‘Galvinised’ – an Intimate Portrait of a Kerry Rebel in Search of a Cause

He probably wouldn’t appreciate the title given his lengthy rap sheet of Cork sourced woes but it scratches at the heart of this fascinating, if at times aimless, documentary on the GAA’s foremost ‘pantomine villain’. Paul Galvin the fashionista. Paul Galvin the radio dj, the bored teacher, the victimised footballer, the troubled soul, the redemption man. Paul Galvin the outsider in the kingdom GAA fishbowl in search of his destiny.

I’m one of the latest to flee down under but I had to catch ‘Galvinised’ a week or two after hearing all the fuss from home on the social networks and online paper reports. On first watch, the misplaced focus on his fashion conscious and, to a lesser extent, on his overriding victim complex lend the whole thing a certain cringe factor. Perhaps that comes from my own North Kerry background and the anticipation of what the terrace pundits and streethacks who stand in judgment will have in store in the months to come. But he comes off as thoughtful and self-aware, however considerable the ego that drives him. Galvin will stand tall amidst the abuse. He’s become practised at his own private brand of game focused oblivion on championship Sundays over recent years. The pathetic petty jibes doing the rounds on the web boards merit little consideration. In truth, few with even a passing interest in the GAA would deny that he’s an interesting character who enlightens our games.

I recall a county league match some years back of limited relevance at my own club grounds. We played host to Galvin’s Finuge on a drizzly afternoon in spring, light years away from the glitz of the Big Apple or a September Sunday at Croker. He was out injured at the time but showed up as the consummate clubman and cut a lonely figure on the fringe of the opposition dugout. Isolation. It struck me back then that this guy neither fitted nor embraced the stereotype.

On the one hand, his love for the game and the scene surrounding it is unquestionable. He subscribes to it wholeheartedly and lives for it like many in the Kingdom. To see him speak passionately on his experience of Lixnaw hurling club and on his sense of guilt towards his County teammates underlines this. On the other hand, the GAA culture in Kerry and indeed on a wider scale, is undoubtedly homogenous and narrow-minded. In an environment where you might find yourself labelled gay for having the temerity to take the field displaying more than three months hair growth, the rank and file are loath to accept a skinny jeans clad poser with highfalutin aspirations towards fashin and meeja and the like.

Paul Galvin is an outsider. The label as GAA’s bad boy is something of a self-fulfilling prophesy given his overtly aggressive approach in his formative years on the county scene. Give a dog a bad name and so forth. He appears to, consciously or otherwise, seek out causes. He feels victimised by the powers that be and frustrated at his dependence ‘on the integrity of opponents’. The documentary may well have been aimed partly at changing our perception of him and it probably succeeds, to some extent. The next time the CCC sit in judgment on the selective ramblings of the CSI Sunday Game cast, perhaps they’ll offer our bearded tattoo clad demon the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

Another present cause is style and fashion and the minor line in radio work. You get the sense, however, that at heart this is a character in search of something to set him apart. The metrosexual thing is pretty irrelevant. Have a stroll down the CBD in any major city under here in Oz and he’d fall in like a spray-on-jeans soldier. But he feels uncomfortable at the curious stares of staff and students at the Sem in Killarney and on the streets of his home county. He’s dabbled in teaching but it’s no longer for him. He’s torn between a love for his native county’s game and the struggles in rowing against the tide in small town rural Ireland. Galvin is an amateur sports star dealing with the pressures of a distinctly professional brand of fame.

Which brings us to a familiar theme in GAA circles. The big bad P word. There’s a certain irony and hypocrisy in how our subject has on the one hand actively courted the media attentions usually associated with professional athletes and on the other hand rages against the intrusions. But far be it for a career challenged Kerryman to be swanning off to rehab in LA a la messers Rooney or Ben Cousins and the likes at first hint of a personal crisis. While he clearly exhibits traces of the arrogance and self-importance more characteristic of the overpaid overindulged band of millionaires cross channel, there is no getting away from the real world in the GAA. Whether he lives to regret skipping the surefooted teaching post in these tough times remains to be seen.

There are a small number of high profile GAA stars for whom the glare of the media attention quite clearly crosses the line beyond what any play-for-the-love-of-it sportsperson should endure. Galvin clearly falls into that category. There was the tabloid coverage of his classroom duster incident some years back, through the headline news coverage of slaprefgate to the Exposé myth and the phonecalls home and to work. He’s seems genuinely irked by it all. To be fair to the man, it seems more a case of the proverbial horse being dropped in the water rather than lead to the edge to indulge of its own accord. Small scale Irish fame/infamy has sought out Paul Galvin and now he’s seeking to use it to his own end. He’s just not quite sure yet what that end is.

So who are we to sit in judgment on a dedicated amateur star taking his first tentative bambiesque steps in the pool of national celebrity? It could turn out to be a hollow and cruel world but he has the platform and the liathroidi. Give him his dues. Certain sections in our society still scorn our national heritage games as backward bogball and stickball when in reality the GAA is one of the few things we can still be proud of in these depressed times. This is why the association can only gain from such characters, however deluded or self absorbed they might or might not be. As in every facet of life, change is inevitable and should be embraced. Last year we had the wonderful spectrum of Donal Og blazing the trail for homosexual sportsmen from his unpaid vantage in a small island on the Western fringes of Europe, a brave and progressive act way beyond so many of far higher profile and influence overseas.

A proud Kerry footballer need not forever fit the politician style yerra blank blank etc hollow rhetoric seemingly intrinsic since Paidi’s era. The GAA should actively encourage this form of self-promotion where it finds a market. The days of the guaranteed public service or banking job for the County star may be at an end and if pay for play is off the cards why not use the ’professional’ profile for personal gain? He does his share for charity lest the naysayers forget. Best of luck Paul. Before you head off for the big smoke and the bright lights, just give us one more lift off Sam will ya, with a Tyrone scalp in tow? Your final cause on the football field.