Frank McManus and Eileen Mulligan have won the All Ireland Scor novelty act in the past
FOUR-TIME All-Ireland novelty act Champion Frank McManus of Lisnaskea, has hit out at the recent decision by the GAA’s Ard Comhairle to abolish the Novelty Act from Scor’s annual line-up with immediate effect.
“It’s a ridiculous decision and it will ruin Scor. It should definitely be brought back. I’d imagine clubs will pull out (of the competition) as a result.”
Critics say many of the acts have degraded themselves to ‘toilet humour’ and promote a false sense of Irish culture; the antithesis of Scor’s objectives. Jarlath Burns, a prominent GAA figure, was especially critical of this aspect on Twitter.
“For every good novelty act there’s about 10 awful ones. Novelty acts should have gone years ago.”
Frank, who competes with stage partner Eileen Mulligan and reached the All-Ireland Final on a total of nine occasions, dismisses this: “It’s all about quality. In recent years, some clubs got to the final who perhaps shouldn’t have been there. But this decision is an insult to everyone else who puts on good, genuinely funny performances.
“Irish humour is as much a part of Irish culture as any other discipline. It is known worldwide, just as our music and dance is,” he added.
Fermanagh Scor Secretary, and 1988 All-Ireland solo singing champion Jean Monaghan expressed her dissatisfaction with the decision.
“Personally, I find this to be a huge blow to Scor and still can’t quite believe it. The novelty act has been an integral part of Scor from the start and has always encouraged people to come together and express themselves through drama and comedy.”
Jean placed part of the blame on problems with how the acts are adjudicated.
“The inconsistency in adjudication over the years has caused some acts to come under intense scrutiny and in turn, this has led to controversy and ultimately the elimination of this discipline.”
Jean informed us that Ulster Scor did campaign to save the novelty act from extinction.
“Ulster Scor campaigned as a united nine county committee to keep the novelty act, but our voices have been overruled on this occasion.
“There is a proposal on the table at the moment for the addition of a new item to the Scor programme but as of yet we don’t know what that will be.”
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere