unscientific suggestion that one has too many and the other too little. Population factor is the first myth.

UNDERAGE SUCCESS

Both clubs have had random well celebrated and worthy juvenile successes. Over the years Windgap have generally completed the lower Roinn’s, C, D and even E. Most recently winning a primary schools title. In latter years they have competed at higher levels including Roinn A thanks to their amalgamation with Galmoy [population 779]. Without Galmoy they would still be at the lower levels and history is hard to argue against in that respect. On the other hand, Piltown have at least been very competitive in Roinn B, with a few Roinn A successes as well. Competing competitively at Roinn B juvenile over a number of years should translate into similar at adult Intermediate level. Bar a period in the 80’s, this has not been the case. Again, it is clear that both clubs compete in contrasting juvenile and development competitions. It is very hard to say with any conviction that is a common factor in their subsequent adult competition level.

POST PRIMARY SCHOOLS

When it comes to Post Primary, a key component of any player development, the vast majority of Piltown players leave the county for schools in Carrick-On-Suir and Waterford. On the other hand, Windgap have a split between Carrick-On-Suir and Kilkenny schools including Callan and the famed St. Kierans College that has almost always been the dominant post primary school (23 All-Ireland senior titles). Piltown have had very few attend the great alma mater over the years while Windgap past and present have had many more. The Post Primary school profile for the clubs again differs considerably. The adult profile, very similar.

DEVELOPMENT SQUADS

Developments Squads are seen by many as a huge ground for developing young players in Kilkenny over the years. Between 2007 and 2022 (the years I spent as a development squad coach), Windgap had 29 players involved in various levels of development squads from Under-14 upwards. For the same period Piltown have had 43 players, almost 50% more.  In that period no Piltown player and only one Windgap player went on to play a competitive game for Kilkenny Senior hurlers. We clearly cannot use development squad involvement as a factor. Yet another myth.

FITNESS

How many times have you heard when the last knockout match is played and your team is finished, “they weren’t fit enough!”? I am sure almost every year unless the title has been won.  Going back to the 80’s, Windgap and Piltown have brought in fitness trainers mainly from outside the parish.  They were once known as fitness trainers or physical trainers, some just as Coach. Now commonly referred to as S&C (Strength and Conditioning) coaches. The term doesn’t make them any different to the many who went before them. They are no better or no worse than the lads that went before them, despite the courses and education. It would be wrong to suggest otherwise. The thing is then and now, the guy in the next club is most likely doing exactly the same “programmes” as they are now known as. The big difference today is the monetary cost to the club volunteers fundraising. A lot of coaches now see these as a nice side earner rather than a hobby. Very few are concerned with the long-term development within the clubs. Their main concern is potential CV growth rather than the love of the club and the game.

Over the last four decades, since outside coaches became a common thing, Piltown and Windgap probably have had a combined total fitness coaches numbering about forty. I dread to think of the total cost, but that is irrelevant to this case study.  I have no doubt there has been a wide variety, all genuinely trying to achieve victory even if the end game was their own personal ego. Over the years Windgap have won two junior titles (1 in the last 40 years) and Piltown won three (2 in the last 40 years).  The combined county title total is small, (5 in 149 completed campaigns – 2 before the era of outside coaches and 3 afterwards). To blame fitness is an insult to the many fitness trainers over the years, many of whom who have spent a lot of effort on education and many who have had some success elsewhere. It is the lazy man’s excuse for the lack of success at a point in time. They used the best fitness methods at the time. Every team was as well-prepared fitness wise as is possible, but the silver was rarely attained. There have been so many of them since the 80’s and so many different teams, therefore the fitness excuse is clearly a myth. The club administrators couldn’t have got it wrong so many times, that the fitness or S&C coaches weren’t good enough, could they?

MYTHS

Population, underage success, post-primary success, development squad involvement and fitness all debunked as reasons for the lack of success based on indisputable numbers and facts. Yet, instinct says they must be factors. For example, doing no fitness training will certainly not change history and win you anything.  I suppose its like making that special cake for that special occasion.  The best cake will always have that very special ingredient which makes all the others become special when mixed. You can buy the one in the supermarket, but it will not have that special ingredient. If you always have being buying the one from the supermarket and you like it, fair enough but it will never win you the baking competition. Change is required “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. 70 years should be an indicator of what is required.  Something different needs to be tried. It may not work but remember, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”.

BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS OF SUCCESS

No matter what you do in life, for it to be successful, you must have a solid foundation. That is my belief. They are lots of varying factors in a club or community situation starting with the meaning of success, what it is to the how, who and why. My experience in clubs and communities over the years has given me an ever-expending knowledge of what is required.

During Covid, I developed a workshop BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS OF SUCCESS. I recently delivered it to Piltown Ladies Gaelic Football club as a pilot and the feedback has been positive. It is designed to set your own creative minds flowing because everyone is the master of their own destiny.  Arousing thoughts that will lead your club up the pathway for success, creating an underlying culture suitable for a foundation of that success.  It is aimed at coaches, administrators, adult players, parents and is suitable for all codes and grades. Please feel free to Share.

In the bible, Jesus said, “A prophet is honoured everywhere except in his hometown and with his own people and in his own home.” [Mark 6:4]. This is something I am well aware of. However, if you see something of merit in what is written here and in some of my other blogs, please feel free to contact me and I can compile and facilitate a version personalised for your club. Unlike many other coaching workshops or anything coaching for that matter, I will deliver and facilitate free to any club in any code in Kilkenny. Please feel free to check out my own COACHING credentials, though this is very different to what you would normally associate with physical coaching workshops.  There will be no cones. [Max 20 per session]

The question should always be asked, what qualifies you to do this? It’s a fair question. The only answer, is that I love the games and have participated as a player, including a substitute, coach, administrator, match official and a supporter over many decades.  Does your S&C coaching course make your more qualified? It certainly won’t be more varied.

This is the final instalment of my HISTORY OF BELIEF blog.  Hopefully it will bring purposeful thought and debate which will help your club or community in achieving success.  Not just the ones I have had the experience of. As always, I welcome comment. Remember no one person has all the answers. I certainly don’t. Maybe YOU have solutions of your own. Maybe YOU disagree and can offer alternative explanations for the factual figures.

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HISTORY OF BELIEF PART TWO

You believe something is right, you must have substance and facts behind it, to support it. James Bond creator Ian Fleming is credited with the phrase; “Once Is Chance, Twice is Coincidence, Third Time’s A Pattern”.   For those of you who missed HISTORY OF BELIEF PART ONE, click HERE. You made need the background.

CASE STUDY 2

In 1992, having come back from Dublin, I got married and moved to Fiddown, I became a Piltown player, (The parish of my wife and my mother). I did not break into the Piltown main team other than for challenges and tournament games over the couple of years I wore the amber jersey.  Disappointing but life is not a fairy-tale or the fiction I write as a writer (that has happy endings!). However, those games I did play, my scoring average record was second to none. It did not match my senior championship record of a goal a game with Windgap, but it was on average a goal or the equivalent in points every second game. All from play. However, it never lured the attention of a number of Piltown selection committees. 

Piltown were an Intermediate team when I came back from Dublin, having lost three Intermediate County finals in the eighties. In 1992, that was all about to change. Piltown had a poor run in the League with defeats to John Lockes, Carrickshock, Young Irelands and O’Loughlin Gaels.  They had a lone but impressive win against Bennettsbridge by 6-13 to 2-12.  Following the inter county championships, Piltown were to play John Lockes again in the knockout championships.  Piltown did not fulfil the fixture.  A decision made in a Piltown meeting room. Unlike Windgap, I was not there and do not know the scientific thinking behind the decision which I did for the Windgap decision. It was believed to be due to injury of a player on inter-county duty. I wasn’t involved, so cannot be sure of the validity of the cases being made. Hard to believe, a team could not be fielded with all the hurlers in Piltown. I would have played.  However, it was too early in my Piltown career to be involved in the politics. Though from the outside and with my Windgap experience as that stage over a decade old, I did not believe it was the correct decision, so let’s examine what has happened in the meantime.

