After six years in the hot-seat, Ballybay photographer John McAviney just recently vacated his position as Chairman of the Ulster GAA Writers' Association. Here he reflects on his time at the Association's coalface with Kevin Carney. As they say in the vernacular down Ballybay direction, John McAviney was in his element. Given the sort of shoulders by God that you'd imagine could almost accommodate the landing of a cessena aircraft, the well-known photographer and Pearse Brothers stalwart was lapping up all the razzamatazz accompanying the Ulster GAA Writers' Association recent annual get-together in Bundoran. His performance had the ring of 'to the manor born' sort of thing about it. One gets the impression he loved every minute of it: "The annual dinner is always one of the highlights of the year for the GAA in Ulster. It probably ranks within the GAA fraternity as the biggest social occasion of the year - it's even bigger than the All-Star awards night. "I got a great kick at hosting the evening. There were over 600 guests there and I think things went well. One of the most pleasing things about the night was the fact that having arranged the dinner for 8pm, we were all sitting down at that time ready to begin eating the meal. I think there's a lesson to be learned on that score by the GAA in general. "Time-keeping is a major downfall of the GAA. It's incredible the way it so often happens that 90% at some GAA gathering or other are made wait for the divil-care-less 10% before things can proceed," the happy snapper comments. Not that tardiness is McAviney's sole bugbear. Kick-start him on a variety of issues and listen to him give it the Full Monty. There's very little the world doesn't know about where the big man is coming from, one suspects. Sometimes his view(s), for instance, engratiates him to GAA folk, sometimes it doesn't. However, what you see with McAviney is what you get, friends testify. For instance on the media's relationship with the GAA: "Relations between the media and people in authority within the GAA have improved over the past five years or so but there's still a lot of room for improvement at both club, county and provincial levels. "A lot of people within the GAA are still not aware of the importance of having a good PRO in place and of how important the media is in promoting Gaelic games although I welcome the appointment of a PRO by the Ulster Council. "I'm sorry to say though that the GAA is still, by and large, unwilling to take on board constructive criticism. That's something that I'd like to see turned around. "The media should also be consulted more by the GAA in terms of putting in place facilities for the journalists and photographers. Too often the GAA decides unilaterally where photographers should be positioned in a game. This is done without any knowledge of the demands on photographers for various shots they have to take." On the GPA: "I feel that if officialdom had shown more awareness of the concerns of players heretofore, there would have been no need for the GPA. Instead, I think there's a responsibility on the GAA itself to be able to meet whatever reasonable demands are asked of them by players around the country. "What mustn't be forgotten in all of this is that it's the players who gain most from their involvement in the GAA. There's not an official in the country who gets more enjoyment from the GAA than the players. They get enjoyment out of playing well, out of winning and from the profile that their involvement generates for them. "Having said that, if a player is out of pocket because of his involvement with a team, he should be suitably reimbursed but in terms of extending payments, I believe the GAA simply can't afford to go down the professional road." On Rule 21: "At the end of the day, the GAA had no choice but to go for change because of the legal implications of not deleting the rule. If Croke Park not proceeded to instigate change with regard to Rule 21, they could have left themselves wide open as far as legal matters are concerned." On the Writers' Association itself: "The Association has grown in numbers to an extraordinary extent over recent years and our profile has never been higher. "Each year we organise the biggest GAA social event in the country. Back in '88 about 140 people attended our annual dinner. The corresponding figure for our gathering in 2001 was four times that. In addition, our monthly awards are the most coveted awards of their kind anywhere in the country. "Just like the GAA itself, our Association can seek to get its own house in order too because we all know that journalists and photographers tend to want everything laid on for themselves. They like to be spoiled a bit." On football in Monaghan: "I wonder can all 29 existing clubs in Monaghan remain in business in the long-term or whether amalgamations will be called for or needed to maintain standards in certain areas of the county. "There are so many distractions for young players nowadays such as rugby and golf that I'm not sure whether there's the same enthusiasm and pride among players at adult level as there used to be. "It's the same where officialdom is concerned also. There seems to be the same faces in the top positions in the clubs with very little new blood coming through. "There's no doubt but that enthusiasm for football among the general population isn't as strong as it was when the county was doing well at provincial championship and national league levels in the mid-eighties. "That said, competitions are well-run in the county and fixtures are run on time which is a bonus. I don't think though the sort of material is in the county right now which would suggest that we can win an Ulster senior championship within the next couple of years. The ongoing dominance of 'Blayney doesn't reflect well on the overall standard of football in the county either." Meanwhile, back to the here and now though and the unmistakable snapper tells us that 2001 was a year he'll look back on with some fondness. The aforementioned dinner was of course a momentous occasion but the highlight of the year for him was Ballybay's intermediate championship title success which may have come as a surprise to most people in the county but not to John. "Ballybay's championship in 2001 has re-instated Ballybay to their true home which is senior championship ranks," John insists. As someone who is credited with establishing Ballybay's first ever juvenile committee (back in the early 80s) and the so-called 'brains' behind the club's successful golf classics as well as being a past under 16 and minor team-manager plus a vice-chairman of Monaghan minor board, there's no doubt but that all things pertaining to Pearse Brothers GFC lie very close to John McAviney's heart. Monaghan GAA tugs hard on his emotions too. In times past, he was vice-chairman of Monaghan minor board for a period. Born and reared in Ballybay, his sporting inclinations were nurtured by a staple diet of Gaelic football and more Gaelic football - not surprising given that his late father Vincie - a native of Newtownbutler and a Fermanagh senior footballer in his time - was a staunch GAA man all his life. Again not surprisingly, John's brother Martin also inherited a Gaelic hue. For years he has been a member of Monaghan GAA County Board and a member of the Ulster Council to boot. Father of current Ballybay senior player, Emmett, the dyed-in-the wool GAA fan re-iterates the view that Castleblayney's ongoing ascendancy in senior football circles "isn't good" for Monaghan football. So what's Ballybay going to do about it then? "If we get into the right end of the draw, we'll take some stopping. We mightn't win it in the coming year but watch us the following year." Now where's a bookie when you want one! P.S. To see John's superb range of photographic services simple click onto www.mcaviney.com Tweet

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