For the first time, we are going to get to know who Jim Gavin is
Declan Bogue
“FOR MY PART,” expounded the future Presidential candidate, “what concerned me was the way his good name was attacked before we even saw the referee’s report. Freedom of expression is one of the rights in the Republic but it’s not absolute. Each individual has his own right and I believe that his good name was affected by that.”
Then, later, “Diarmuid has put his hand up and said it was a mistake and he’s prepared to accept his suspension. From my part, I’ve a duty of care for the play er and I firmly believe there was an attack on his good name. The freedom of expression and opinion – it’s an important part of our constitution and the Republic but it’s not absolute. You can’t attack somebody’s good name unwarranted and I believe it was on this instance.”
When Jim Gavin said all this, some felt it was something of a Cantona ‘Seagulls and Trawlers’ moment.
It was delivered with sincerity, and if we’re being honest, no little pomposity. This was about the fallout over Diarmuid Connolly’s red card for a fairly harmless shove on linesman Ciaran Brannigan during their Leinster win over Carlow, not some flagrant human rights abuse case.
All the same, these lines were the closest that Gavin ever came to revealing something of himself and anything vaguely political.
His wrath was extended by refusing to grant RTÉ any one-to-one interview with players and management.
Another ban was also extended the following February when members of the Dublin backroom team were refused coverage of Dublin’s upcoming opponents.
If Gavin felt such incidents were worth making a stand for, then it will be fascinating to see how he deals with microscopic scrutiny of putting his head into the lion’s jaws of the hard news cycle, now that he looks set to be the pick of Fianna Fail for the lark in the Phoenix Park.
The GAA journalist that claims to know Jim Gavin – outside of his long-term friend Roy Curtis – is a spoofer. Gavin made himself entirely unknowable. To journalists, fellow managers, and when required, to his players.
We can only guess though, that he is conditioning himself for this kind of treatment.
He will have war-gamed this stuff. Rehearsed it. Stood on the other side of the line and considered what questions he might ask of the Presidential hopeful Jim Gavin, if he were a journalist.
When the microphones appear, they might lure him in with a nice soft question about, oooohhhh, the multiple Dublin footballers and wider GAA family that are loudly urging the GAA to drop their sponsorship scheme with insurers Allianz, given their investment in Israeli treasury funds aiding the genocide in Gaza and, the second part of my question Jim if you don’t mind, the situation in Gaza itself?
Gavin has, in the past, promoted the Allianz leagues for the GAA. Would he do so now?
He will get through that and be asked about his attitude to Britain, to the north, the inability of an enormous number of Irish citizens to buy a house.
The questions will come and keep coming, because this is a Fianna Fáil candidate. He will be riddled with these questions until he wonders if he is indeed a presidential candidate, or a lowly press officer for FF with a Malcolm Tucker figure hovering menacingly.
Listen, this is how it works. Gavin is a shiny and glamorous candidate for the Fianna Fáil machine. Enormously successful as a player, coach, manager and in his military and aircraft career.
But others have come along, we’re thinking of your Gavin Duffys and Sean Gallaghers who would have been used to hearing praise for a long time, would have known what a proper day’s work was like, and still they were worked over in the backalleys of political coverage.
Dana, poor wee harmless Dana, went for it in 2011 and had to wade through sexual abuse allegations about her brother.
Adi Roche’s intentions were as pure as could be, forming the Chernobyl Children international in 1991, bringing over 25,000 children to Ireland for medical treatment and distributing over €105 million in aid.
And yet reflecting on her 1997 presidential bid 21 years later, she said, “I met my Waterloo as they say in 1997 . . . it was going to be the Presidency of Children, nationally and internationally and building on the wonderful presidency of Mary Robinson.
“. . . I just wasn’t able for the mental torture of it, wasn’t able for that rough ride of it. I went under . . . I just couldn’t fight back.
” . . . It was incredibly cruel, the impact on my family was awful.”
In case you’re asking, I wouldn’t go for it myself. To have them rifle through your bins and inspect your skidmarks, let alone the Paris Catacombs level of skeletons in the closet? No thank you.
What do we know of Gavin’s personality?
Well, from his bio on the ‘Personally Speaking’ website, from which you can hire Jim to yak away about God knows what:
‘His philosophy emphasises service, discipline, and continuous learning. He believes in optimal performance — an approach that values consistency and adaptability over short-term peaks.
