Every Club Needs An Elmer

Elmer, second from left, back row - all round good guy

Kinsale G.A.A., Belgium G.A.A. and UCC Hockey Club are where I have spent most of my sporting days.

In a traditional G.A.A. club like Kinsale, your role is mainly as a player and you don’t really influence the overall running and direction of the club whilst you are playing. You play and someone else manages and administrates.

In UCC and Belgium, the club’s destiny is in the player’s hands. You play, manage and administrate. The success of the club is limited only by your application and ambition.

When I arrived in UCC, there was a brilliant committee in place. I had known Simon MacAllister from school and tapped into his entrepreneurial genius many days, buying twix after twix out of his book locker shop.

The others like Baz, Elmer, Jim, Jer, Ronan, Eamon, Phil & Co were outstanding clubmen. They ran the thing like a business and always with the clubs best interest at heart. All have gone on to be successful in their chosen careers and I can well understand why.

Belgium G.A.A. is like a carbon copy. I don’t normally shower the committee with praise but in general, they too are all capable, if sometimes misguided, people! Every motivation is towards bettering the club.

Whittle down the group though and you will find not everybody is perfect. In UCC, the likes of Jim and Jer were of an elitist nature and would not have always made the effort to befriend new players who may not have been first team material! (that changed when they could no longer get a run!)

One guy who ticked all the boxes was Elmer Morrissey, the ultimate clubman. No job too big or too small. As a player he epitomised what we all were; journeymen hockey players. We weren’t good enough for the top teams and wouldn’t have got enough attention at the also rans to develop our skills.

He served as Club Captain (Chairman) for a year and was awarded Club Person of the Year on one occasion. My own memories of playing with him centre around a game against CofI. We’d lost every league game up until Christmas that season. From the turn of the year, we went on a crazy run, drawing once and winning the rest of the games.

We travelled to Garryduff on the last day needing a win. 2-0 down at half-time, one would have thought it was curtains. The whistle that heralded the start of the second half also signalled the beginning of a Hollywood style comeback. 2-2 with time up wouldn’t be enough though.

There would be one final play. A ball was whipped across the goal and Elmer, normally a defender, dived full length to deflect it home. He left the pitch covered in blood as he had ripped the skin off his elbows and knees in the process. We won and College survived in Division 1.

The importance of that can’t be overstated. Relegation would have led to many players moving on to stay in the top flight and we’d have struggled to attract new quality players. It’s hard to know what the long term repercussions would have been. Would the lads have won the Irish Hockey Trophy two weeks ago if he hadn’t scored that goal ten years ago? Who knows, but there is a good chance they may not have had the chance.

Elmer didn’t always make the first team and would be fierce disappointed when he wasn’t. He would never sulk and his encouragement and passion for College were relentless. In my six years in the club, I never saw him behave in any other way.

He was a good friend to everyone also. In 2001, Kinsale played Ilen Rovers in the County Football final down in Bandon on a shitty December day. The lads wouldn't have been regulars on the G.A.A. scene but Elmer rounded a few of them up and headed down to support. Boys being boys, you wouldn't fully acknowledge how much you appreciate support like that but the fact I can remember the effort eleven years on shows I certainly did.

I can remember another funny occasion off the pitch. I was in a dispute with my girlfriend of the time, relations may have even ceased. We were sitting outside of the library around exam time when we bumped into her. Somehow, the three of us ended up spending the day at the beach and by the end of it the relationship was back on track and Elmer was gone on his way!

Last Monday morning, I got a text off Jim saying the news on Elmer isn’t good and there was a link to an article. I was shocked to read that Elmer and three other crew members had been swept off their boat by a wave. Despite a two day search, they could not be found. Elmer was lost at sea.

Facebook gets too weird for me at times like this. So many comments, all made so publicly. My attitude turned a little as more and more people started tagging Elmer in photos. It became like a journey through his life in the digital photograph era.

On Wednesday, some of the hockey lads kicked off an email to a few of us who would have played together, looking for stories. Two days of hilarious tales followed.

My only contact with Elmer in the last few years was via the blog and an odd Facebook comment but the stories brought back so many good memories and reminded me what a hero and example he was to everyone.

The group of UCC lads I mentioned at the start have remained best of friends and I can only imagine how cut up they must be. Elmer would have been one of Jim’s best men at his August wedding.

Through the email chain, they agreed to go to Elmer’s memorial tomorrow in the club ties. We’d wear them for all the big occasions in college; cup games, varsities and Hockey Ball. It seemed fitting.

The link to the Hockey club reminded me of the importance of UCC Hockey in all our lives. It was probably always my way to move on to other things and location was a big part of me doing that. However, I’ve always visited the likes of Vinny, Lenny, Kingston & Jim when I’ve been to the US, London or wherever they may be and enjoyed reminiscing about those times.

I'd feel very lucky to have found a club so similar to UCC, here in Belgium. We live life the same way we all lived it back in college and that's the right way to do it. In the most unfortunate way, this week is a reminder to keep doing what we are doing.

And if you don't believe me....http://sport.irishexaminer.com/post/2012/04/19/e2809cThe-worst-thing-hee28099s-ever-done-to-any-of-us-is-leave-our-lives-too-soone2809d.aspx