Starting out in sport as a boyo, Mick “the Warden” Fallon followed his love of GAA into sports journalism at local and national levels and he’s never looked back. Following his dream to make it to GAA stardom after watching his brother Garrett help lead Galway to a Minors championship in 1970 was a holy show. As a keeper, looking back wasn’t something he liked doing as it meant he was gathering the ball from the back of the net, an all too often occurrence in his youth. So Mick moved up a line into the backs. His debut on the Minor panel was memorable and as short lived as his County career. Mick’s coach remembers all too well. “Late in the second half, we were five up, won the ball back but Mick decided to start going backways trying to get out of the game with Mayo and, unfortunately, he was stuck in reverse and just kept going. It was desperate in the end.” Mayo leveled the match with a relentless attack and Mick The Warden’s time on the Minor’s panel expired with the clock.
Undaunted, Mick recovered from his on-the-field exploits and following a notable stint at Trinners, he launched his next career as a journo covering the stories of Gaelic football, hurling and plenty more besides. He started at The Tubberfeck Tattler during the early days of his distinguished career then it was on to the bright lights of Tuam and The Tuam Herald. Mick has since been reporting on the “Elegant Sports” through his podcast “On The Ball”, which had been a fixture of RTÉ Radio – Sunday Sport until his “half-retirement” last January. As he puts it, “I went on a bender and never looked back”.
Never shy about speaking his mind and expressing strong opinion in his bi-weekly column, ‘Feck Off, Ref!’, this Tubberfeck native’s contributions, 48 years and counting, were recently reflected in his first GAA MacDonal Award this past March. The MacDonal recognises excellence in the fields of communication and media and is a fitting honor for The Warden. Cheers to you Mick for never looking back. ‘Feck Off, Ref!’ indeed.
Awaywitcha now.
tubberfecktattler.com 