Welcome to "We Need To Talk About Mayo" - a brand new series on the Mayo Football Podcast.There is often an obsession with who the next Mayo manager will be, something we are witnessing right now. We feel that is but one part of the jigsaw and that now is an ideal time to step back and look at the wider picture relating to Mayo GAA.This involves thinking about things like structures, coaching, people, money and the bricks and mortar. In this podcast series we aim to dive into the issues that have the potential to shape the future of the game in Mayo and to ask the questions grassroots volunteers tell us do not often get the time of day.Over the coming weeks, we’ll shine a light on those areas that seem to be working well and those on which honest reflection is needed. Most people working at the coalface of Mayo GAA do so with the best of intentions but any organisation which has had repeated issues cropping up needs introspection and to ask itself how can things be done better. What can we learn from the past to improve our decision-making on current issues?At its heart, this podcast series is about a shared ambition in us all: success for Mayo football across the board off the back of a thriving, purposeful, cohesive GAA community.Whether you’re spilling out footballs for a training session, lacing up the boots for your next game, painting the dressing rooms, chairing the meetings, driving the county’s roads with a car full of future Mayo hopefuls or trekking through the local pub on a Saturday night with a lotto book in hand and tickets to sell, this is a conversation for you!Everyone who cares deeply about the Green and Red and the great game of Gaelic football in Mayo, everyone who cares about the long-term viability of communities that express themselves through the sport and yes, whisper it, everyone who shares the elusive dream of one day seeing Mayo lift Sam for the fourth time. This is a conversation for you!Over the last few weeks, series co-producers Rob Murphy and Edwin McGreal have been speaking to dozens of people with a huge amount of collective knowledge, insight and experience about what they feel are the issues that most need addressing and where the potential for improvement lies.We’ve broken these topics into four main categories - coaching, infrastructure, governance and culture. This will frame our conversations and we’ll be asking for feedback and ideas from our podcast listeners as we go along.We begin today with a scene-set from our regular Mayo Football Podcast crew of Rob Murphy, Mike Finnerty, John Gunnigan and Edwin McGreal.To get in touch with us and to become involved in this discussion, club members can contact us on the Mayo Football Podcast's Discord server or on Patreon at patreon.com/mayopodcast. We're also looking to stimulate discussion on the Mayo GAA Blog (mayogaablog.com) and anyone who wants to contact us directly about the issues raised in this podcast series can email us at
[email protected] is a discussion for everyone with an interest in the future direction of Gaelic football in the county. We really do need to talk about Mayo.Â
Ireland