I remember the day well. A rumour went around the school that two lads were going to fight. There was great excitement and intrigue. It had to be kept quiet in case the teachers would find out. But word filtered to a few of us and we sneaked out at break time in small groups so as not to rouse any suspicion. The fight was down a laneway near Fanny Hutton’s shop. Fanny used to sell loose cigarettes for 10p as well as sweets, chocolate and minerals.

The two lads were consenting to the punch-up. It wasn’t a bully/victim scenario. They pulled and dragged and scratched for about five minutes before somebody shouted “sketch”. A teacher had found out so we all scampered in four directions. I made it back into the yard unnoticed. The other lads caught coming back from the fight were frogmarched to the principal’s office.

That dual was one of a good few I recall during my secondary school years. I must admit looking back that there was a great buzz when a scrap was arranged between two lads. But that’s boys for you, and testosterone. And I don’t think there are many of us who didn’t desist from those schoolyard dustups. It is as if it’s in our DNA to be attracted to it, even if now we look back and shake our heads. It must be why Conor McGregor and MMA has this unreal following, not only among young men but young women too. It is the modern-day boxing. We can’t really take the high moral ground. How many of our parents’ generation talk glowingly about the great boxers as their sporting heroes?

This is the modern more brutal version of that, literally beating the lard out of each other. I don’t know many my age or upwards that has any time for MMA. It possibly has a younger average-age following than all other sports. In the main, the rest of us with an interest in sport seem to be disgusted by it.

But some of us shouldn’t be too smug. Because when it comes to violence, sadly GAA and gaelic football manage on many a regular occasion to smear themselves with idiotic on-field fighting. Players swinging and thumping each other, as we saw once again over the last few weeks, provides ammunition for the anti-GAA people.

In Down, Tyrone and Derry recently, there have been incidents which if they happened anywhere but on the pitch there would be public outrage. Whatever about two players clashing and having a few swipes at each other, it is a physical sport, it’s those who sprint like out-of-control hyenas to “break up the row” that deserve to be booted out of clubs. Yes, booted out. What sort of gladiator-type talk are mangers spouting in dressing rooms to send young players out in such a state of high octane?

There are enough people around to take cheap shots at the GAA and I don’t want to join in as it’s an organisation I’m very proud of. But not when these nasty, scummy videos emerge. These are not schoolyard antics, they’re an embarrassment. And to every gobdaw that ever employed the mantra “one in, all in”, you’re an idiot, a disgrace to the GAA and a disgrace to sport.

Brexit shambles

Graham Norton fantastically nailed the shambles that is Brexit on last Friday’s Late Late Show. He’s worth quoting again: “I said I was hungry enough to eat my foot, so I am going to eat my foot.”