Me and Jobber McGrath!

John ‘Jobber’ McGrath was Westmeath’s greatest ever hurler – with all due respects to the Michael Cosgroves, the Kilcoyne brothers, the Doyles of Collinstown, the Doyles of Raharney – and a few more.

Jobber was idolised around where I came from and he was both lauded and respected across the length and breadth of Ireland. ‘Howya Jobber,’ every kid in the school playground would shout as Jobber rode his bicycle on his way to count cattle. Jobber would dismount to watch us play hurling. Nobody ever pulled harder, or tried the impossible with a hurl, like when the maestro was looking on.

In 1964, whilst working in Ballinasloe, I met the illustrious Joe Sammon; the Meelick-Eyrecourt clubman who was one of Galway’s greatest ever hurlers. Joe and Jobber had played centre-field together for ‘Ireland’ against the ‘Combined Universities’ – which at that time was an annual exhibition tournament.

Joe Sammon told me that Jobber McGrath was the best hurler he ever hurled with or against. That’s how good ‘The Jobber’ was.

My late brother, Willie (Bill), held the course record on Thompson Golf Course for a time; as well as winning the Thompson Open Racquetball Tournament in 1981. But my brother always said that his greatest honour in sport was that at the age of 17, he partnered Jobber at centre-field, playing for Richardstown. That’s how good ‘The Jobber’ was.

Jobber and I have one thing in common, apart from drinking water out of Dunne’s pump. (No, Lads… please, I am not suggesting any such thing, but as Orson Welles said: ‘If you want a happy ending – that depends on where you stop the story!’

Both Jobber and I each put ourselves before the voters and made one unsuccessful attempt to get elected to Westmeath County Council. But this is more to do with Jobber’s jostle than Bernie’s bungle.

The much loved Jobber received a royal welcome at every house he canvassed for his election. From Killulagh Chapel, down to Battstown and Johnstown; along the Richardstown road, past his own house and across to Kilpatrick; through Ballinock and into Collinstown… Jobber was promised a number one vote in every house! How could he not? Our most famous warrior son… Jobber was surely a certainty to get elected.

Then came the day of the count, and Jobber was astonishingly propping up the list of candidates. He got a dismal vote. The people, who regarded him as the best hurler in the country, felt that their hero was not cut out to be a politician! They couldn’t bring themselves to say they wouldn’t vote for him, so they told a lie!

The following was Jobber’s summary the night of the count; not broadcast in bitterness, but in a tranquil tone he lamented, ‘we are a country of liars!’.

Jobber knew how to both win and lose.

I started off to write a column about opinion polls and people’s ‘voting intentions’, and see where it got us! We are not really a nation of liars, but people don’t always vote the way they tell you for a variety of reasons. Some simply change their minds, which in itself is good for democracy. Others want to cast their vote differently from what’s expected.

I once canvassed along with a man who told me that as soon as he entered the voting booth, he would find it hard to cast a vote for the candidate we were canvassing for.

So how accurate are opinion polls and what purpose do they serve? They give an indication of trends at a point in time, but they are flawed.

Opinion polls in Britain predicted a Labour landslide before their recent general election and you would be forgiven for thinking the polls got it spot on. Well, they didn’t; the polls were out by 11%. Pre-election polls had given Labour 45% of the vote and the actual election result was 33%.

In a tighter race, it would have been some embarrassment for the pollsters. Quite clearly, a lot of those polled, just as in Jobber’s patch, didn’t vote the way they said they would.

It is the same in every country. You can see polls fluctuating up and down in America as we speak.

Opinion polls will run riot here at home between now and the general election in November. (Yes, no matter what anybody else tells you, we will have an election in November.) It is great entertainment – as long as it doesn’t influence voters to change course.

When I first became involved in politics, in the mid-1970s, it was a different ball game. Just the two big parties and a 5% swing could change a government. It isn’t like that any more. There are many different combinations and scenarios. The pollsters will have a field day and the rest of us will be enthralled and energised. There will be ‘health warnings’ attached to predictions and ‘margin of error’ will be bandied about.

Be that as it may, it is still impossible to factor in the effects of Jobber’s findings!

Don’t Forget

Some people are wise and some otherwise.