Subsequently, the County Board awarded the game to John Lockes despite an appeal from Piltown and so began the relegation fight.  The semi-final was lost to Glenmore comprehensively. Then Piltown faced Bennettsbridge in the relegation final, the team that they had easily beaten in the league. The board room decision though had changed the culture of confidence and belief.  Piltown lost the relegation final by 1-6 to 2-17 and the junior ranks beckoned for 1993. Although it could be argued in Piltown’s case it was not the relegation final itself that was lost off the field, results highlighted the affect. It was still a coincidence that just as I was about to start with a new first team (although history showed it never materialised), the team lost a match in a meeting room and long term affects reverberate to this day.  Is the coincidence that I was a jinx?  There is no real science in that, is there?

The science is looking at results in the intervening 30 years. Like Windgap, Piltown got a short-term bounce when they won the junior in 1996, beating Dicksboro 0-11 to 1-3. This was followed by three consecutive appearances in the Intermediate Relegation Final, losing the third in 1999 to Rower Inistioge by 1-10 to 2-15 and hence a return to the Junior ranks.  Another bounce came in 2003 when the Junior was won again, after two attempts they beat St. Patricks, Ballyragget.  It went on to be a springboard for Piltown’s greatest hurling day on the field of play when they beat St. Vincent’s of Dublin in the Leinster Junior Club Final (the first Kilkenny club to do so) a competition that did not progress to an All-Ireland series at that stage. However, again it was a short-term bounce with Piltown losing the 2005 Intermediate relegation final to James Stephens’ second team by 0-9 to 2-11.  Piltown have been junior ever since. 

In the 30 years since Piltown conceded a vital game, they have spent 24 years (80%) in the junior ranks.  Windgap in the 43 years since they conceded a vital match, have spent 37 years (86%) in the junior ranks.  An additional statistic of interest is related to the great Brian Cody and his unprecedented 22-year reign as Kilkenny Senior Hurling manager winning 11 All-Ireland titles. Nine (9) Kilkenny clubs did not provide a player to those victorious teams.  Windgap and Piltown are two! The others for the anoraks, are Cloneen, Carrigeen, Threecastles (all parish subsets), Graignamanagh another of a similar disposition. Lisdowney (possibly a surprise), and other long term junior clubs, Galmoy and Slieverue.

The club meeting room decisions maybe a coincidence but is there a pattern?  Some might argue that both Windgap and Piltown would have been relegated anyway and in Piltown’s case they had two chances to rectify it. Obviously from a science, we will never know. In psychology, a “trigger” is a stimulus that causes a painful memory to resurface. A trigger can be any sensory reminder of the traumatic event: a sound, sight, smell, physical sensation, or even a time of day or season.  Is the concession of a game the scientific trigger that affects the cultural and inherited confidence required to compete successfully at the top level?  Here we are more interested in an establishment of a pattern because of a past event.

So, is there a pattern using the Ian Fleming adage? Between, the foundation of the GAA and up to and including 1920, Tipperary won 4 Senior Football All-Ireland Championships.  They were considered a very strong football county at the time. In 1921, they gave Mayo a walkover in the All-Ireland Semi-Final.  They have NOT won a Senior Football All-Ireland Championship since! Over 100 years ago! A century plus! Now that’s 3! There’s a pattern. Tipperary too have had a couple of bounces to compete including a recent semi-final appearance, but nothing of great significance.  The thesis now has supporting evidence at inter-county level.  There is a pattern. A pattern of culture. Easy submission becomes part of what you are.

The conclusion is that easy concession leads to a long-term culture of acceptance of your place in the roll of honour.  No matter who it is, it is not easy to fix or break the cycle. Those involved will always deny that it is there, but just because you can not see the wind, it does not mean it does not exist or can have a major effect.

Human nature, means that in many cases the highlighting of such thinking, is negative despite representing the facts in numbers to support.  The first step in recovery for any addict is to admit there is a problem. This is the hardest part of recovery.  Next is to believe in a higher power (in whatever form) can help.

So, in HISTORY OF BELIEF PART THREE (next month’s blog), I will try to come up with some scientifically based reasons for the longevity of the culture and maybe offer some solutions.   Everybody wants solutions and ways to break the cycle. Feel free to post your suggestions in the meantime or any other examples. There are lots of teams that might benefit, not just the ones mentioned here. Maybe YOU have solutions of your own. Maybe YOU disagree and can offer alternative explanations for the factual figures.  Whatever, feel free to comment.

