The more inattentive of one of the most powerful supporters group in Ireland were placed on red alert this morning by the BBC.
The group we refer to are those who believe that Gaelic football is constantly in crisis, and that measures must be taken immediately to improve the sport as a spectacle along with curbing the unfair and privileged position that Dublin hold over the rest of the sport. These people are consistently offering remedies to mend the supposedly broken sport. Among those to offer a solution recently was former Dublin goalkeeper John O'Leary.
The members of this group who clicked onto the BBC News website this morning endured a brief moment of extreme panic, owing to the BBC's editorial combination of headline and image:
It appears that the only photograph that the BBC had on file featuring President Xi and a football was taken at Croke Park as part of his presidential visit in 2012.
Those who did not immediately begin the wringing of hands and the writing of letters to broadsheet newspapers and instead read through the rest of the post will have realised that the 'football' the Chinese president refers to is a game called 'soccer', which China hope to include in their world domination by 2050, with an aim to win the World cup by 2031:
China has unveiled a strategy to become a "world football superpower" by 2050, with plans to get 50 million children and adults playing the game by 2020.
Other targets include providing at least 20,000 football training centres and 70,000 football pitches by 2020.
While China excels at the Olympics and Paralympics, it has only ever qualified for one football World Cup, in 2002.
President Xi Jinping is a football enthusiast and previously said he wants China to win the World Cup in 15 years.
Naturally, the entrance of China into the All-Ireland Championships would create quite an imbalance. For example, the last €39,000 Leitrim received as a grant from the GAA last year would struggle to compete with the $9.24 trillion GDP of China. China would also have an unfair population advantage: 1.357 billion versus, say, Longford's 33,000. The introduction of China would likely lead to renewed calls for a 'B' Championship.
Thankfully, it appears as many of the 'Save Gaelic Football' support group did read the full article, as there were no immediate tweets to #SplitChina:
Thankfully it is not the GAA who have to worry about the power of China. Instead, it seems to be a problem for John Delaney.
Thanks to Ciarán Carey for bringing this to our attention.
[BBC.com]
