What to do about Diving in football?

Any ideas Lucas?

AS a general rule the Australians hate soccer and every time I bring it up, they talk about the cheating Italians at the 2006 World Cup.

Some sneaky greaseball took a dive in the penalty box in the last minute of the last 16 to give Italy a penalty, the lead and subsequently the game. There was no time for a comeback and Australia were out.

I always tell the Aussies "tough shit" and "that's football". I've always been a big believer of 'the ball is round, the game is 90 minutes' (Der Ball ist rund und ein Spiel daurt 90 minuten) and the 'After the game is before the game' (which for some reason makes way more sense in it's original German- Nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel- I think the sense of it is that the past doesn't matter, it's what you do next that counts) philosophy in football and in life so you can't really go bitching and moaning when things don't go your way.

I would go so far as to say that the beauty of football is that it can be terribly cruel and unfair making it all the more reason to take your chances when they arise. Playing well or being good simply isn't enough.

I admire FIFA for at the very least not overly interfering with the rules of the game even if they do their best to destroy it in every other way. They have made efforts to make the game more sporting to point where it's almost unsettling to watch so many kids walking around holding hands with strange men but obviously someone somewhere is buying it. Probably the Arabs who are backing the whole business of football these days. It's still commonplace today in Arabic cultures for grown to hold hands in public. I'm not sure the policy will fly at the Catholics Priests World Cup.

Ironically (and I'm pretty sure this is irony and not merely a coincidence because FIFA's efforts to clean up the game have actually made it more dishonest) I think that it is FIFA's desire to clean up the game which has made it more susceptible to cheating.

Way back in the day, when men were men all the good teams had hard men like Souness, Mattheus, Stiles, all the Argentinians and the list goes on. These guys didn't always get the credit but their ability to "quieten" the more gifted ball players on the other side was often the difference between winning and losing.

This led to calls that the game needed to be cleaned up and that the good players need to be protected by the officials and allowed to play because that's what the people want to see. I'm not sure if by "people" what was really meant was audiences or that advertisers wanted their product associated more with some dinky winger rather than the likes of Norman "Break Your Legs" Hunter.

You can't argue with that of course and so it was that FIFA changed the way the game was played.

If I was to pin-point that change I would put it down to the period between the end of the 1990 World Cup (generally considered the worst of all time, though to my 7 years old eyes, it was and remains a glorious time) and the beginning of the English Premier League in 1992.

The Premier League made football a marketable commodity and despite attendances holding steady or in many cases even falling with the introduction of all seater stadiums, the focus on the game became greater than ever before. There was so much money in the game (by way of the TV deals and all the incidental revenue streams which flowed from that) that suddenly there were more photographers, cameras, reporters, tv shows about the games than ever before. The game was omnipresent, you couldn't get away from it.

It was around this time (as I remember it, not that too much about what happened before that. I was 10 after all), players seemed to start getting injured much more easily. They would stay down and a physio would come on with the 'magic sponge' and the player would slowly get to his feet and suddenly he was miraculously cured. Players started falling like they had been shot and rightly the argument was put that if a player went down so dramatically in other sports there is no way they would be able to continue yet in soccer, they nearly always played on.

You didn't need to be a cynical bastard such my ten year old self to conclude that the players were simply cheating. That they were feigning injury and often fouls in order to waste time, win a free kick or penalty or to get their opponent booked or sent off.

In the old days, there was no such play acting. It's always interesting today watching Glenn Hoddle (the pranciest of all the great players) at the 1982 World Cup with his socks around his angles, no shin pads and dodging tackles like they were landmines.

There was a very deliberate effort by FIFA to cut this perceived type of dirty play but it simply had the effect of swinging the pendulum too far in favour of the attacking player. A simple solution would be a straight red card for diving. Yes, it would lead to the odd injustice but it would also encourage players to stay on their feet.

Why this hasn't been introduced I don't know but until such rule changes are introduced, players will continue to dive with impunity (a yellow card is a waste of time) but hey, them's the rules so take your chances and don't have your fate determined by a gamey continental and a dodgy referee.

