Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald is soon coming to a television screen near you and Man United’s famously garish grey kit was recalled in a match report on a reserve league encounter in Tyrone recently.
Davy Fitz, TV Superstar
Remember the television show Superstars?
Readers of a certain generation will no doubt be puzzled but others will remember with fondness the television show which pitted athletes from various sports against each other in a variety of different contests in an effort to determine who the best all-rounder was.
Our own Pat Spillane actually took part in the 1979 edition, but unfortunately for Pat, his participation is remembered more for him sporting arguably the worst case of farmer’s tan you’ll ever see as opposed to what he did on the track, in the pool or in the gym.
Fans of the show will be delighted to learn that it, or at least a version of it, is being brought back to life by the unlikely figure of Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald, who, along with his friend James Sexton, came up with an idea that eventually snowballed into ‘Ireland’s Fittest Family’, a show that will soon be broadcast on RTE.
"We (Fitzgerald and Sexton) were sitting down having lunch in Shannon one day and we'd always be bouncing ideas off one another," Fitzgerald told The Irish Daily Star.
"I'd be great mates with him (Sexton) and he does a bit of work with me in the pubs. We were talking about Superstars and how we used to love it - it was a great programme.
"We put our heads together and we said 'wouldn't it be great if we could come up with something that got the whole family together?'
"The one thing I made clear to the production company was that the Clare team is No.1 with me. Nothing crosses our training or preparation - that's set in stone.
"I won't be doing anything before games - everything is about giving the best for Clare."
Fitzgerald, of course, was a central figure during the Ger Loughnane era when there were legendary tales about countless runs up hills in Shannon and his current crop are no slouches in the fitness department either.
Just a warning for the poor creatures that’ll be coming under his tutelage when the show eventually gets up and running…
Catastrophic jersey clashes in Tyrone
Anyone who has played GAA at any level will know that the jerseys of respective clubs going up against each other would want to be damn near identical before one side would even consider a jersey change.
Clubs in one colour going up against a club in a slightly lighter/darker shade of said colour is a regular occurrence in the GAA; a club wearing its second strip would be seen as a sign of weakness and besides, in the cases of many teams, it’s normally ten years older than the regular one.
According to Gaelic Life, it seems as if Clann na nGael and Rock weren’t in the mood for backing down when the two sides came up against each other in a reserve league match in Tyrone recently, with both teams starting the game in near identical white jerseys with green trim.
Inevitably, chaos ensued and it turned out being quite costly as one player had to be withdrawn following a collision between two players, as is explained on the Clann na nGael website...
“The entire first half of the encounter was played against the farcical backdrop of a colour clash as both sides lined out in white jerseys with green trimming,” the match report read.
“The problems faced by both sets of players were highlighted when Patrick Conwell (Balix) and Shane McGill collided heavily amidst the confusion around the midfield area and the former had to be withdrawn injured.
“Thankfully during the interval the colour clash was alleviated as Clann na nGael, in similar vein to Manchester United many years ago, changed their shirts in an effort to improve the ease with which they could pick out teammates!”
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the crowd at the game were also wearing white t-shirts with a green trim and the Clann na nGael players found it hard to distinguish their teammates from the spectators present.
It is believed that for that reason and for that reason only, the Clann na nGael players agreed to change shirts… allegedly.
Hat-tip to Ciaran Woods of Gaelic Life for sending this one into us
