I came across a tweet on Twitter yesterday evening showing the young Irish and Kildare actor, Paul Mescal, posing, wearing what was supposed to be a sweater with a price tag of some ridiculous sum like $10,000 and a pair of Kildare GAA football shorts (previously known and loved as “togs”).
I say “togs” because those of us in the know are well aware that GAA people always talk about “togging out”, not “shorting out”. Shorting out is an entirely different activity, I am sure.
But my mind turned briefly to all the great Kildare GAA players who wore the jersey (and togs) down through the last 50 years and had little or nothing to show at the end of it, save for memories.
No Leinster or All-Ireland medals, no “five in a row” efforts falling at the last, or any, hurdle, no posing on Twitter.
Mangan, Crinnigan, Dunny, Carew, O’Donoghue, Ryan, Lynch, Dalton, Donnelly, Fahy, Tompkins.
We all have our favourite players who lined out with Kildare down through the years-some for careers spanning 15 years or thereabouts with little or no success and some for much shorter periods of time, for other reasons which I will not go into here.
But none of them would have anticipated that one day, in 2020 or any other year, the plain white togs they wore slogging through the mud and rain in the exotic venues that were part and parcel of the lower divisions of league football would become a fashion item.
The vast majority of Kildare GAA fans would swap such recognition and branding for a Leinster or All Ireland championship in the near future and the white “togs” being a fashion item for a different reason.