As for that dark sunny day for Australia in Kaiserslautern. That's football.

Asia Cup/ The sacking of Andy Gray-

Asia Cup

It's a sad day for football when we're talking about famous nights in Doha. Qatar is not even potentially a footballing hotbed. It's a country of 1.5 million people and last night it hosted the Asian Cup final.

How has it happened that such a small sandy state (which has never produced even so much a reserve in any of the world's top leagues) has suddenly become the future of football.

I would guess that the arabs are so rich from selling oil that they've been able to buy their way to the top of the diplomatic football ladder. It's the only explanation.

It's a shocker and another indication of the stunning inequalities which exist in the world. Maybe someone should invade Qatar, redistribute the world cup to a more deserving nation and relieve the arabs of their oil and the profits.

How did it happen that the world let a few arabs in a few desert ridden regions across the middle east control so much of the worlds wealth without showing even the slightest bit of inventiveness, creativity, tactical nous, heart, desire, passion and now we're letting these same people take over our game as well.

It is sad indeed. 

Andy Gray

I don't think anyone is particularly heartbroken by Andy Gray's sacking. I don't think there has ever been any doubt about his knowledge of the game (though there is I think some justified scepticism over trying to predict the outcome by moving arrows around the screen).

He was never liked either though- certainly not by Liverpool fans. He famously said at half time of the 2005 Champions League with all the relish of the toffee bastard that he is that "it's all over now and I hate saying that". You didn't really Andy you loved it and in some ways, that's why you were such a watchable old fucker because you were old school and you were football.

You understood the rivalries and what's more is that you believed in them in spite of yourself. Unfortunately the game changed and you did not keep up with those changes.

It is possible that you also mistook your workplace for a dressing room and that you treated your colleagues as you might have an apprentice back in the day, thereby making enemies for yourself of people  who can work technology and don't care what your standing is within the game.

Nevertheless your sacking was harsh and unwarranted but I guess if we scratched the surface a little bit, we'd have found that most people didn't really like you and so you had to go. In football, it's ok to be disliked. Oftentimes, it is even a positive but in work, the very same type of behaviour can get you sacked.

Jerzey Dudek- Save of the century?

Why Me, Lance?

There he is, on the telly staring right back at me as I lay panned out on the couch watching the news for about the fourth time that day. Lance is sitting in a news conference looking sombre and serious as ever talking about Jim Stynes and fighting cancer. I feel a tinge of guilt but I keep watching. The soccer is coming up and watching Lance with all his determination might even motivate me to do something later (it didn't, unless you call watching back to back episodes of "Dexter" something).

Lance doesn't look too happy but then it cuts to a clip of him being asked about Paul Kimmage and I can see why. I know I would be annoyed if people followed me all over the world asking me if I was taking performance-debilitating drugs ("PDD's").

Lance is big box office. For the cycling press, he's their ticket to the news pages. He is American, outspoken, he's won the Tour de France, what, a million times and he's even beaten cancer. Before Lance came along, most Tour de France winners didn't speak a word of the Queen's.

Lance has never been found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs ("PED's" not to be confused with PDD's above). If Lance was tried in a Kangaroo court, he would probably be convicted because it looks like he takes PED's, he walks like he takes PED's and he quacks like he takes PED's.

There are countless testimonies from ex-teammates, spurned business partners, officials, you name it, all lining up to confirm that Lance openly talked about using drugs, that he carried around syringes and unprescribed packets of drugs. There are positive A-samples (but no B samples). Circumstantially it doesn't look good.

Other Tour winners of Lance's generation, Jan Ulrich, Floyd Landis and now Alberto Condator have all been suspended for the use of PED's (although in Condator's case, he claims it was cough medicine- not terribly original, which means it could possibly be true or maybe the greasy Spaniard is just trying to outwit us). Armstrong's former mechanic Mike Anderson says that Lance simply said that "everyone does it".

Michelle Smith taught us simple Irish folk that if it looks too good to be true then it probably is. So if Lance is knee deep in PED's, then why hasn't he been caught and if he's not, then why won't the stories go away?

