As a pilot in the Air Corps, Jim Gavin spent 21 years earning his stripes. His time with the Irish Defence Forces allowed him the opportunity to travel the world, both flying and on the ground with UN missions overseas. A tour of Chad in Central Africa was just one of the hotspots his time in the military encompassed before joining the Irish Aviation Authority.
It’s tempting then to imagine GAA president Jarlath Burns handing Gavin a USB stick that he plugs into his laptop: ‘Your mission, should you choose to accept it: save Gaelic football.’ To many, watching the modern spectacle and the dull, mindnumbering lateral passages of keep-ball that now proliferate so many games at club and intercounty level, this represents its own kind of Mission Impossible. One that is set to self-destruct by 2025 – the deadline for any rule changes that are only allowed every five years.
Unless Gavin can put together a crack team to carry it off. The evidence so far is that he just might. His working life is clearly informing his approach to chairing the Football Review Committee, just as it did during his time in charge of Dublin.
With the Irish Aviation Authority, simulating a whole array of different scenarios is key. Which is what is going to happen with Gaelic football over the next five Saturdays when a whole suite of ideas and innovations will be trialled at regional venues by intercounty teams knocked out of the Championship. Or ‘sand-box’ games as they are being called.
Some.