I'm a young 33....
I love sports. Always have.
Loved playing them and loved watching them.
I haven't played much apart from golf and the odd game of casual soccer in the past few years as whatever fitness that i did have in youth has long been eroded by age, drink and cigarettes.
I tnever stopped me dreaming though. Dreaming of winning that county medal or playing in the national stadium filled to the rafters.
Now to be fair that was never going to happen even when i had youth on my side. I was a decent player without ever being a good player. i never had the talent or the fitness to be more than a squad player.
That suits me fine.
We can't all be a Ronaldo. Every team needs a Fred too.
Somebody to do the dirty work and blame when things go wrong.
I thought that my time had well passed until i was out for a walk on friday night. We had done our usual stoll of the village. It doesn't take long as there is only one road and outside the shop, ( There is also only one shop) the local club had set up a stall for their fundraising raffle.
€50, three tickets and the chance to win a brand new car. As we had only mved to the village before the summer and it being a covid year we wouldn't know many people here yet.
Also with having a three year old in tow it is good to get talking to the local club members as he will be joining soon enough in the faint hope that he has the talent to win a few all irelands and i can bask in that reflected glory as well as the free match tickets.
You have to support the local club.
A lot of you might not know much about the GAA which is the irish sporting body for gealic games but we have a few users here that post about it on sportstalk.
In short they are like the mafia of sporting bodies. They secretly control the whole country with an iron grip on the small towns and villages as well as having every person of power in their back pocket. They have more power than the priests or the politicians.
So when they are fundraising.
You say, "How much?".
After emptying my wallet and buying a set of three tickets. We were all chatting away as the lady on the table was a big part of the local club and knew what was happening in the area. I was just looking to get involved with a casual game of soccer or something similar when i asked her if there was anything of the sort in the village.
Hurling is the sport of Ireland. Best sport in the world. We all know it.
I live for the game but never actually played it growing up. We had football instead.
Turns out that her dad is coach of the local Junior C team and would love new players.
This might sound impoessive but if you don't know what junior C hurling is, it would be the worst of the worst.
The ones too young to play in a real league and the ones to old to keep playing.
Something along these lines. So a a reasonably healthy 33 yar old that has never played the game before I would be a perfect fit for the team.
The team would usually be made up of who ever they can round up the day before and keep out of the pub for the night.
Sounds perfect for me.
Who knows. i might win that medal yet.