The press love him for one thing. He brings millions into the sport in sponsorship. Livelihoods depend on the Lance Armstrong phenomenon. Even now, in the twilight of his career, he's given a heroes welcome in Australia. The drugs question is asked, Lance has no comment and the hero-worship can continue unabated. He is celebrated in newspapers and magazines, while thousands of riders turn out to support him on a charity cycle.

As the English speaking press go, it really only seems to be my compatriots David Walsh and Kimmage who are up on their high horse about Lance.

The testers can't catch everyone. If they did, there would be no one left. It's possible to avoid being tested. One thing that struck me while reading 'It's Not About The Bike' was how Lance would prepare for the Tour by avoiding competition and people, just training in seclusion in the mountains somewhere a la Smith.

It's always been the case that the PED industry being relatively sparsely populated, the testers and dealers are often the same people or at least, design is more lucrative than enforcement helping the athletes keep one step ahead of the testers.

Could it be that no one (Walsh and Kimmage aside) really cares about the integrity of sport or whether Lance did or didn't take anything?

It sure as shit looks like it based on the reception he has received in Australia from the press and public alike. It's one thing to cheat or break the rules (if everyone else is doing it, then can it really be called cheating?) but it's another to lie about it. Again, not totally Lance's fault. If he doesn't lie, he will be called a cheat and hung out to dry by the very same people who fall at his feet today.

Yet if all the cyclists were on PED's, then it's not really cheating is it? It's not like he took a dive in the penalty box or messed with a competitor's breaks. He was just trying to level the playing field. The problem is if you abhor cheating, then you shouldn't play along. You should quit like Paul Kimmage did (though whether he would have quit if he'd been a contender is another story).

Lance didn't. He saw that the sport was dirty and he jumped into the mud. Cycling is a great sport because it is visually so spectacular and it will always have an audience. Where there is a market, there will always be those looking to exploit it. It's human nature. In a sense it's not the riders fault, it just the nature of the game.

The career of a sportsman is short, there are no second chances. People like Lance Armstrong don't have time to be crusaders for cycling. He is an athlete with a burning desire to win, not a martyr. Why don't you just do what you do best Lance and win races? Let other people deal with morality and regulations. That's what Lance did, hell it's what we'd all do if we had the talent and commitment to the sport like he did. Cancer he can fight for the rest of his days.

It's just when you see so many other people complicit in protecting him, parading him as a champion of humanity, it makes me think that if those same otherwise good people can turn a blind eye to cheating as obvious as Lance Armstrong's, what other lies are we capable of embracing?

On the other hand, there is always Jim Stynes.

‘Galvinised’ – an Intimate Portrait of a Kerry Rebel in Search of a Cause

He probably wouldn’t appreciate the title given his lengthy rap sheet of Cork sourced woes but it scratches at the heart of this fascinating, if at times aimless, documentary on the GAA’s foremost ‘pantomine villain’. Paul Galvin the fashionista. Paul Galvin the radio dj, the bored teacher, the victimised footballer, the troubled soul, the redemption man. Paul Galvin the outsider in the kingdom GAA fishbowl in search of his destiny.

I’m one of the latest to flee down under but I had to catch ‘Galvinised’ a week or two after hearing all the fuss from home on the social networks and online paper reports. On first watch, the misplaced focus on his fashion conscious and, to a lesser extent, on his overriding victim complex lend the whole thing a certain cringe factor. Perhaps that comes from my own North Kerry background and the anticipation of what the terrace pundits and streethacks who stand in judgment will have in store in the months to come. But he comes off as thoughtful and self-aware, however considerable the ego that drives him. Galvin will stand tall amidst the abuse. He’s become practised at his own private brand of game focused oblivion on championship Sundays over recent years. The pathetic petty jibes doing the rounds on the web boards merit little consideration. In truth, few with even a passing interest in the GAA would deny that he’s an interesting character who enlightens our games.

