THE LAST POINT: Innovate or stagnate is the question

Just typing the words 'innovate' and 'stagnate' conjures up images in one's mind that leaves you imagining that innovation is the be-all-and- end-all if a sporting organisation wants to progress into the future, the notion that unless they don't innovate, they'll stagnate and that doesn't sound very pleasant.

Even the dictionary is pretty clear on the subject - to innovate, we are told, is to introduce new ideas in the way something is done or made, a desire to experiment, effect change  and try new things all with the aim of improving a business, activity or organisation. Safe to say that being called an innovator is  a compliment.

That's certainly not the case when the word stagnate is rolled out - the word itself sounds moribund and dismissive, the definition of lacking movement, stale, inactive, not growing or changing, without force or vitality - that's certainly not what one would like to be described as.

Before you drift off into a coma thinking this column is going to be a reflection on the dictionary, it won't. But after watching an event last weekend  described as ground breaking, as it sought to reinvigorate a 'stagnant' sport, got me thinking about innovation and stagnation and what exactly it all means. Safe to  say  I'm a fan of trying new things, of challenging the status quo and looking for better ways to do things. 

Staying the same, or stagnant if you will, is not an option because the world is so fast moving nowadays that it makes retaining the attention of the public very different to 30 years ago when the world was a much smaller place.

THE LAST POINT: PHONEY WAR BUT REAL CASUALITIES

Even with gargantuan changes to the way Gaelic football is played over the past six months, there is still the spectre of the format of the inter county season - the current system reinforces inequalities, imposing straitjackets on counties like Leitrim as we go from a League  competition where everyone is roughly the same standard to a completely unbalanced one in the provincial championship and then back to a tiered All-Ireland series!

Even at local level, there is dispute on how best to innovate - reducing teams in the Senior & Intermediate grade was not universally popular, nor is regional teams at underage or senior club championships. There are so many suggestions out there as to what to do, it is almost bewildering - I've read suggestions that Leitrim devote all their energy to underage teams and not bother about the Senior side while some believe that all it takes is the right coach or the right S&C programme  to transform Leitrim.

The GAA is not the only sport in the midst of a frenzy - a civil war is bubbling away under the surface in the soccer community as the move to a Summer season is being, as some see it, forced upon Leagues that  don't want it. It will lead to a direct clash with the GAA over the Summer months and even a blind man can see problems arising pretty quickly.

On one hand, it seems like a no brainer - playing soccer in the best weather, on warm Summer days and evenings should mean fixtures are completed on time, no more  unplayable pitches and an uptake in basic skills as the game moves faster and is frankly much more pleasant to actually play. Hard to see anything wrong with that but then comes the headaches.

Tradition is a powerful force in Irish life, check out the recurring debate on a return to the All-Ireland GAA Finals in September and Soccer has been a winter sport in Ireland since time immemorial! A clash with other sports mightn't cause as much problems in large urban centres but in rural Ireland, it threatens to destroy the detente that has existed for some time between the GAA and Soccer.

Every now and again, there is an outbreak - one team holds training directly in opposition with the opposing sport or moves their own games to clash with their rival code. Lest anyone think that doesn't happen, I have first hand experience, on more than one occasion, when an athlete due to race in a national final suddenly found a match moved to the day before, the logic being that running a 100m race or 800m might tire the player out for the match but no concern what running around for 60 minutes might do to the race!

Summer Soccer is an 'innovation' that makes sense to the FAI but not to people on the ground here in Leitrim and many other places - most of the people running Soccer clubs have great relationships with their GAA counterparts, some are involved in both and they regard this 'innovation' as a direct threat to their existence of their clubs.

The true reason I'm musing the whole innovate or stagnate debate was the debut of Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track (GST) over the weekend - MJ was a one-off as an athlete, a true maverick who went against conventional wisdom, both in his running style and training regime as he set records and collected a bagful of titles over 200m & 400m. Until Usain Bolt, the American could conceivably claim to be the greatest ever male sprinter, rivalling the almighty Carl Lewis no less, but that gives you an idea of his standing in the sport.

Johnson is a deep thinker and over the years, he has become convinced that the sport's preoccupation with times and records is harming the sport - athletics has always been about beating your opponent to the line. That's where GST comes in - no pacemakers, no artificially hyped record attempts compared to the Diamond League events that have evolved into glorified time trials but rather a return to good old fashioned tactical racing where the emphasis is simply on getting to the line first!

To reinforce the point, GST gets runners (and we'll come back to that) to compete twice over a weekend in two different events and whoever tops the points after both events gets to take home over $100,000 - that's an incredible pay-day for many athletes who are living right on the poverty line.

Watching GST in Jamaica on TNT Sports, what struck me most was how much like championship racing the event was and I suppose that is the point. We had novelties like the 800m Olympic champion outlasting the specialists in the 1,500m or American Grant Fisher, a two time Olympic medalist from Paris, taking the gamble that finishing third in his second race would be enough to claim the top prize as his main rival scooted away from him in the second race - as it happens, the gamble paid off.

THE LAST POINT: A WEEK BEST, BUT UNLIKELY TO BE, FORGOTTEN

Times didn't matter, not even in the sprints where the clock is God but GST might redefine what athletes regard as success. It wasn't perfect - hard to imagine any event without the incomparable Jakob Ingebrigtsen toeing the starting line and that's a man who likes to race! Dutch superstar Femke Bol& US superstar Noah Lyles were notable absentees while our own shining star Rhasidat Adeleke decided not to partake and I can’t see GST succeeding without buy-in from that quartet.

The other big drawback was the complete absence of field events - it is called Grand Slam Track, not track & field. For a sport that offers the widest diversity of activities, not having field events is almost a heresy to the athletics community - it meant Mondo Duplantis, the greatest field eventer on the planet right now, was missing and for a lover of athletics, that not only seems bizarre but an incredible own-goal from Johnson's team.

I'm not sure that I'm sold on the whole GST concept but I watched every minute of it, even with the time difference, and for Johnson, that makes it a success. It will need tweaks here and there but perhaps the big message for us all, be it the Summer soccer or the structure of the GAA inter-county season, there may be some pain but we will definitely stagnate if we don't innovate.