JIM GAVIN did not look like a man done with service. The intriguing interview he gave to Off The Ball may not have been intended as a relaunch of Gavin as a public figure, but that was one of the impressions left by the discussion.
It was his first public discussion since the presidential election debacle, and Gavin framed his thoughts on that disastrous interlude in terms of public service.
It was a touchstone for him as he recalled the experience of being Fianna Fáil’s candidate, and his decision to withdraw as the campaign fell apart.
Jim Gavin, servant of the people was the tone. Before the brief and ill-starred foray into politics, he was spoken of as a future leader of the GAA.
Time the healer: Jim Gavin during his controversial presidential campaign
That notion, risible at Halloween, has recovered with time. The prospect of Gavin returning to a leadership role within the sport to which he’s clearly devoted is live again.
‘I have no regrets. It is in my DNA to serve,’ he said early on in the interview, and it was a point he reiterated repeatedly.
This could be a coping mechanism, the way a man accustomed to success makes sense of an ill-advised decision to enter a competition in which he had no experience and to which it became clear very quickly he was ill-suited.
But it’s also an explanation backed up by Gavin’s life, from his service to the State as a member of the Defence Forces, to the contribution he has made to the country’s most popular sport, first as a player, then as a record-breaking manager and, most importantly, as the inspiration behind rule changes that have revitalised football.
New departure: Barry McNulty from Leitrim scores a point against Sligo, Gavin’s work with the Football Review Committee is acknowledged as having vastly improved football
His role as chair of the Football Review Committee (FRC) was one context for his public appearance this week, but the timing was also apt given the Leinster Football Championship sees four quarter-finals being played this weekend.
Dublin are expected to get past Wicklow in Aughrim, even if Ger Brennan’s chances of being on the sideline to direct them are narrowing.
The Central Appeals Committee this week rejected his attempt to have a 12-week suspension struck down, and his final recourse is to the Disputes Resolution Authority.
Should his case fail there, then the Dublin manager will be condemned to missing the entirety of the provincial campaign and the first two rounds of the All-Ireland series
His altercation with a member of the Galway backroom team in their final National League game was in stark contrast to the almost preternatural sideline calm that distinguished Gavin’s record-breaking tenure.
Comparing Brennan with Gavin is unfair but the extent of Dublin’s decline as the golden generation slip into retirement is exposed by the Leinster standings.
Should results go as expected this weekend, Dublin would be on course to meet Louth in Portlaoise on the May Bank Holiday weekend in a semi-final that they would be expected to win — but that expectation is heavily qualified. Leinster’s in-form team, Meath, will likely await the winners of the other semi-final in the Leinster decider in mid-May.
Troubled times: Dublin manager Ger Brennan watches from the stand, after he was sent off during the National Football League Division 1 match between Galway and Dublin
The churning waters Brennan is now negotiating did not come up in Gavin’s appearance yesterday, and it’s highly improbable that he would have offered much beyond platitudes anyway.
This reluctance to speak freely wasn’t an issue when Gavin was in charge of an all-conquering sports team. His Dublin were early pioneers in pulling down the shutters on media attention. But being accustomed to such sterile public engagement did him no favours when he was thrust into the unsparing light of a presidential election.
Pedigree: Jim Gavin with Sports Manager of the Year award and Sam Maguire in 2013
He had one fascinating comment about the experience, which could be read both as an indictment of Fianna Fáil’s campaign, and also a burnishing of his own credentials.
‘I’m a good follower,’ he said, ‘but with a project like that, where there’s a lot of change I’m probably better off leading it than leaving it to someone else. Like the FRC, I’m very comfortable leading it.’
It’s certainly a bold interpretation of those miserable weeks he spent on the stump. But addressing a sporting audience, Gavin can be confident that he has the record to back up his leadership credentials.
And that makes you wonder if he is done with service yet. He was, after all, once spoken of as a potential GAA president. Is it outlandish to imagine him one day becoming the director general of the association?
These roles may hold no appeal for him, but what’s certain is that Gavin looks far more assured around his own people.
He reached for an example from his management past when asked about having the resilience to cope with the personal disappointment of having to withdraw from the presidential race.
‘As I told the Dublin players often enough in games, the most important thing you can do is the next thing,’ he said. ‘There is that space between whatever chaos you experience … you have the power between that stimulus and the next thing you do, you do have the power to make a choice.’
That is a familiarly clinical take on life, the thinking of the unwaveringly confident manager that dominated football for nearly a decade. He was visibly enthused yesterday when talking about the work of the FRC, for instance when explaining why the hooter protocol was changed.
Gavin was unequivocal, too, when asked about the status of the provincial football championships: ‘They are going nowhere’.
The work of the FRC in canvassing support among the provincial councils convinced him of their influence and, consequently, the protected status of their competitions.
‘These are really strong units of the association, very strong, with a lot of power,’ he said, and you wondered if that hard-won understanding could some day be used as part of a canvas for high office within the GAA.
The presidency of the association may hold no appeal, but this is hardly the strictly ceremonial role of popular caricature, either. Jarlath Burns has shown, better than any president since Sean Kelly, that the holder of that office can provide practical leadership, but also try and personify the enduring values of the GAA.
Gavin was asked yesterday would he stand for election as President of Ireland again.
‘If someone asked me if I’d do it again, I’d have to pause because of that sense of duty and giving back, but I obviously wouldn’t, having gone through what I did,’ he said with a smile.
He learned his lesson – and learning from setbacks is one of the principles he prizes most of all. Finding the good in adversity is not a task he was much accustomed to as Dublin manager.
Ger Brennan is having a tougher time of it in the role that Gavin filled better than anyone.
Brennan, though, has time on his side. And the hunch here is that Gavin’s time in the public eye isn’t over yet, either.
