We deserve a better championship

The race director of the Giro D’Italia cried tears of joy when the Grand Tour came to Ireland a decade ago.

Italians love their cycling. Cycling is to Italy what the GAA is to Ireland. The sport is in their bloodstream.

The most venerated Italian sportsman of all time isn’t a footballer. He’s the cycling legend, Fausto Coppi, known nationally as Il Campionissimo - the champion of champions.

Foreign riders who move to Italy invariably fall in love with the Italian way of life and their way of cycling. 

In his autobiography, Domestique, British rider Charlier Weglius described how the start time of a local race in Italy will be choreographed so that the riders cross the finish line in the town square against the backdrop of a setting sun. 

In Italy, cycling is more than a sport. It’s art. It’s poetry. It’s drama. It’s cruel and brutal but beautiful too. It’s life - and they love it.

Yet, despite this deep-seated love affair with cycling, Italy’s racing showpiece, the Giro d’Italia, is in a sad and sorry state. Think Leinster football championship. 

That’s right. A total non-event.

Watching the three-week Grand Tour grind to its totally predictable conclusion last Sunday, I actually felt pangs of sympathy for the Italian nation. 

The Italians continue to create an incredible spectacle. They come out in their thousands to watch the race. Not only that, but their stunning villages and towns are often bedecked in an explosion of pink - the colour of the race leader’s maglia rosa jersey.

The Italians still put on a great race - only the race itself is complete pants.

Ninety-nine per cent of the best cyclists in the world don’t go anywhere near it. 

When a star does turn up, as Tadej Pogačar did this year, it automatically becomes a one-horse race.

If you think I’m exaggerating, consider the fact that the 38-year-old Geraint Thomas was the second favourite to win this year’s event. Geraint Thomas isn’t even the best rider in his own team.

As I spent the last three weeks contemplating the abject state of the Giro d’Italia, the thought also struck me that the exact same thing now applies to Gaelic football.

Football is the lifeblood of our country. No sport is bigger. No sport reaches as far and as deep. 

It’s our mother sport, the be all and end all. Nothing else comes close.

Yet, the state of the county game is pretty pathetic.

It has all become so flaccid and boring.

The National League is meaningless.

Three of the provincial championships are total snore-fests.

None of the provincial championships matter any more.

As for the so called secondary competitions. Never has the word ‘secondary’ been used so out of context.

When I turned my attention closer to home, the Giro d’Italia quickly started to appear in a much rosier light.

The tragedy is that the solution is abundantly obvious.

The secondary competitions need to get the chop. The provincial championships could be run off at the start of the year.

The National League is an old, blind, mangey, three-legged dog. Putting it to sleep would be an act of kindness. 

The solution is a league-based championship that is tiered so that only the top counties compete for the Sam Maguire Cup. 

This has to happen. The sooner the better.

We can’t keep running competitions which mean nothing.

As former Derry PRO, Gerry Donnelly famously told a reporter about the McKenna Cup. “Even the McKennas have stopped going to it”.

Gerry said that about 20 years ago.

But we still keep flogging these dead horses. 

The National Football League. 

Who the hell cares?

It doesn’t mean anything. 

And I say that as a man whose county won this year’s League.

Tadej Pogačar won this year’s Giro d’Italia by more than 9 minutes. After the first week, the race was over.

For the remaining fortnight, the drama and excitement was provided by the sub-plots and mini dramas, the breakaways and the sprints. 

Will Galway beat Mayo? Let’s go Wille Joe.

You know what I’m saying.

The All-Ireland Championship is depressingly similar.

For Pogačar, think Dublin.

Barring a serious, unexpected mishap, the Dubs will not be touched.

As for everyone else, we’re just chasing stage wins.

Which is fair enough, but the manner in which the race is run needs to change.

Like the Italians, we deserve better.

Both nations need an epic Grand Tour that finishes against the majestic backdrop of a setting sun.

PH