‘Beyond sports, Jim serves as an ambassador for the Dublin Neurological Institute and Touch Ireland, supporting healthcare and education for underprivileged children worldwide.
‘His achievements include a Doctor of Philosophy from Dublin City University (2019) as well as several civic honors including the Freedom of the City of Dublin (2020) and Freedom of South Dublin County (2015).’
To the GAA press, he was impenetrable, holding them and us scoreless from play, with no frees conceded. You just couldn’t knock any anger or craic out of him. He didn’t care and why would he?
When his occasion charity ventures led to some media, he did show a chink of something. Take an interview done in 2022 for the McGinley Foundation on a golf event scheduled for Donegal.
One of the questions was, ‘If I gave you a mulligan in your career, what would it be?’
He replied in a move that would put the heart crossways on The Donald, who’s fond of the odd mulligan himself: ‘No, I don’t believe in mulligans. You don’t deserve anything in life; you have to earn it. You get what you deserve. People saying such a county deserves to win a championship is wrong. It just doesn’t work that way.’
Speaking of golf and Trump, his family on both sides came from west Clare and he regularly brought the Dublin team down there on training weekends, a light round of golf and were billeted in Trump’s resort. The pol corrs will make hay with that one too.
We also know that his grandfathers, Sean Vaughn and Michael Gavin fought in the War of Independence. Gavin has Michael Gavin’s medal framed.
In 2016, he was wrangled into granting an interview to Malachy Clerkin of The Irish Times in connection with the Bray Air Display.
He wouldn’t be talking football, but he bubbled over when the conversation moved to planes, specifically a 72-year-old Boeing Stearman E75.
If you want to understand a man like Jim Gavin, you start with the detail he soaks into a few seconds of chat like this, “It’s a robust aircraft, solid performance, beautiful lines. The interesting thing about it is that it was built in 1944 and the wings are made from Canadian spruce that was planted in the 1880s. Lloyd Stearman designed aircraft in the 1920s and ’30s to service postal routes. When World War II came along, they were looking for aircraft that were robust enough to use in the primary training of fighter pilots for the US military effort.
“After the war, a US Army pilot bought the plane and brought it around the US airshow circuit throughout the 1950s and ’60s. A UK collector bought it next and did the same with it in Europe. Then in 1999, when Ryanair got their first Boeing 737, Tony Ryan and Cathal Ryan wanted to join the future with the past. So they acquired the Boeing Stearman, renamed it The Spirit Of Tipperary and put in in the skies.”
Away from business, in what should have been his hobby of football, he was strictly business.
In his autobiography ‘The Pressure Game’, Kevin McStay shared an anecdote about getting into Dr Hyde Park early on a day when the Dubs were coming. As he inspected the pitch, he noticed Gavin was nearby. He extended a warm greeting. It was barely reciprocated. Gavin was already in ‘his process’, McStay presumed.
This is a man who, when Kerry and Dublin players milled into each other all round him after a drab league game, he walked through it all, never even glancing at the violence unfolding.
The only thing about all of this is to wonder why? What is in it for this man who GAA President Jarlath Burns praised his ‘High-level thinking skills?’
He’s not an attention seeker. He’s shown nothing of anything approaching political ambition before. He probably doesn’t even have a collection of poetry published.
Micheal D Higgins has proved an enormous success as President, gaining two terms. Despite spending almost his entire life in public office, he still gives off the vibe of being anti-establishment.
Yet and all, he would have 1,000 different words for the verb of brushing off crumbs from a scone when he’s hosted multiple functions and receptions in the Áras.
Somehow, you just can’t see Gavin being as comfortable in close-quarters small talk.
For sure, he has an incredible skillset of administration, organisation and motivation. He has breathed life into the decaying corpse of Gaelic football. He is the most successful Gaelic football manager ever. He flew planes for his day job.
But the reality is, he’ll spend the next few months being asked if he could locate the black box recorder that might shed light on brown envelopes, bribes, windfalls ‘won on the horses’ and the innumerable balls ups committed by Fianna Fáil, because he is their boy now.
Why would he want that?
We’ll find out in due course. Could get grisly.
The 42
