I WOKE UP from a dream about my mother-in-law’s kombucha.
Now before you go thinking I am involved in some twisted sexual relationship; kombucha is the name of a drink she brews in her home in the hills of a small town outside Wellington in New Zealand. It’s created by adding a particular mushroom to tea, sugar and vinegar.
The mushroom ferments in the acid and eats all the sugar, producing a “culture”.
Within this culture, the drink is brewed. It apparently contains some powerful digestion health benefits.
This culture is a living thing. It produces an infinite amount of the drink once you treat it well and add the right ingredients in the right conditions.
More from Lenny:
- My identity was wrapped up in being a Dub… and it all unravelled when I was dropped
- ‘When I eventually blew every cent I had on a 50-1 horse, I just about hit rock bottom’
- I know the effect drugs have… but I wouldn’t have doped to be Dubs #1
It got me thinking about sporting culture. Why are some clubs better than others? How can some teams be a success and others not? How do some groups produce an endless supply of talent, while others can invent a new winning mentality overnight?
And why did we not win an All-Ireland when I was with the Dubs? We had the fitness, the talent and the professionalism. But something was not quite right.
The Dubs Culture
Being part of the Dubs squad was all I thought it would be as a player growing up. The training was thought-out and meticulously planned. The gear was plentiful. The gym routines were rigorous and created powerful athletes. The attention to detail with video work and tactics was immense. Match-day routines were clinical in their precision and execution.
There was great camaraderie between players. There was always a buzz in the dressing room. There was a nice mix of outgoing lads, the quiet and the tough nuts. The ideas spoken by the managers seemed to be on the ball. Yet we still failed to get over the line.
Whether I like to think it or not, there was something wrong with the culture of that group. Maybe we were not intense enough. Maybe we took things for granted. Maybe we did not buy in 100% to all of the psychology being employed. Maybe we lacked a little belief. Maybe we were just too happy to be there.
I didn’t see it at the time, but looking back it is obvious something was not quite right.
What changed in Dublin to create this indomitable force?
Pat Gilroy took a long look at the group of players he inherited from Pillar Caffrey. He knew changes were needed. He brought in early-morning training sessions. He encouraged the players to take part in community and charity events. He axed some long-standing players and some whom he thought could not contribute.
His changes caused a fluctuation in the team culture. They got hammered in year one by Kerry. But they were adapting to his methods. He trimmed a few more, revamped tactics and they came back even hungrier. Beaten in a semi final by Cork in year two, their resilience and flexibility was growing and growing. They would return to the well again.
Intensity intensified. Attitudes hardened.
The tactics, athleticism and attitudes of the Dubs flourished in the culture he had created. Ultimate glory came that September.
What we are seeing now is the result of modifications to that culture. Jim Gavin has streamlined and processed. He has developed and improved. The living culture that is the Dubs is evolving and changing. Right now they are as professional and serious as any sporting team in Ireland. There is no doubt about it.
Can the Dubs be beaten?
To think that any team will be a certainty for victory in any one-off game is ridiculous. Players can have a collective bad day. Conditions can play havoc with preparation. Resolve can be tested by opponents.
But any team that wants to beat Dublin this year will have to bring their superior culture to the table.
Tactics, fitness and mentality need to be better. The players, as the embodiment of their culture, need to express themselves. They need to shine and perform to peak standards.
Kerry traditionally have the strongest football GAA culture in the country. That is why they will challenge again this year. They know how to win. They know how to progress in competitions. They know how to close out games. It is inherited from their older players and passed onto their younger ones.
Tyrone will challenge too. They have a culture which has been promulgated and carefully managed by Mickey Harte over the last decade or so. He knows the fine balance that is needed to succeed. Their experience and knowledge is filtered and regurgitated though their underage teams.
I could go on and on but this will get boring very quickly. My point is that any team in Ireland with the right culture can win the All-Ireland. It does not matter who you are. And here is why.
The Leicester City phenomenon
What was witnessed this year in the English Premier League was something special. Claudio Ranieri created an intense and magnificent culture within his short tenure. The radical result of his methods was a shocking and steamrolling season.
But winning the Premier League was not the result of one player. It was not the result of one man. It was the product of a collective immersion in a prolific culture. It was the result of perfect fitness, mentality and tactics.
The momentum their early season results created gave them a group belief. This belief carried them forward. They replicated this feeling over and over and this delivered them to the most impossible and unprecedented turnaround in English football history.
Can a “smaller” team win an All-Ireland?
All GAA teams need to ask themselves one question: Are we able to win an All-Ireland? If the answer is yes, then it is possible. If the answer is no, then it is not.
From there they need to have the right systems and training in place. The players must be physically fit enough to compete at the highest level. If the fitness is there, then the tactics need to right. If the tactics are right, then it is always possible to beat any team. This all stems from the culture of that county.
Do they have the ability to see that potential? Can they create a winning culture and force it into creation. Can they do that in the immediate and short term? The only limits in life are the limiting beliefs you put on yourself. If a group of people create a culture of limitless potential, then there is no reason why they cannot do anything they put their mind to.
You only have to look at the result of the Westmeath U-21s beating Kilkenny U-21s; the complete underdog shocking the standard bearers of the game. This Westmeath team have shown they are good enough. They have shown the resilience, mentality and physical prowess needed to beat the best. And they can do it again.
But this only happened because of the culture these young men exist in. Their management have given them the environment and the belief to excel and perform. There is no reason they cannot win an All-Ireland, one game at a time.
Who else can create that culture this year?
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