I recall a county league match some years back of limited relevance at my own club grounds. We played host to Galvin’s Finuge on a drizzly afternoon in spring, light years away from the glitz of the Big Apple or a September Sunday at Croker. He was out injured at the time but showed up as the consummate clubman and cut a lonely figure on the fringe of the opposition dugout. Isolation. It struck me back then that this guy neither fitted nor embraced the stereotype.

On the one hand, his love for the game and the scene surrounding it is unquestionable. He subscribes to it wholeheartedly and lives for it like many in the Kingdom. To see him speak passionately on his experience of Lixnaw hurling club and on his sense of guilt towards his County teammates underlines this. On the other hand, the GAA culture in Kerry and indeed on a wider scale, is undoubtedly homogenous and narrow-minded. In an environment where you might find yourself labelled gay for having the temerity to take the field displaying more than three months hair growth, the rank and file are loath to accept a skinny jeans clad poser with highfalutin aspirations towards fashin and meeja and the like.

Paul Galvin is an outsider. The label as GAA’s bad boy is something of a self-fulfilling prophesy given his overtly aggressive approach in his formative years on the county scene. Give a dog a bad name and so forth. He appears to, consciously or otherwise, seek out causes. He feels victimised by the powers that be and frustrated at his dependence ‘on the integrity of opponents’. The documentary may well have been aimed partly at changing our perception of him and it probably succeeds, to some extent. The next time the CCC sit in judgment on the selective ramblings of the CSI Sunday Game cast, perhaps they’ll offer our bearded tattoo clad demon the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

Another present cause is style and fashion and the minor line in radio work. You get the sense, however, that at heart this is a character in search of something to set him apart. The metrosexual thing is pretty irrelevant. Have a stroll down the CBD in any major city under here in Oz and he’d fall in like a spray-on-jeans soldier. But he feels uncomfortable at the curious stares of staff and students at the Sem in Killarney and on the streets of his home county. He’s dabbled in teaching but it’s no longer for him. He’s torn between a love for his native county’s game and the struggles in rowing against the tide in small town rural Ireland. Galvin is an amateur sports star dealing with the pressures of a distinctly professional brand of fame.

Which brings us to a familiar theme in GAA circles. The big bad P word. There’s a certain irony and hypocrisy in how our subject has on the one hand actively courted the media attentions usually associated with professional athletes and on the other hand rages against the intrusions. But far be it for a career challenged Kerryman to be swanning off to rehab in LA a la messers Rooney or Ben Cousins and the likes at first hint of a personal crisis. While he clearly exhibits traces of the arrogance and self-importance more characteristic of the overpaid overindulged band of millionaires cross channel, there is no getting away from the real world in the GAA. Whether he lives to regret skipping the surefooted teaching post in these tough times remains to be seen.

There are a small number of high profile GAA stars for whom the glare of the media attention quite clearly crosses the line beyond what any play-for-the-love-of-it sportsperson should endure. Galvin clearly falls into that category. There was the tabloid coverage of his classroom duster incident some years back, through the headline news coverage of slaprefgate to the Exposé myth and the phonecalls home and to work. He’s seems genuinely irked by it all. To be fair to the man, it seems more a case of the proverbial horse being dropped in the water rather than lead to the edge to indulge of its own accord. Small scale Irish fame/infamy has sought out Paul Galvin and now he’s seeking to use it to his own end. He’s just not quite sure yet what that end is.

So who are we to sit in judgment on a dedicated amateur star taking his first tentative bambiesque steps in the pool of national celebrity? It could turn out to be a hollow and cruel world but he has the platform and the liathroidi. Give him his dues. Certain sections in our society still scorn our national heritage games as backward bogball and stickball when in reality the GAA is one of the few things we can still be proud of in these depressed times. This is why the association can only gain from such characters, however deluded or self absorbed they might or might not be. As in every facet of life, change is inevitable and should be embraced. Last year we had the wonderful spectrum of Donal Og blazing the trail for homosexual sportsmen from his unpaid vantage in a small island on the Western fringes of Europe, a brave and progressive act way beyond so many of far higher profile and influence overseas.

