THE word ciotog has become very much part of the every day English language in Ireland. It derives from the Irish word ciotog which means the strange one. It is the term given in Ireland to a left-handed person.

Being a ciotog bestowed mixed blessings on a person. Traditionally, left-handed pupils were made to learn to write with their right hands by their teachers but, thankfully, this is no longer the case.

On the field of play the ciotog – one who also kicked with left leg – was regarded as a lethal, dangerous and skilful footballer or a player who somehow always had that little extra dimension.

Statistically, one in every ten footballers is a ciotog. Up to 20 years ago the majority of footballers were onefooted with the second foot utilised mainly for standing on.

Recall

When I was playing football, I can only recall kicking a football on one occasion during a match with my weak foot and that was during my very last football game when I threw my left foot at the ball in the 1987 County Final against Dr. Crokes. And it landed up in the back of the net.

That time the two-footed footballer was the exception rather than the rule and only lip service was paid to the importance of being able to kick with both feet.

As nine out of every ten footballers kicked with their right foot only, the ciotog stood out according to the Irish word as "the strange one".

In Gaelic football there have been many famous ciotogs down through the years. There was Donal Keenan of Roscommon in the 1940s, Stephen White of Louth in the 1950s, Paddy Doherty of Down in the 1960s and Anton O Toole of Dublin in the 1970s.

In recent years, there are still ciotogs football players like Monaghan’s Paul Finlay, Derrys Paddy Bradley and Laois’s Ian Fitzgerald but they no longer stand out as much as they used to because most players today can kick equally well with both feet.

In modern team preparation great emphasis is placed on developing and improving the kicking ability of all players weaker foot. In the modern game any player who relies on one kicking foot only is at a major disadvantage.

The forward with only one kicking foot is always being put under pressure by the back to kick with his weak foot or, on the other hand, the back can position himself and wait for the forward to turn onto his strong foot.

Ideally, most football team managers would prefer to ciotogs playing on the right side of their attack because when in possession they can turn inside to create a better kicking angle with their ciotog.

It is a major advantage for any football team to have a ciotog to take frees out from the right hand side of the pitch.

The Tommy Lyons trained Dublin team would probably have made last year’s All Ireland final if it had such a luxury or necessity.

Most defenders find it more difficult to mark a ciotog because 90 per cent of the time they are marking players who will turn naturally on to their right hand side.

Recognised

However, once the ciotog has been recognised the defender is always advised to stay on his left. This year in sporting circles the concept of the ciotog has become very topical because the Galway team has defied all the odds by fielding a team in which all its forwards were ciotogs.

In view of the fat that between 10 per cent to12 per cent of the playing population are ciotogs the chances are very slight indeed that all six forwards of any team would be ciotogs.

The six Galway forwards Derek Savage, Padraig Joyce, Paul Clancy, Michael Meehan, Matt Clancy and Jarlath Fullon are all naturally left sided players.

The question is does this give them an advantage over right sided players? Will opposing defences find it more difficult to mark a whole forward line of ciotogs?

It will be interesting to watch their progress during the remainder of the championship.

My opinion is that, in the modern game, defences are well capable of dealing with six naturally left sided players because every forward nowadays kicks equally well with either foot and therefore they are well prepared for no matter which foot the forward uses. However, John O’Mahony’s team has the advantage of having natural left-footed free takers from the right hand side of the field and a right wing that can turn on to their natural foot with a better scoring angle.

In the heat of battle of championship, in a tight game, this could be the difference.

So much for the laws of average.