By Ciaran Woods
c.woods@gaeliclife.com
IT'S a wet Saturday afternoon in deepest Fermanagh. Nell McCafferty is pacing the sidelines as manager of Faughanvale's senior men in a challenge match with Devenish. Her mentor, Donegal's All-Ireland winning manager is alongside, pointing her in the right direction and guiding the rookie boss. The scene is set, all seems well, but as she has been discovering all does not always run smoothly in the world of Gaelic Games.
"We were playing a challenge match last Saturday and at one stage Brian said to me 'Go on and tell them to spread it out.' So one of the players came running past me and I said to him 'Listen, we need to spread it out.' He looked back at me and said 'Midfield? Forwards? Or where?' and I just looked blankly at him and said 'I'll get back to you on that.' I'm now talking about football as if I know something about it, and the truth is I know feck all!"
It's all part of RTE's new series, Celebrity Bainisteoir, the first instalment of which went to air last Sunday evening and has already become a major talking point in clubs and workplaces across the country. Nell and her boys from St Mary's Faughanvale are Ulster's sole representatives, and are determined to go all the way as they enjoy their time in the media limelight.
The concept is a simple one; Take eight Intermediate ranked teams from across the country, and give them a celebrity with little or no knowledge of GAA as their new manager. Put them in an eight-team tournament, with a winner-takes-all prize of ¤10,000. Then just sit back and watch the madness unfold!
Other celebrities to take up the reins of club sides in their native counties include top model Glenda Gilson who is steering the fortunes of Dublin side Crumlin, while former Rose of Tralee Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain takes charge of Mayo's Kiltimagh. Elsewhere, D'Unbelievables comedian Jon Kenny is in charge of Limerick's Galtee Gaels, while TD Mary O'Rourke is prowling the sidelines of Maryland in Westmeath.
It's not easy stepping out of your comfort zone and into an area which you know little about, especially when a TV camera is following you every step of the way. So what was it that convinced Nell to take on this particular challenge?
"I get loads of offers to do things on TV, so usually my first question is 'What's the fee?' because I'm a working journalist. Then if I like the idea I'll talk to them about it. It suited me well to go back to Derry on a regular basis, but it is the GAA and it intrigued me to know what it would be like to work with a group of men."
Nell admits that her knowledge of Greysteel and the Faughanvale area was limited to say the least before she started working with them for the series, and that in fact her eyes have been opened to the concept of the whole county and provincial mentality of the GAA. For a city girl from the Bogside, adjusting to the GAA culture has taken some doing.
"I must have passed through it, I'm bound to have. It's a village spread across a main road, but you wouldn't know you've gone through it. I knew nothing at all about them. But I knew the GAA is based on community, on parish.
"I'm being introduced to a whole area of Derry as a county that I never knew. I'm from the city. They told me they were from Derry and I said 'no you're not' but they meant it, because the GAA is the whole county of Derry. When they said that they were representing Ulster I said 'well I'm not' but they meant the nine counties, and I had never grasped that."
Despite the problems, the journalist admits that she has been overwhelmed at times by the idiosyncratic ways of Gaelic Games. Her only previous sporting experience was with soccer, and she has been quick to realise the cultural differences between the sports.
"It's been joyful, because I'm not just learning something new but it's also something that is filling me with a certain sense of wonderment.
"There's also so many differences between soccer and GAA, 'fans' being one of them. I'm a good fan, I went to Italia '90 to the World Cup. The GAA doesn't have fans, it's everybody. They cannot function without the parish, and the team is just the tip of the iceberg. The amount of work in getting them onto a pitch is immense, in fact even getting a pitch sometimes is a problem!"
The first hurdle she had to overcome was actually meeting the players for the first time, only finding out on the day that the team had been kept in the dark over who their Celebrity Bainisteoir was going to be. With some hoping for Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle to walk in through the changing room door, she was naturally nervous over what their reaction would be. However, they quickly came to an understanding and haven't looked back since.
"I had the will to win, and I believed we were going to win, but how naive I was! I was afraid, there's no point saying otherwise. There's a natural fear of a situation like this. They were men, young men at that, and I'm what could now be classed as an 'old' or 'older' woman. They'd never heard of me because all my work has been in the south, the only thing that could have saved me was that their parents may have, but the first thing they saw was a short grey haired woman. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."
The heat of the touchline in the midst of championship battle was not what Nell expected, she admits, and her side had to endure a turbulent opening period against Galway's Galtee Gaels before things eventually clicked into place. She was bowled over by the hospitality shown to them by their hosts, and it made for a very enjoyable trip for the Derry lads and their Bainisteoir.
"It was wild sad in the first 25 minutes because we were being massacred, and I hadn't thought of losing. I didn't know enough about football at that stage to know that when the fellas said 'We're gonna win, we're gonna win' that they were only pumping themselves up. I believed them because they were saying it!
"I was sad when we were losing and I was also sad for the opposition when we were beating them. The Galtee Gaels gave us a wonderful day. There were banners all along the road to the pitch, welcoming Faughanvale. They took us to the two pubs, because there's only two pubs in the village, and their boys took my younger ones to it seemed every nightclub in Munster that night. I know it impacted on my guys, and it was also good for them to see a bit of the South and areas they'd never been to."
