I know I said I’d limit the rugby talk, mostly because I’m surprised that I have anything to say about it, but here goes.
Since the Georgia game, there has been a fairly open attitude of “how dare they not win the tournament” vis-a-vis the Irish Rugby Team. So much so that Questions & Answers was infected by this nonsense.
Two days later, the same appeared in the Indo letters page. I’m confident this won’t be the end of it.
I don’t understand this view. Any of it. The idea that we, as supporters, as people sitting on the couch or in the case of the lucky few sitting in the stands, deserve ‘better’ or ‘more’ of the national rugby team. Made all the more ridiculous by the notion that the relatively new professional status of the game re-affirms this position.
These arguments presume that the lads on the pitch are for some reason not giving it their all. Now, call me crazy, but when you put on your green shirt and walk onto the proverbial world stage to represent your country you give it everything you can. You may not be the greatest player in the world - you may not be the greatest player in the squad - in some cases you may be sick, or injured, or have personal cr*p going on (better known as ‘being human’). But I would imagine that you give it your all, every single time, within those constraints.
How selfish have we become that we can demand more of men who have given everything - their lives, personal and professional, and much more besides - to sweat it out in our name? And what are we doing that we ‘deserve’ a better performance, or a better team? What does that even mean - where are these better players supposed to come from? It’s a national side, and no more than the soccer team (don’t get me started) we have a limited pool of players, and we have a strange and totally inexplicable habit of talking ourselves up way beyond our probable potential.
The other aspect of all this has been attacking the coach. Same nonsense as the Staunton debate (though that was possibly even more one-sided). In this case, I do agree with one aspect - no coach should be given a new contract before a major contest, just as no other employee would get a new contract immediately prior to the completion of a major project. All that besides, undermining the coach undermines his ability to coach, and thus undermines the team. It’s massively counter-productive.
The national team - no matter what the sport - and the coach of that team - no matter what the circumstances - should not be hung out to dry two matches into a major competition.
It does nobody any favours and makes us all look like ignorant eejits.
