Steady Eddie
December 31, 2001
Rathkenny may not be regulars in the winners' enclosure but they've got their fair quota of staunch GAA people nonetheless as we discovered when he bumped into long-time stalwart Eddie Bellew.
Even allowing for all the hyperbole that has enveloped GAA matters in recent times, there's still a lot to be said for the God-honest passion and pride which people brought to bear on the local Gaelic games scene way back yonder when the parish truly meant more to its denizens than that of just a postal address.
Counties do go through good and bad times, GAA-wise and, in this respect, the last 20 years or thereabouts have been good for Meath GAA Inc. In truth, one has to rewind the clock back further than more than half of the Royal County's current population can rightly remember to finger an era when first round championship defeats were as common as poor harvests. Yes indeed, Rathkenny GAA stalwart Eddie Bellew is of a rare vintage but all the more interesting for it.
Eddie has been a player, administrator and all-round good egg down Rathkenny way for ages and ages, it seems. Though he's barely into his seventies, Eddie is a veritable mine of anecdotes, quips and reminisces about football times past and present. And the really good news for the local GAA fraternity is that their joint President isn't about to lose his hunger or his gra for the native game - not in the immediate or long term future.
Fact is, a fondness for Gaelic games is in Eddie's blood for his father Mattie was a staunch GAA man in his time. Bellew snr. was actually Secretary of the local GAA outfit when silverware was conspicuous by its presence. During Mattie's reign, the local gaels won the senior championship and the Feis Cup in the early 'twenties.
For his part, Eddie was born and reared in Rathkenny territory and was to follow his father down the administration road. Just as his father lived for the big ball game, so too does Eddie. Indeed he is joined in his love for Gaelic football by his wife Nuala and daughter Eimear.
Eddie has become much better known within the Rathkenny GAA fraternity for his efforts off the field in more recent times but he nevertheless looks back on his time as a player with a great deal of delight.
Eddie donned his boots, took some time away from his duties on the family farm and played his heart out for the cause for many years and it was only when he decided to hang up his boots that he gravitated to become one of Rathkenny's most hard-working committee men.
Ironically, like many another of his peers, Eddie wasn't afforded the pleasure of playing any football at underage level, simply because back in the thirties, forties and thereabouts, there was no organised football for juveniles at any club in Meath or a lot of other counties for that matter.
"We hadn't any organised games to play but we were always kicking about ourselves and there was a kickabout locally most days at school," Eddie recalls.
Still, it wasn't until the aspiring Bellew got into his teens that he first really kicked a ball in anger. That was with the Rathkenny junior and intermediate sides.
And was he smothered by a lorry-load of medals?
"Not a bit of it. We were nearly always struggling back then although we did win a couple of tournaments which were fairly big, including a great one organised by the Kilmainhamwood club. I remember being at tournaments back in the 'fifties when there were thousands at the games"
Thousands at the games but what was the standard of football like?
"Not bad, but a lot tougher than it is now. Football has changed a lot over the last fifty years. When I was playing, a fella could charge into the goalkeeper and put him over the goal line, no problem
"Refs let a lot go in those days. You could half-kill the goalie and there wouldn't be a free given against you. It was a man's game and there were no prisoners taken. But there was too much of the physical stuff. It's better controlled now."
Still in love with the native game Eddie may be but he's not blind though to the flaws and inherent weaknesses of the modern type stuff.
In this regard, for instance, he feels that players are over-trained and that there's far too much emphasis on getting teams fit. There's not enough ball work being done at club level right across the bows of county Meath.
"It's gone from one extreme to the other. In my younger days, fellas hardly trained at all except maybe meet at the field the odd time before a match and kick the ball in and out at the goal. Sometimes the same fellas wouldn't turn up the following Sunday for the match."
So what's the middle ground in Eddie's eyes?
"Instead of all the physical training, players should be coached more about the business of kicking points and getting goals. How many players in Meath or anywhere else in the country can kick points regularly? Not too many
"You've even seen it there on the television during the summer with the All-Ireland qualifiers and the provincial championship matches how fellas can do everything but put the ball over the bar.
"I don't know how many times I've seen players going in on goal and then passing the ball instead of shooting themselves. A lot of them seem to be afraid to try and score."
Still, Eddie confesses that he remains a big fan of Gaelic football, 2001 style. In fact, he says that on balance he prefers the game as it's played nowadays to that which he was familiar with in decades gone by.
Back in those days, Eddie - one of eleven children (seven boys and four girls) usually played in goals for Rathkenny but he also played in the full-back line while his brother Thomas normally operated at midfield. Asked about particular games that stood out for him as a player, his mind quickly goes into overdrive:
"I remember playing against Syddan in the championship over in Castletown. I was our goalkeeper. Sometime during the match, one of the Syddan players put the ball high and wide but the umpire put up the flag for a point.
"I was certain the ball had gone wide and told the umpire as much but he just turned around and hit me on top of the head with his flag. Anyway we went on to draw the match which wasn't so bad."
Remembering back to the days when Syddan and Castletown were arch rivals, Eddie cites former double All-Ireland medal winner Paddy Meegan from Syddan and his club colleague Phil O'Brien as two of the best players he ever played against. Meegan particularly stands out for Eddie.
"He was a flyer and a great midfielder even though he was only 5' 8". He was only small but he had a great spring off the ground and was good enough to play with Leinster. I remember he'd hop the ball about ten yards in front of himself and his solo would be as fast as other fellas could run. He was a tough man too. I never saw him having to leave the field injured."
From his Dunkerk, Slane residence, Eddie delights in talking football. He loves the game even more when his local favourites are winning things.
"I've enjoyed all my time with the club, either as a player or joint treasurer, doing the 'gate' and I'm honoured to be joint-President right now but being a selector when the club won the Junior C Championship in 1996 and '99 was great. I was a selector too when we won the Junior Championship in '84 - that was really great too."
And the prospects for further glory?
"It's difficult to know. The young fellas around Rathkenny are as keen as ever and I'm sure the club has a bright future. We won an underage title last year which is a good sign for the future and there's plenty of good people looking after things in the club so we'll hope for the best."
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