Captain of county squad

mikemac1

Just a quick question, been discussing it with housemates but we're not realy sure
And I have been searching but I couldn't find out

Is it true in some counties that you won't be considered for captain of the county squad unless your team won the county championship?

And this can throw up some cases of the captain of an All Ireland winning team might be a player who spends most time on the bench.
He is captain of the county team but he isn't realy considered a crucial and important player.
Well squad players are important too, I'm not running anyone down

He got the job being from the club county champions, not because he was the best leader on the county team.

And so the player who lifts the cup in Croke Park possibly didn't even play that day or came on as a sub


Sorry if I've explained this badly.
Anyone know?
I have searched but it's hard to get an answer to this
Just interested to know, I was intrigued by this tradition if it exists

An Citeog

mikemac1 wrote: »

Just a quick question, been discussing it with housemates but we're not realy sure
And I have been searching but I couldn't find out

Is it true in some counties that you won't be considered for captain of the county squad unless your team won the county championship?

And this can throw up some cases of the captain of an All Ireland winning team might be a player who spends most time on the bench.
He is captain of the county team but he isn't realy considered a crucial and important player.
Well squad players are important too, I'm not running anyone down

He got the job being from the club county champions, not because he was the best leader on the county team.

And so the player who lifts the cup in Croke Park possibly didn't even play that day or came on as a sub


Sorry if I've explained this badly.
Anyone know?
I have searched but it's hard to get an answer to this
Just interested to know, I was intrigued by this tradition if it exists

Kilkenny and Kerry were two anyway but I'm not sure if it's still the case. Michael Fennelly captained Kilkenny to an All Ireland a couple of years back but wasn't in the starting XV.

mikemac1

So it does exist

Thanks for the quick answer

RealityCheck

It used to be the case with the Galway footballers (eg Ray Silke, Padraic Joyce, Kieran Fitzgerald) but it since changed. Luckily most of those selected tended to be good captain material. However, Kieran Comer of Corofin was captain (at the age of 20) in 2001, but since he was dropped from the team he was replaced. I think the next eligible player was Kieran FitGerald (19) so they nominated Gary Fahey instead, a more worthy captain. Hence the rule was disposed of.

Don't ever remember the same with the Galway hurlers.

Fireball07

mikemac1 wrote: »

So it does exist

Thanks for the quick answer

It definitely exists. Not in every county though, some have dropped it.

Usually if the captain nominated isn't a starting player, their club will nominate someone else and they will be joint captains.

James O'Brien was Limerick's official captain in 2007 but was a sub player really and they nominated Damien Reale as captain, who would be a good leader but would had no chance of becoming a captain normally as his club team were intermediate.

68Murph68

Still exists in Kerry.

Colm Cooper is captain as the Dr Crokes won the County Championship.

If it's the case that a club doesn't have a player on the panel they can nominate someone from another club (generally would pick one of the big names in the 15 who would be unlikely to win the county championship with their club)

If it's the case that the club in question has a player in the squad he will be named captain, even if he is unlikely to get much game-time. Has led to some odds situations on occasion. Also the captaincy can change depending on who is in the starting 15 if the club have more than one representative on the panel. See below

Liam Hassett who captained the winning team in 1997 is interviewed and speaks about his greatest regret as captain was not inviting his brother Mike, who was captain when Kerry won the Munster Championship, but lost his place to Liam, to accept the cup with him.]

http://www.kerrygaa.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1624:qsecrets-of-kerrya-captains-storyq-&catid=1&Itemid=74

Anyway in most cases team captain in GAA is more of a ceremonial job (win the toss, accept the cup) , in that they do very little on the pitch as a result of being captain i.e if you have a guy who is a strong leader on the pitch, he's still going to be a strong leader even if he isn't captain.

Look at it this way if a team didn't have a captain appointed before a game and basically said that whoever is nearest the ref calls the toss, in what percentage of games would it affect the result?