A NEW YEAR, a fresh start, but it was obviously going to come up. Mayo ladies football manager Peter Leahy was a man in demand at the launch of the Lidl Ladies National Football League in Croke Park yesterday, considering the 2018 saga.
It was the story of the summer but just in case one needs reminding, here’s the gist of it: 12 players and two selectors walked away from the panel, originally citing ‘player welfare issues’ leading to weeks of twists and turns, statements, press conferences and wars of words.
Yesterday, Leahy had plenty more to add, emphasising that the LGFA ‘missed an opportunity’ and didn’t reach out to the Westmeath native once, while the WGPA ‘has a lot to answer for’.
“Us men who are involved in a ladies sport need to be protected as well,” he told The42 in a wide-ranging interview which required few questions. A 14-minute conversation, five questions — well, inputs — and raw, honest talk from Leahy.
Emma Duffy (The42.ie writer): Obviously last year, everything that happened….
PL: “Yeah, listen, we’re in a new year now but we need to put to bed what happened last year. I think there was a lot of opportunities missed as well. I think the LGFA missed an opportunity.
“Us men who are involved in a ladies sport need to be protected as well. I’d be all for anyone speaking up against anything that’s going on wrong. I mean that would be absolutely vital. But when it comes out that it’s not anything untoward that happened, I think the LGFA deserved to stand up and say, ‘Listen, we’re sorry Peter, this kind of thing shouldn’t happen to you.’ I never even got one phone call from the LGFA.
“My own Mayo LGFA in a county board meeting gave a round of applause and thanked me for my service and apologised on behalf of everyone. I never got an apology — well, I don’t expect an apology from the girls that left — but I think the organisation missed an opportunity to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.
“As a male involved in a female sport, we have to be protected as well. I had a huge amount of managers on to me — they obviously weren’t on to me during the process but when it came out about exactly what it was, they were like, ‘Oh, thanks be to God, Peter, you stuck by. If you left, we were all in trouble. This could be done to any manager.’
“I think it was very, very bad practice. I never got a call from them to see our side of the story. What I’m trying to say is: everyone has managerial decisions and everyone has hard calls to make and everyone has their own ways of managing.
“Maybe I’m not the best manager in the world — I’m not trying to say I am — but nothing was done untoward in any way, shape or form against any individuals. The players who stayed were treated the exact same as the players who left. This was a simple power struggle, a power struggle that didn’t go their way and then they tried to create something that wasn’t there.
“I really have no problem with someone having a power struggle. I have no problem with someone trying to get rid of a manager if they don’t like them. They’re entitled to do that. But they’re not entitled to be judge and jury for everyone else that plays the game. Or they’re not entitled to throw innuendos into the mix, especially when it’s a male versus female situation.
“I never look at things gender. I even think this 20×20 thing is brilliant, but I think why should ladies get more people just because they’re ladies? It’s about their sport because I know ours is a pure Gaelic sport.
“You look at the men, they’re twiddling with their rules. I’m still involved with the men’s game, I’m coaching a men’s team. The fact is, the ladies’ game is pure. It’s exciting.
“But let’s look at it from a sporting point of view, not a gender point of view. My own daughter is in a same-sex relationship. She has had to fight through her sporting career to get her gender recognised and all the different things. I understand the plight of women trying to get into their sport, but let’s not make it about gender.”
ED: Peter, obviously it was such a difficult time with so much going on. You want to put that completely in the past and go at it again this year?
PL: “Yeah but I think it was important to stand up. When you’re in the right, I think it’s very important to not allow to be intimidated into doing something you don’t want. I think I stood up for every male manager that’s involved in ladies football. If that was allowed to go ahead and for me to resign over it or anything like that, it just opens a can of worms for everyone. ”
ED: Some people made assumptions and you were painted in a bad light. That’s pretty horrific for you and for your family.
PL: “Listen, I’ve had worse things happen in my life. I don’t mind, it’s for my family. I had my daughter on the phone to me crying, ‘Why would anyone do this to you, Dad? You’ve never hurt anyone in your life.’
“She’s crying on the phone to me from England, wanting to come home. I had a son in Australia wanting to come home. saying, ‘This is ridiculous, I can’t understand how anyone would say anything like this.’
“It’s hard on family. You know, I have very, very good support. I got very good support from Mayo LGFA, got very good support from Connacht. I’m disappointed I didn’t get any support from the LGFA. I’ll tell you where I got great support: from inter-county men’s managers, inter-county ladies managers, club people, people who played under me before — male and female — ringing me and texting me.
“There was nothing wrong with leaving, there was nothing wrong with trying to do a coup to try and get rid of me; there’s nothing wrong with that, nothing new in that. It happens in male and female games, it doesn’t matter. But the minute you put ‘player welfare’ and ‘unhealthy’, it becomes very dodgy. The minute the player gets to say and do what they want in the, circumstances, then what’s the point in having managers?”
ED: Look, you’re ready to go again with a good group, looking forward to the weekend and to just going at 2019 full tilt?
PL: “It’s like a cloud has been lifted on us. We have players there who have never played inter-county football, we’ve players who stopped playing inter-county football come back. We have 16 clubs involved out of 30-odd clubs.
“There are clubs openly wanting their players to come in and play, contacting me saying, ‘Have a look at this girl.’ I looked at nearly 80 players. Listen, I don’t think there’s ever been 80 players wanting to come play for Mayo before. It’s like a completely different team.
“Listen, it’s a new Mayo but it’s exciting. It’s fun. Gaelic games are all about teaching new things, developing ourselves. We get supported by Mayo people but also the demands of Mayo people are very high. I love that. They already know that the coaching is being done there and that will just take time to develop the players. We will get the players to where we want.
“To get them up to speed fast enough is really, really tough. It’s really, really exciting though. I leave training and drive two hours home with a smile on my face every single day. It’s the most exciting team I’ve ever been involved with. They’re so raw, they’re so enthusiastic and they believe in the process. If someone’s prepared to die for the jersey, that’s what it’s all about. That makes my heart melt that sport is about enjoying, it’s about loving what you do.”
ED: People often get caught up in it and forget that. But that’s what it comes down to at the end of the day.
PL: “Now listen, Division 1 football is hard football and you’ve to learn a lot, learn fast and grow up fast. I’d be a hard taskmaster now but I never give out to someone for trying to do the right thing. We all can’t always do the right thing, but at least we’re trying. Listen, it’s exciting times for us in Mayo at the moment.”
Join us to preview the Six Nations with Simon Zebo, Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey on Thursday @7pm in Liberty Hall Theatre Dublin.
