Three cheers for The Cups that Cheered | Stephen Barry

Almost a year to the day following the launch of the history of sport in UCC, further light has been shed on the Leeside college’s famed GAA clubs in Dónal McAnallen’s extensive history of the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon competitions entitled “The Cups that Cheered” (The Collins Press). Yet as the title would suggest this tome of nearly 600 pages isn’t a merely stiff history written for similarly minded history boffins.While McAnallen doesn’t leave any stone unturned in his successful bid to provide a thorough account of college GAA, he brings a lighter touch to his study topic; a touch which is enhanced by the beautiful design and frequent photos. Alongside every meticulous fact and figure are interesting titbits about the characters involved. Descriptions of games are distinguished by the disputes: the biased umpires; the eccentric referees; and the vigorous (and often vicious) play. And given that the host club was granted the right to choose the referee for decades, it’s no wonder that the Sigerson developed an unwritten rule that nobody was allowed be sent-off.As the title suggests, the author does his best to document the post-game antics of the participants too. Most notable from a UCC perspective were the drinks bill which almost led to the expulsion of some football club officials in 1943 until the sudden death of the college bursar and the subsequent ‘loss’ of the receipt and also the €3,000 of food lost to a food fight in the Metropole at the last-ever Sigerson banquet in 1986, which made national news and was condemned by the charity Concern.McAnallen also seeks to reflect modern day debates in his analysis. The eligibility rules, which have recently hit the headlines yet again, are tracked from initial ignorance to the consequent flare-ups which have occurred habitually through the years. He describes UCC as the most prominent accusers of foul play, albeit without being entirely innocent either, between the odd graduate and never-student lining out. He attributes a large portion of this to a Cork resentment of UCD, a resentment which was inflamed by UCD’s persistent use of part-time and evening students. However, as the author notes, at one point in the 1930s the UCC officials had become alarmingly prone to falling out with each other; for a time the hurling club ignored letters not written as Gaeilge and repeatedly warned the camogie club not to play on the Mardyke after 2pm on any day. It was in this decade that the club left the Fitzgibbon Cup at their hotel before a final against UCD in protest at their alleged ineligible players. Thankfully any further incident was avoided by UCC’s victory.Indeed in the early days of three- and four-way competition, the different institutions emerge with their own stereotypical personas, perhaps along the lines of characters out of “Malcolm in the Middle:” UCD being the more talented, egotistical title character; UCG the slightly incompetent, basket-case Reese; UCC the jealous, pusher for equality Dewey; and Queens the new kid on the block Jamie.    To further the comparison, for the first half-century the organising body’s bipolar parenting more resembled the leniency of Hal except for a few spectacular bursts of Lois-esque discipline. In the 1954 Fitzgibbon, Galway supporters and players treated UCC to some retribution for their captain, Mickey Burke, who was hit by a Cork player in the previous year’s All-Ireland. UCC lost seven players to injury during this All-Ireland ‘rematch’ in which one player was heard appeal that he was from Waterford and should escape the vendetta! A player mysteriously reported as ‘M. Burke’ scored three goals however Burke didn’t play in the final and ultimately the result was scratched due to the use of illegal players and retributive physicality.However McAnallen takes on a more proactive role as a historian in considering the 1940 Fitzgibbon controversy. UCC emerged victorious however the Cork County Board declared three of their players ineligible under ‘The Ban.’ Croke Park withheld the medals, and seemingly the cup as well, however, over the years, UCC’s name has taken its place on the roll of honour. Yet McAnallen proposes that UCC’s name be deleted from that roll, in line with UCG’s 1954 removal.But in spite of any parochial grievance at this amendment which reduces UCC’s total from 40 to 39, it is an indisputable claim that McAnallen has put together an utterly readable history which will equally satisfy and surprise both the casual footballer and the hurler on the ditch.