Inside Track: If a ‘snibber’ got a ‘skelp’ he’d know all about it

Raymond, Inside Track’s Dundalkism correspondent, has been on again, this time offering “snibber” for consideration.

“It was the name given to a soccer forward”, Raymond says. “He’d hang around the goalmouth, ready to pounce on a loose ball.” We can only conclude that when snibbers were in their heyday, the offside rule wasn’t applied.

Well, the offside was in force, we’re sure, from the day the soccer rules were written up, but maybe not in boys’ football. Our Arsenal games hadn’t even sidelinesmen.

(It’s for sure that when the game’s founding fathers gathered and inserted the rule governing where forwards could stand, they didn’t know what was to become part and parcel of the game well over 100 years on. VAR doesn’t stand for ‘very angry reaction’, but it could.)

Of course, without the rule, games would be ending maybe 10-8, something like the scorelines from matches between Carrick Road (McDermott’s Terrace denizens included) Anne Street (taking in Dublin Street) played on the green that once occupied the space outside Oriel Park before it had a mini-market and garage built on it.

Read also: Dundalk eyeing reinforcements ahead of Tolka Park trip

We’d be ‘busting’ ourselves in the backs, but up front, hoping to build on our sterling work, would be snibbers, waiting for a delivery. They’d be the heroes if one of them put the ball between the corduroys – we’d be seen as only doing our job.

But in fairness to them, maybe they had to do a bit of ‘dribbling’ before getting into a scoring position. Now, if you don’t know what dribbling or a ‘dribbler’ is, take a look at Daryl Horgan when he gets on the ball and hares it down the wing.

Busting. That brings to mind another relic of old sporting decency. A forward, maybe a snibber, would break clear, and, bearing down on the goals, would hear a shout from the sidelines, “bust it” – ‘it’ being the net.

There was also bustling, a word to describe a centre-forward. Spurs’ No 9 of many years ago, Bobby Smith, comes to mind, and so, too, does that great Oriel favourite, Joe Martin. And also from the Martin era, St Patrick’s Shay Gibbons.

We’d hang around the dressingrooms at the old Oriel Park waiting to get a glance of the players going in. On this particular day, Dundalk were playing St Patrick’s. Gibbons got into a chat with Dundalk goalie, Ted McNeill, before heading in to get togged out.

As they parted, Gibbons said, “I’ll see you later.” To which the McNeill replied, “Not too much, I hope.”

Was ‘skelp’ only confined to Gaelic football? It was another word for a thump. If you got one – the head was the usual target – you’d know all about it, a ringing in the ears, not as long-lasting as tinnitus, but just as uncomfortable.

Raymond, we’re sure, has more gems from yesterday. We await our next encounter.