March 12, 2004
Eight hundred years and all that…
I didn’t get to watch Ireland beat England at rugby last weekend. A sunny Saturday in early March ? I had better things to be doing that sitting in a pub during the day supping porter and watching Ireland triumph over our nearest and dearest neighbour (OK, I had other things to do).
Anyway, there was so much coverage of the win on RTE that it felt like I’d seen it. On Des Cahill’s Sports Call (Radio 1) on Monday evening, half the callers seemed almost crestfallen that the English press (and the team) were so gracious in defeat – it took half the fun out of it. The day before, on the Sunday Show, Tom McGurk tried to stir it up when he rang the captain of the Irish Ladies Rugby team (motto: we’re no ladies! we play rugby!) to ask her about the exhibition match with the English Ladies rugby team that took place before the main event. There had been a story going about during the week that the Irish team would be escorted from Twickenham within forty minutes of their match ending, or face arrest. No tickets would be provided for them. Is it true, asked Tom, bristling at yet another example of perfidious Albion.
Indeed it was, confirmed the Irish captain, except that the English ladies got the same treatment and both teams watched the match together on TV across the road from the stadium. For all Tom’s indignation, he neglected to ask how the ladies had got on in the match (the cailíní came second, alas).
But the best reaction of all came from Donncha O’Dualing on the Saturday evening when the victory was still fresh. Donncha is well known for his love of all things Gaelic and I rather suspect that that he’d much prefer manly types to exert themselves playing hurling or Gaelic football rather than ‘furrin’ games such as soccer or rugby.
But, no, there he was on Saturday night, congratulating the Irish team on their victory over the Briti- er… the English. In the same breath, he was grumbling. “A pity about the national anthem, though”.[Because the Irish team is composed of players from both parts of the island, the Irish team has a specially composed tune, Ireland’s Call, as an anthem rather than Amhrain na bhFiann]. So what song did Donncha play next? A Nation Once Again. No surrender, Donny boy, no surrender.
Posted by Monasette at March 12, 2004 05:49 AM