Under the lights, you are more immersed in the drama that is on stage before you.

The lights make the person present at the game more focused and focused on what is happening before their eyes.

It is now approaching two decades since I was on my way out of the Groningen soccer field in the north of the Netherlands as it approached eleven o’clock at night. The place was almost deserted, the match between that city’s team and Galway United in the Europa League having long since ended.

A few weeks later they played each other at Páirc an Chathánaigh in An Cheathrú Rua, but that’s a story in itself.

Out in front of me was one of the Galway footballers, Paul McGee, himself making his way onto the bus.

The floodlights of the field were still on, but since we were in the shadow of the stands, we couldn’t see the light from them until we reached the tunnel that gives the players access to the field.

Their bravery had an opportunity to escape there.

Magee stopped in his tracks and began to look out towards the pitch. When I got close to him he held out his hand and said, “Look at that. I am always transfixed by a floodlit pitch, even when its empty.”

When he had seen enough of the magic, he hung his bag on his back again and boarded the bus.

I often thought about what he had said afterwards. To be honest, it surprised me that something as simple as the scene before him that night could have such a profound effect on a footballer of his calibre.

By then Paul McGee had scored a goal for Ireland, played in the top divisions of England, the Netherlands and his native country, as well as the Champions League, Europa League and the Cup Winners’ Cup.

As he stood at the mouth of the tunnel that night, his face was as radiant as a boy whose face was Santa Claus.

It took me years to understand why McGee was under a spell that night.

I now understand that the reason for this was that I had seen very few floodlit matches live at the time. I had seen plenty of them on television and a lot of live soccer matches.

But it took me a while to realize how the lights make the person present more immersed and focused on what is unfolding before their eyes.

As good as television is, it’s really just like washing your feet with your socks on. It’s not much different from looking in through the window of a big house. You’re not in the middle of it.

Under the lights, not for you.

You have no vision of things that would disturb you in the light of day. If only in a casual way, you are more absorbed in the drama that is on the stage before you. You are not the Prima Donna. But you are certainly in the chorus.

The floodlights have recently begun to benefit the Gaelic Athletic Association. They were first used during a Football League match in Croke Park between Dublin and Tyrone in early 2007.

There was no better demonstration of their worth than the replay of the 2013 All-Ireland Hurling Final between Clare and Cork.

They have been expanding rapidly since then and were first lit a few weeks ago in Páirc an Phairsaigh in Bóthar na Trá, Galway. I have seen a football match and a hurling match there since then – they have reinforced everything Paul McGee had to say years ago.

Soccer matches were played under floodlights in England as far back as 1878. This took place at Bramall Lane Park in Sheffield, the largest in England before Wembley was built.

In fact, a year before the lights were trialled, the Irish and English teams played each other there in daylight.

Not only was there no proper electricity system in Britain at the time – it was another 50 years before the national grid came into being. People relied on gas for lighting.

Batteries and dynamos were used at Bramall Lane and of course it was soon realised that they were not enough.

While floodlights were in use in major stadiums in the United States by the 1920s, it was another thirty years before they were seen at major English soccer clubs – Wolverhampton Wanderers were the first to adopt them in 1953. Within a few years, they were in every stadium in the top divisions of the league.

Would you believe they were in Ireland as soon as they were in England? At Tolka Park on the last day of March 1953, Drumcondra and St. Mirren of Scotland played each other in a challenge match in the first ever match played in this country under floodlights.

This was not necessary when Paul McGee went to play in the second game against Groningen in the 1986 European League, two weeks after we were in the Netherlands.

UEFA ruled that Terryland Park, where Galway City play, did not meet the required standards, which left them looking for a new venue in the vicinity. At the time, soccer was not allowed on GAA pitches, which left them next to one that was not dedicated to them.

They found such a thing in An Cheathrú Rua, an event that will live on in the memories of those who were there.