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Don't Stop Believing!

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  Will our passion for sport deliver on our hopes and dreams?  What's The Story? in Waterford #3 So, he’s back, Davy Fitz is back in charge of the Waterford Hurling team.  Only time will tell what this sequel will be titled, but it won’t lack passion and drama, of that we can be sure.  Since his last stint as Bainisteor the expectations, performance and success of the team has steadily risen.  Now the hope will surely be that he brings the same speedy improvement he did in Clare and Wexford, as well as in the Deise the last time.  Is it time to set aside the quiet, slow simmering hopes of improvement for the high hopes of bringing home Liam for the first time since 1948?  Say what you like about Davy Fitzgerald, but he’s not lacking in passion or effort.  This is surely something that makes him a good fit with the Deise.  This is a county passionate about sport.  We’re only too delighted to celebrate a new hero, like Seamus Power in golf...
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Tokyo 2020: There’s more to life than winning

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Winning medals isn’t everything!   It seems a strange theme to emerge from the drama of the best of humanity competing to win, yet it was written across an Olympics which carried more pressure than any in recent memory.   The games themselves had retained their host city of Tokyo, but were hosted by a different year as Covid made it’s mark on our world.   Under such pressure it would be difficult to find a more relaxed and yet motivated individual than Ireland’s gold medallist in rowing, Paul O Donovan.   His interviews are always worth watching not only for the easy going humour that is often present, but to listen to a winner thinking out loud.   The irony being this isn’t what drives or defines him . “You’re very happy winning obviously but at the end of the day you forget about it and get on with life.”  In fact whilst being no stranger to medals it seems Paul’s medals have been estranged from him.   He boxes them up and leaves them with family t...
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No fairy tale ending for Denmark?

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Denmark is no stranger to fairy stories.   It is, afterall, the homeland of Hans Christian Anderson.   For some it seemed that the story of the Danish football team through Euro 2020 was sprinkled in fairy dust.   They had something, or rather someone, to play for.   A destiny to fulfill. They mightn’t have been the underdogs like 1992 when they won the tournament after being late replacements for Yugoslavia.   It is hard to dispute, however, that they were certainly the most unfancied of the semi-finalists.   The whimsical fancy of a fairy tale was far from the mind of those watching their first game on 12 June 2021 versus Finland.  Football took a back seat for a while, as one of the Dane’s most gifted and celebrated players, Christian Eriksen, collapsed.  His heart had stopped and CPR was being performed, as the stadium and TV viewers watched on.   As one warrior had fallen his fellow warriors stood up.  Led by captain, Simon Kjær...
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European Super Greed: Where Will it Lead?

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  European Super Greed:  Where Will it Lead? 11 June 2021 3 min read  We’re on the doorstep of a new European football tournament.  They are a year late, but the Euro’s are here.  This week’s sports news spoke of the after-shocks of another European non- tournament. The seismic story of the season- the rapid rise and fall of the European Super League.  This week the Premier League confirmed sanctions against the 6 clubs involved and also sought to build consensus to safeguard a similar future threat of a break away.   The speed, scale and shock of the ESL’s rise and fall may leave us wondering- did that really happen at all?  You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a bad dream, but the plans for 15 clubs from leagues across Europe to form an elite league shook the world of football.  Yet the scale of the story doesn’t match the debris underfoot. Yes, there is broken trust between owners and fans in particular, but sanctions that are fairly...
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The Empty Stadium- What's Missing?

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The Empty Stadium- What's Missing? Underwhelming.   That would be a fair assessment of Republic of Ireland’s visit to Wembley at the beginning of November.   I’m not even thinking of the scoreline or the performance, but the experience.   “Magic of a visit to Wembley becomes empty experience in the time of Covid” was how Patrick Madden captured it.   The pageantry and prestige of visiting the home of football was lacking.   It was “eerily silent and devoid of a sense of occasion.”   Empty.   Empty stadiums are something we’ve been getting acclimatised to in these Covid times. Piping in the noise of the crowd to the ground or on the TV doesn’t seem to cover the awkward silence.  The seats are empty, devoid of the colour the fans bring.  It just doesn’t feel right.  Bob Bradley the American football coach has said, “a game without fans has no soul” .  Kyah Symon who plays football professionally in Australia and America says, “It’...
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Life after Joe- in search of beauty  Winning is beautiful. There were many beautiful days under Irish Rugby’s most successful coach Joe Schmidt.   72% win ratio and three six nations titles.  This includes the Grand Slam of that glorious year of 2018.  Remember that epic victory over the All Blacks to move Ireland to number 1 ranking in the world?  Life with Joe was beautiful… Well, there was that ending which leaves a sour taste.  The World Cup in Japan in 2019 was far from beautiful.  There were defeats to Japan and the All Blacks, but what disappointed us most was the manner of the defeats and even some of the victories! Ireland’s play was conservative, safe and predictable.  This was nothing new.  So it had been even in the glorious year of 2018.   Winning it seems is not always beautiful.   Before the big Grand Slam game against England, in March 2018, Matt Williams said of Ireland, “I find it a bit boring, the...
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