I had a fairly sicking sensation in my stomach at the end of the France/Ireland game last night, first and foremost because we won’t be competing in South Africa against the best footballing nations in the world, but also with the way we were cruelly dumped out. It’s not often I find myself agreeing with Eamon Dunphy but on this occasion I found myself strangely concurring with his sentiments. The future of the beautiful game is at stake, in a way, by a systemic and prevailing tendency towards cheating and getting a result by whatever means possible. When the young players this weekend on the pitches at Mervue, Drom, Annaghdown, etc. see how easy it is to get away with cheating at the highest level, whether it be diving or handling the ball, and how the establishment tacitly condones it by their paralyse, can we really blame them for their lack of respect for the game or the absence of any personal integrity? You see, players like Henry are paid vast sums of money and have a certain duty of care to those who contribute towards their wages, the supporters and followers of the game. This is everybody’s game remember and Henry has done harm, by his dishonesty, and brought the sport into dispute. “Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good” (Bertolt Brecht). He has done football (and himself) an enormous disservice and has ensured his own personal legacy will be one defined by that one infamous moment. He may not care, nor even reflect, on what he’s done, but that is a personal decision and how he reacts even now will be an indictment of his character.
While every fan wants to see their team winning I can’t and won’t subscribe to the bollox people have expressed over the past few hours on how “if Robbie Keane had done it and got away with it we won’t care”. I would care, and call a cheat simply that! I have too much respect for people like Joe Reilly, Billy Carr, Michael Corbett, Jimmy Sullivan, guys who dedicated many years of their lives to developing young talent in Galway to play the game the correct way with respect for opponents, to now say that cheating is somehow acceptable and an integral part of the modern game. Those guys would never dream of asking a player to cheat, nor would they condone it in any shape or form. They are guys with real integrity, not the overpaid mercenaries who are systematically dismantling the foundations of the beautiful game by their actions.
So the World Cup will go on without Ireland (we’ll survive and regroup) but the game itself will continue to stumble forward and suffer from a lack of honour, direction and leadership. I’ll leave the last words to FIFA themselves. This is rule one of their fair play code. ‘nough said!
“Winning is without value if victory has been achieved unfairly or dishonestly. Cheating is easy, but brings no pleasure. Playing fair requires courage and character. It is also more satisfying. Fair play always has its reward, even when the game is lost. Playing fair earns …respect, while cheating only brings shame. Remember: it is only a game. And games are pointless unless played fairly.” [1]
[1] FIFA. (2009) Fair-Play Code. Available at http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/worldwideprograms/footballforhope/fairplay/code.html
Tags: Billy Carr, Drom, FIFA, Ireland, Joe Reilly, Mervue, Soccer
21/11/2009 at 1:38 pm |
Just a further footnote to the earlier piece. While I’m fairly cheesed off with the manner of our exit from the World Cup the over-the-top hysteria that has followed and the blatant xenophobia is cringing and downright laughable, and something I want to distance myself from. The original piece was written because I believe that the integrity of the game is brought into question by incidents like the handling of the ball. But we see these kinds of episodes happening week-in week-out and there is a need to introduce some means of eliminating such occurrences from the sport. However, the continuing “victim mentality” and the “we were the only one wronged” from some people, who haven’t a clue about football in my opinion, is nauseating. Politicians, in particular, should shove-off and stop attempting to distract from the enormous mess they have made of our economy by trying to bandwagon populist issues and make our country look ridiculous by “demanding” a replay. For me the issue is closed, we’re not going to South Africa and we just need to put our hurt into the bag and pull it out when we meet the French again.