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Kerry and Dublin face off in the All-Ireland Football Final this weekend. It will be their 15th meeting in an All-Ireland Final, with the previous 14 meetings resulting in 7 Sam Maguire titles for each side.
Kerry are looking for back-to-back titles, while Dublin go chasing a first title since 2020 and the completion of their 6-in-a row. It makes a big change for Dublin competing in the final as in the past decade, they have often been overwhelming favourites seeking to retain their crown.
This brought to mind Sir Alex Ferguson's words around Manchester United's title chasing mindset. When asked about retaining titles when managing Man United and how he maintained the desire of the team to keep going year after year, he referenced Liverpool. While under his reign United won plenty of titles, however, they were still always behind Liverpool in terms of the overall titles won. He eventually caught them and overtook them in the later part of his career.
But it brings the idea of mindset into question and how you frame the situation you find yourself. Ferguson used the analogy of a hunter and being hunted. In the wild, it is a lot easier to be a hunter, chasing a prey. There's let pressure, mistakes are not as magnified. However, if you are being hunted, there is a lot more stress, any mistakes are magnified. In his time as manager United, he placed the United team as hunters. Even though they were winning titles, they were still chasing Liverpool's record. They had the mindset of hunters.
In using this analogy, Ferguson was encouraging a Challenge Mindset in his team. Challenge and threat states are defined as two motivational states that highlight how individuals respond in various situations such as sporting competition (Blascovich & Mendes, 2000). A challenge appraisal is characterised by a positive approach to coping, while a threat appraisal is associated with maladaptive tendencies. Viewing a situation as challenge is thought to be associated with more helpful emotions emotions, facilitative interpretations of anxiety symptoms and increased cardiovascular output (Skinner & Brewer, 2004; Jones, et al., 2009). Challenge states are associated with approach behaviours, whereby individuals take action that moves them towards their goals. Hunters in a sense.
It will be interesting if either team can adopt a hunter mindset. Dublin, in a change of roles are the definition of hunters on Sunday. They are looking to dethrone Kerry and regain Sam Maguire. Several of their players are chasing an unprecedented 9th Men's All-Ireland medal. As a county they are continuing to chase down Kerry's 38 titles.
For Kerry, they will be looking to go back-to-back for the first time since '06 and '07. They will see the opportunity to kickstart their own run of dominance powered by David Clifford.
It's an interesting angle to look at the game through. In a game when the technical skills are on point, the physicality is off the charts and the tactics have been rehearsed, it could be decided mindset and who is hunting and who is being hunted.
Let me know your thoughts and who you think will win!
References
Blascovich, J., & Mendes, W. B. (2000). Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues.
Skinner, N., & Brewer, N. (2004). Adaptive approaches to competition: Challenge appraisals and positive emotion. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 26(2), 283-305.
Jones, M., Meijen, C., McCarthy, P. J., & Sheffield, D. (2009). A theory of challenge and threat states in athletes. International review of sport and exercise psychology, 2(2), 161-180.
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