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HISTORY OF BELIEF PART ONE

You stick your neck out and make a prediction. The truth is only history will confirm if you are right or wrong.  Even then, you can never really prove your point of view beyond all doubt as due to circumstances beyond your control, the thesis was never tested. However, having the belief, the firm belief, in the first place and with the benefit of history, there can be a substantial support for your viewpoint.  Things would have been better had your opinion prevailed.  Strong belief in anything is a culture, but only has value if it has integrity. High standards are also a culture. Belief in high standards is a massive culture which undermined at any point in history can have lasting repercussions.

CASE STUDY 1

24th August 1980, I made my Senior hurling championship debut in Piltown for Windgap.  It was the relegation play off final versus Mooncoin.  I got my opportunity as a number of the senior squad members didn’t want to play the game and wanted to demote the club down to the Intermediate grade. Reasons will follow. Regardless, I was excited for the opportunity to start at midfield (later moving to corner forward) and was planning to derail any thoughts of easy surrender on the field of play, the day after my first shave. My father and my sister were there to support. Despite what would have been considered an understrength Windgap team, we were only three points down entering the dying stages. I had worked hard but with very little reward. However, I had the belief I could do something to turn the game. Time was running out though. The final whistled beckoned when the ball broke to me just include the “21” as it was known in those days. (21 yards now known as 20 metres). The ball came to hand. I rounded the defender and facing me was the Mooncoin goalkeeper, Ned Quinn (Later to become a very successful chairman of Kilkenny County Board). I took aim and with a rocket of a shot hit the back of the net.  Ned pucked out the ball and the final whistle was blown. A draw, Windgap 3-7, Mooncoin 2-10.  No extra time. A replay would be required.  I was elated, my senior championship debut and a relegation saving goal. The future looked bright for me.  It felt good. The man or more appropriately, the boy who saved Windgap from Senior relegation!

The debate between the senior members who were very surprised we got a draw, and those who wanted to fight to remain senior status continued.  They were very concerned we would win the replay. My personal belief, now looking forward to an illustrious senior hurling career, was that we had to fight to stay senior, Play the games to the best of our ability on the pitch, not off the pitch. Maybe at some stage ability will see us intermediate or worse, but let’s have a culture that does not involve defeatism and easy surrender. The opposite view was that we have some very good young players coming through the ranks and it would be better to develop them at Intermediate level and then get back up to be competitive at senior level. Especially as it was now an aging senior team who were struggling to be competitive at the top table of Kilkenny hurling. On Monday 20th October 1980 in Piltown National School, a meeting took place. Thirteen people were in attendance including myself. The topic, simple, should we play the upcoming relegation playoff replay against Mooncoin. The result was a resounding 12-1 in favour of conceding the match and opting to go back Intermediate. I was the lone dissenting voice.  It serves no purpose to identify the others.  Some have passed, some still very much involved, some no longer involved.  It was democracy. Can’t really argue with it. When you are competitive and lose, it always hurts. Hindsight though, says I was given a very special opportunity. As a young fresh faced 17-year-old, I was allowed the floor to make a case. I wonder how many clubs allow their young lads that sort of platform? How many clubs give their young people the confidence to speak and forward argument? Even today when society, talks so much how they value the input of young people.  How many young people are really listened to? I may not have been heeded, but at least I was given the opportunity by the elders of the day. For every negative there is always a positive. This for me was one, the main one with the value of hindsight. That and the fact that my senior club championship goal scoring records stands at an average of a goal a game, probably one of the best in Kilkenny hurling, if not the best!

Was it the right choice for Windgap looking back with the benefit of hindsight?  Four years later in 1984, Windgap lost the Intermediate relegation final to Young Irelands by 4-2 to 2-14.  However, in 1986, Windgap won the junior final county final in Nowlan Park beating Danesfort by 1-11 to 2-1. This was probably Windgap’s greatest ever day as it was the only main adult final Windgap have ever won on the field of play having been awarded the 1970 final in the board room. The second stint in Intermediate lasted two years until they lost the 1988 relegation final to St. Lachtains of Freshford by 0-8 to 1-7. They have been junior since. So, in the 43 years since that meeting in Windgap National School, they have spent 37 in junior, six in Intermediate, none in senior.  That statistic would have read at least one more in senior had my belief been heeded. I’m sure there will be varied views as to what would have happened. 

Check in next month for HISTORY OF BELIEF PART TWO when another case study might enlighten further.