Meet Ron McCarten (see photo), who told me that he actually played on the wing for Ireland against England in Lansdowne Road in 1961 (the other Irish winger that day was Tony O’Reilly). Irish hero Tom Kiernan made his debut that day with Ireland going on to win 11-8 in another dramatic match. I will post up a video interview of Ron later. Crystal clear memories almost half a century later.

Ron McCarten, Irish International, still enjoys the drama of an England v Ireland encounter.

Meanwhile, I heard a nice story about the English coach, Martin Johnson, which I am going to ask for help in finishing the story. Here’s the start. When England came to town in 2003, Johnson and his team stood at the Irish end before the national anthems – forcing the Irish team to stand further down the pitch on the grass (beyond the red carpet) and thereby forcing the Irish President McAleese to soil her shoes as she had to walk on the grass. Despite being asked to move, Johnson refused. England had failed at the final hurdle during the previous three seasons. This time both Ireland and England were going for the Grand Slam. England stuffed Ireland 42-6 and went on to win the World Cup that year. Half the country hated Johnson for insulting the Irish president and half the country (including the Irish captain, O’Driscoll) quietly admired his determination not to be bossed by anyone that day.

A few seasons later, an Irish rugby character sent Johnson a red carpet with the following message: ‘For sale, one red carpet, unused, almost new‘. Johnson took the carpet to a charity auction in his club Leicester. He sold it and sent the money to Ireland with the cheque made out to the Irish character’s local rugby club, with a photograph of Johnson holding the carpet. If anyone has a copy of this photograph or the name of the rugby club – please let me know. Or perhaps get Martin Johnson to give me  a call to clarify.

*For the record, yesterday, Ireland won 20-16.

Alumnus football
Grantland Rice

Bill Jones had been the shining star upon his college team.
His tackling was ferocious and his bucking was a dream.
When husky William took the ball beneath his brawny arm
They had two extra men to ring the ambulance alarm.

Bill hit the line and ran the ends like some mad bull amuck.
The other team would shiver when they saw him start to buck.
And when some rival tackler tried to block his dashing pace,
On waking up, he’d ask, “Who drove that truck across my face?”

Bill had the speed-Bill had the weight-Bill never bucked in vain;
From goal to goal he whizzed along while fragments, strewed the plain,
And there had been a standing bet, which no one tried to call,
That he could make his distance through a ten-foot granite wall.

When he wound up his college course each student’s heart was sore.
They wept to think bull-throated Bill would sock the line no more.
Not so with William – in his dreams he saw the Field of Fame,
Where he would buck to glory in the swirl of Life’s big game.

Sweet are the dreams of college life, before our faith is nicked-
The world is but a cherry tree that’s waiting to be picked;
The world is but an open road-until we find, one day,
How far away the goal posts are that called us to the play.

So, with the sheepskin tucked beneath his arm in football style,
Bill put on steam and dashed into the thickest of the pile;
With eyes ablaze he sprinted where the laureled highway led-
When Bill woke up his scalp hung loose and knots adorned his head.

He tried to run the ends of life, but with rib-crushing toss
A rent collector tackled him and threw him for a loss.
And when he switched his course again and dashed into the line
The massive Guard named Failure did a toddle on his spine.

Bill tried to punt out of the rut, but ere he turned the trick
Right Tackle Competition scuttled through and blocked the kick.
And when he tackled at Success in one long, vicious prod
The Fullback Disappointment steered his features in sod.

Bill was no quitter, so he tried a buck in higher gear,
But Left Guard Envy broke it up and stood him on his ear.
Whereat he aimed a forward pass, but in two vicious bounds
Big Center Greed slipped through a hole and rammed him out of bounds.

But one day, when across the Field of Fame the goal seemed dim,
The wise old coach, Experience, came up and spoke to him.
“Oh Boy,” he said, “the main point now before you win your bout
Is keep on bucking Failure till you’ve worn the piker out!”

