DVD review: GAA Football Gold

GAA Football Gold transports the viewer back to an era when the All-Ireland Final was a bigger occasion, when Gaelic Football was less complicated, and, eh, when Mayo were better.

By Conor Heneghan

For a Mayo native like myself, watching back over footage from the period 1947-59 is like GAA porn. In that age of enlightenment, the Red and Green appeared in three All-Ireland finals and won two of them.

If Mayo could have maintained that consistency in the 127 odd years the GAA has been in existence, we’d currently be sitting on a Kerry-like haul of 22 All-Ireland titles. Alas, we all know that that particularly story doesn’t exactly end well.

It’s even better if you’re from Cavan. The men from the Breffni County won three of their five All-Ireland titles in the same period and lost another final to Meath in 1949. Unfortunately, for them, they haven’t graced an All-Ireland Final since 1952.

But this DVD, GAA Football Gold from the Irish Film Institute (IFI), will make for entertaining viewing for more than just Mayo and Cavan fans eager for a slice of nostalgia.

It is fascinating to look back on Gaelic Football from over half a century ago, not just for the way the game itself was played, but for how different the All-Ireland final was as an occasion to what it is now. These days, 82,000 + fans all comfortably assemble in the magnificent new Croke Park, the majority of whose bums are perched nicely on decent seats with a good view of what’s unfolding on the pitch.

Back in the day, patrons were packed like sardines into the Drumcondra venue and if there wasn’t enough room in the stands, not to worry, you could either stand on a barrier to get a better view or simply decamp to the pitch itself.

In fact the informative sleeve that accompanies the DVD graphically illustrates just how overcrowded it was. In 1956, it shows a row of men perfectly balanced atop a narrow railing for the clash between Cork and Galway; in 1957 (see main picture above), there’s a good 20 people sat down immediately behind the goal within a hair’s breadth of the umpires for Louth v Cork.

Who needs seats when you've a roof and a wall, eh?

In 1958, meanwhile, there’s an image of two hardy fellas perched on the roof of the Nally Stand, while beside them on Hill 16, a row of men sat on the ledge of the wall seemingly oblivious to the quite sizeable drop that awaited them if they leaned back for just a second (see picture immediately above). Health and safety was of little concern, what was more pressing was whether or not the Dubs could get over Derry (they did).

The games themselves were a different breed to what we are used to today. No such thing as blanket defence or cynical fouling, players let it in fast, they let it in high and although all of it isn’t exactly that easy on the eye, you certainly couldn’t call it complicated.

Fittingly, the DVD opens with coverage of the 1947 All-Ireland Final between Kerry and Cavan at the Polo Grounds in New York, memorable for the fact that it is the only final to be played outside of Ireland, memorable for a magnificent Cavan comeback, but also memorable for the sight of the Kerry defence wearing large white caps to defend themselves from the sun.

The incomparable Michael O'Hehir lends his voice to all 14 finals contained in the DVD, while the footage of the games is interspersed with clips of families in villages across the country gathering around radios listening in O'Hehir call the game in his own inimitable style.

All in all, it transports the viewer back to a different era, an era when All-Ireland Final Day was the biggest day in the calendar, when football was less cynical and less complicated and eh, when Mayo were better.

Good times indeed.