Last weekend Faughanvale were hosted by their mentor in his native Bundoran, a training camp which included a visit from legendary Derry defender Tony Scullion, now one of the most highly-respected coaches in the country. It was an eye-opening experience for Nell, who got the opportunity to experience first-hand the sort of passion that can be generated in a team. The perks of the job, she admits, have not been bad.
"Brian has been Mr God, and over the weekend we had Mr God II. He spoke to us for over an hour and we practically levitated. I'm getting all the privilage and the pleasure of the inside view. I'm access all areas, because I'm a bainisteoir. Who normally gets an hour with Tony Scullion, or as I've had now four months of Brian McEniff? I've had a cup of tea with Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, it's great!"
So has her exposure to the world of GAA inspired Nell to take a more active interest in Gaelic Games? Will she become a regular visitor to Celtic Park to watch Paddy Crozier's team in action? Or will she be bidding for a place in his backroom team ahead of the championship?
"Celtic Park is at the top of my street if I'm in Derry. Up the top of the street, ten yards and I'm in. I've never been to an All-Ireland because how would you get a ticket? I'd be more inclined to go to a club match where you can actually get in, so it's whet my appetite in that way. Would I go? I might now that I understand a wee bit more about it. The first thing I need to do is find a parish and a team to belong to, because that's what it's all about."
Celebrity Bainisteoir continues on Sunday evenings at 6.30pm on RTE Two, with Faughanvale's quarter-final clash with Galtee Gaels going to air on Sunday April 13 as part of the eight-week series. This weekend's show sees Glenda Gilson take her Crumlin side to Cork to take on the Mayfield club led by the solicitor to the stars and socialite Gerald Kean. It's a chance to see how Ireland's most photographed model fares out, and to see whether her charms inspire the Crumlin boys to victory.
It's the GAA, folks, but not as we know it.
Faughanvale piece
IT'S been left to Derry Intermediate club side Faughanvale to fly the flag for Ulster in the Celebrity Bainistoir series, the sole representatives of the northern province under the guidance of Derry city native and journalist Nell McCaffrey. It's a whole new world of TV and celebrity for the Derry lads, but despite the added pressures, they're enjoying their role.
Conor Nicholl, a member of the senior management team and one of the driving forces behind the project, explained that the clubs participation in the television series is part of their overall celebrations in what is a landmark year for the club.
"An email came through to the club, we expressed an interest and it just snowballed from there. We took it to a committee meeting and the club decided it would be good to do as part of the 75th Anniversary celebrations for the club this year.
"We didn't really know what to expect or how big it was going to be, but it's become very clear that this is something which is really gathering momentum. There's massive exposure, and now that the programme is going to air there's more and more people saying that they saw it and who are becoming aware of it.
"It's put an added burden on the players. They had to come back to training about six weeks earlier than they normally would have done, and since then they've been fulfilling their commitments with the programme in addition to their normal training. So it's been a sacrifice on their part, but one which we hope will be worthwhile in the end."
It would be fair to say that there were a few raised eyebrows in the Faughanvale dressing room when their Celebrity Bainisteoir Nell McCaffrey entered. Admitting that she had absolutely no knowledge of the game, it was a whole new world to Nell, but Nicholl reveals that the boys have been doing all they can to ease her into things. It's been a struggle at times, but with an experienced manager like Brian McEniff alongside her, things are looking up.
"Nell has bought into it very quickly, and she's bought into it very quickly. She sees the effort the boys are putting in and she's been doing all she can to help the boys along. The boys are working with her, she didn't claim to know anything about Gaelic Games and the boys have tried to help her with that. Throughout filming and everything, she genuinely wants the best for the players. She's always asking them questions, and the effort the boys have put in has been unreal so far.
"It's only a burden if you let it be a burden, and the boys have thrown themselves fully into it and they're enjoying it. We've Brian McEniff in as our mentor, and anything which brings an All-Ireland winning manager into the setup can only be positive for the club."
It may be only a week since their television debut, but this weekend they commence their domestic campaign with a league clash with Desertmartin. It's not easy squeezing everything in, but Nicholl is confident that their exertions as part of the series will stand them in good stead as they prepare for their crunch league opener, and they have been fortunate to be able to sample some top-drawer preparation.
"Some people would have said that we didn't need this distraction, but now that we're in it we're determined to do as well as we can and to get as much as we can out of it. Brian (McEniff) is always on the phone, asking how things are going with training, and offering advice all the time.
"Last weekend we were in Bundoran for the weekend as part of the filming, staying in Brian McEniff's hotel. Tony Scullion came down and took us for a training session, and we played a challenge match on Sunday afternoon.
"We wouldn't know what county standard is, but this is bound to be close. We're getting the chance to do things we otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to, weekends away and the likes. It's for the programme, but we're marrying it into our preparations for the league."
Simply being involved in the programme has raised the profile of the Derry men, but Faughanvale are not in the competition just to make up numbers. They're proud to be flying the flag for the Oak Leaf county and for Ulster, and have glory very much in their sights.
"As Brian McEniff put it to us, we're in the quarter-final of an officially recognised All-Ireland competition. For an intermediate club like us to get that opportunity is great, and we're glad to be part of it.
"Brian McEniff keeps telling us that we're not just representing the people of Faughanvale and Greysteel, we're representing the county and the province of Ulster as well. We're enjoying the experience, but we'll only enjoy it fully if we go on and win it."