“And, kid, cut out this fancy stuff – go in there, low and hard;
Just keep your eye upon the ball and plug on, yard by yard,
And more than all, when you are thrown or tumbled with a crack,
Don’t sit there whining-hustle up and keep on coming back;

“Keep coming back with all you’ve got, without an alibi,
If Competition trips you up or lands upon your eye,
Until at last above the din you hear this sentence spilled:
‘We might as well let this bird through before we all get killed.’

“You’ll find the road is long and rough, with soft spots far apart,
Where only those can make the grade who have the Uphill Heart.
And when they stop you with a thud or halt you with a crack,
Let Courage call the signals as you keep on coming back.

“Keep coming back, and though the world may romp across your spine,
Let every game’s end find you still upon the battling line;
For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name,
He writes – not that you won or lost – but how you played the Game.

During the interview I was moaning about the French footballer, Henri handling the ball (see 3 Wise Men) and demanding a replay in the name of Fair Play (as well as marking the end of the ‘non-video ref era’), when a wonderful Wigan FC fan phoned in (as the programme was originally about the Wigan players giving the fans their money back after Wigan were beaten  9-1 by Spurs). He  admitted that one of their players had, in fact handled the ball also, and that they, as true sportsmen, were offering Spurs the opportunity of a replay. Don’t you just love some football fans’ wit & humour? A wonderful Christmas gesture!

Henry’s former Arsenal team mate, Lee Dixon, believes Henry has ruined his reputation “He has been a truly great footballer – one of the best players we’ve ever seen in the Premier League – but now people will remember him for that goal against Ireland. It’s really sad.”

Come on France all you’ve got to do is ask for a replay.

Sign this petition & send it to all your contacts in Ireland & abroad – The Irish have so many friends all over the world. If they get 10+million signatures, they will have to seriously rethink it. Don’t let this go. www.gopetition.com/online/32214/sign.html#se

Or let FIFA know directly,  www.fifa.com/contact/form.html .

Meanwhile watch out for a lobby campaign for the sponsors.  Kids all over the world have seen cheats win again. FIFA has an opportunity to let kids see that cheating does not prevail and that, courtesy of technology, this is the begininng of the end, of the era where cheats always win. With a nudge from sponsors, FIFA may still take this historic opportunity to get it right.  Watch out for my next post which shows how the Germans have come up with a brilliant solution to reduce cheating.

Millions of children watched cheating win last night when a French player handled the ball twice to create the winning goal and throw Ireland out of the World Cup 2010. FIFA have a rare opportunity to help kids know that Fair Play prevails over cheating. We are at the end of an era in football when games are played without video replay facilities for referees (rugby union and many other sports use it successfully to ensure correct decisions are made). So it would be a fitting end to the era to call for a replay. THE FAI have also asked for a replay against France .

There is precedent. FIFA forced a World Cup replay between Bahrain and Uzbekistan in a World Cup play-off for a mistake made on a penalty kick in 2005 so it is possible (albeit a different type of referee’s mistake). Also a truly great French football manager (who managed Henry) once insisted on offering a replay after winning an FA Cup match by ‘improper means’ in 1999 against Sheffield United. Full story is in Great Moments Of Sportsmanship pp.126-128. The French manager has the opportunity to do likewise. He and France would be remembered forever more in the world of football as truly noble sportsmen, elevating them into superheroes for kids all over the world.

Another Frenchman, Philippe Sella, a classy rugby international when told that France would get a by into the final of the World Rugby Cup if their semi final was abandoned (because of weather), said the team would not accept this way of winning.

So there are true heroes out there. They revel in an honest contest. Come on France – show us your noble honour once again; let fair play prevail; do battle with Ireland once more and become instantaneous immortal sports heroes for children all over the world.

Munster made history when they beat the mighty All Blacks by, what was in those days, an emphatic beating, 12-0.

Moments after the final whistle was blown, Donal Caniffe, the Munster captain, heard the news that his father had died suddenly . He left the stadium immediately. When the New Zealand Maoris heard the news they did a ritual prayer tribute in their dressing room and were joined by the non Maori team members as a tribute to Mr. Caniffe’s memory.

Do you know of any stories like this, where honour, nobility and humility take over from human dejection and despair which is sometimes suffered by losing a big match?

Another sportsmanship story from that famous 1978 game – All Blacks Snow Whites ‘Go On The Lash’.

Yet another sportsmanship story from the rich heritage of Munster v All Blacks games – ‘you could hear a dog bark’. 

Despite his massive disappointment and probable hounding by the media when he gets home, he answered all the questions thrown at him with dignity and honour and he applauded the English team on their victory several times. Even some of Ponting’s critics acknowledge how in post match interviews he always mentions the other team and usually in flattering term.

It was a pity that the interviewer, one of England’s great cricketers and captains, Mike Atherton, had to ask a cheap question about whether his captaincy would be under scrutiny. There’s so much more to ask. There are so many more questions that could engage an audience and extract insights into the mind of a great captain and insights into the wonders of this fantastic sport. Why aren’t they asked? If you’ve thoughts about the kinds of questions you’d like asked by sports interviewers, please send them in. I’ll collate them and eventually start asking interviewers to ask interesting questions, to help to enlighten us all.

It is the Gaelic Athletic Association’s (GAA) stadium where bigger crowds than any English premiere league football match attend during the summer months. They come to watch the two Irish sports, Gaelic Football and Hurling (the fastest field game in the world), as the counties of Ireland battle to make history.

The GAA was a banned organisation during the British occupation of Ireland. Subsequently foreign games like rugby and soccer were banned from Croke Park for over 100 years by the GAA. Ironically, when the ban was finally lifted,  it was in Croke Park where Ireland inflicted its biggest ever rugby win over England (43-13) in 2007 and it is where Ireland played both 2009 home matches that formed part of the history making Grand Slam, 6 Nations Champions and Triple Crown winners.

For 125 years Croke Park has promoted Irish culture, heritage and sport. Interestingly the 2 minute slide show makes no reference (correct me if I’m wrong) to the 14 civilians shot dead in the crowd by British Troops in Croke Park in 1920. We have moved on. See page 169 of my sportsmanship book for more on this and how we’ve moved on because of rugby.  The GAA gesture to open Croke Park to rugby and ‘soccer’ embraced a new view, a new feeling, almost a new Ireland.  It was a difficult decision for many, however, it shows the world that sport can prevail and it has done so in Croke Park – Ireland’s previously hidden jewel in its own crown.  Now, let’s make a bid for a World Cup Rugby and World Cup Finals (football) competition in Ireland (and  Britain) with Croke Park hosting the final.

Cochran won the event in 10:36, beating Shadle Park’s Andrea Nelson by 3 seconds. Thirty minutes later, race officials disqualified Cochran, ruling that the Harvard-bound runner ran 3 consecutive steps inside the lane adjacent to hers. Bellarmine Prep Coach Matt Ellis appealed the infraction, but his appeal was denied. Everyone knew that Cochrane had not stepped into the next lane and that the officials were wrong.

In a magical sportsmanship moment  when the official 3,200 race winner Andrea Nelson was awarded her first place medal at the podium, she moments later gave her first place medal to Cochran. Redmond’s Sarah Lord followed by giving Nelson her second-place medal, and the other medal winners followed suit. Somewhat reminiscent of the Britain’s  Gold medalist fencer, Judy Guinness at the 1932 LA Olympic when she refused her gold medal because officials had missed her opponent’s scores.

Some days later – the officials, having studied the video tapes rescinded their decision and officially awarded Cochran the gold medal. Congrats to Nelson, Lord and the other young lady who felt honour was more important than metal.

See the Full Story.

Never may we lose this tradition. I have another question for you:  Why do some players now, when asked to swap shirts by their opposing player, point to the dressing room and, I assume, suggest that they swap shirts in the dressing room. Is this protocol madness. Doesn’t the FA, EUFA and FIFA realise that the best PR for the game is to let kids see players swap shirts. Does anyone know the logic here?