A proud Kerry footballer need not forever fit the politician style yerra blank blank etc hollow rhetoric seemingly intrinsic since Paidi’s era. The GAA should actively encourage this form of self-promotion where it finds a market. The days of the guaranteed public service or banking job for the County star may be at an end and if pay for play is off the cards why not use the ’professional’ profile for personal gain? He does his share for charity lest the naysayers forget. Best of luck Paul. Before you head off for the big smoke and the bright lights, just give us one more lift off Sam will ya, with a Tyrone scalp in tow? Your final cause on the football field.

Is Wayne Bridge being a bit too precious?

John Terry's friends certainly seem to think he is. At least that what was the report in the Guardian said on Friday morning. Bridge had just announced that he was pulling out of the England squad because he thought his presence would be a distraction. "Sources close to Terry" suggested that Bridge was a bottler and always had been.

I must say I had pondered this suggestion myself with the information I had read on the internet, by internet I mean some soccer websites I frequent and not women's magazines. I prefer to call it information rather than facts. It is those rumours and innuendos which inform my opinions. The facts are anyone's guess.

The information I have is that Wayne Bridge and his ex-girlfriend (let's call her the "underwear model") broke up about this time last year. This coincided with his big move to Man City but that doesn't seem to be connected. Then in September, John Terry stepped in to Bridge's shoes so to speak and had an affair with Bridge's ex. The trouble started when they were photographed leaving a house near Terry's other house. You know you're rich when you have one house for your family and another for your mistresses. No matter what way you look at it, it's hard to feel sorry for these guys because you only have these problems if you're filthy rich and go around shagging supermodels.

John Terry having affairs is not big news in itself. He has been the subject of quite a few kiss and tell stories in the tabloids. A bit of like Tiger Woods. Very similar to Tiger really, except Tiger was better at covering it up, until he got caught and his wife chased him into a tree with a golf club. It's a lucky for John that Toni Terry is more forgiving and prefers to take out her anger on the shopping malls in Dubai.

Let's try to stick to the information. After the papers told Terry that they had these photos, he applied for an injunction to prevent their publication. I'd call the the photos incriminating but that would be an exaggeration. Sleeping with underwear models is very much a legal activity. Although in my case it could be called 'so unlikely it's criminal'.

Terry argued that the photos were an invasion of his human right to privacy and no one had a right to know his business. On appeal the court held that the right to free speech outweighed his right to privacy and the story could be published.

I don't know if the judgment itself was also a one liner but that was how it was reported. The relationship between Bridge and Terry has been given broadly defined in the media from just plain old former teammates to best friends and now it would appear former best friends.

In defence of the underwear model whose name has escaped me and you will forgive me I'm sure if I don't google her, she was broken up with the Bridgey by the time she hooked up with the centre back. I stand to be corrected here but surely on breaking up with a chick, you acquiesce all rights to what she gets up to next.

Supposing on the other hand that Terry and Bridge were good friends and Terry abused that friendship by shagging the man's ex. That would be bad form. Would JT do that? Of course he would. Is it wrong? Yes.

But what if Bridge had moved on himself at that stage? Would that have changed things? Surely. Yet it keeps coming back to whether Terry betrayed Bridge's trust and that is what it is starting to look like more and more.

Still and all with Ashley Cole's injury Bridge looked odds-on to be the England full-back at the World Cup. Being English, he must think the World Cup is in the bag already which would mark the pinnacle of his career, well either that or his contract with Manchester City which made him one of the world's best paid players. Not bad for a guy who has underachieved on (and perhaps off) the pitch ever since he left his comfort zone at Southampton.

To think, it could all have been so different if Terry had signed for Man City during the summer. The whole controversy is really only scandalous because Terry himself is married and the English are obsessed with such things. If Terry was single and the same thing had happened, wouldn't the underwear model have been fair game and there is no way in hell Terry would have been stripped of the captaincy. Who knows, it might even have been true love!

As for Bridge, while I totally respect him for not shaking Terry's hand, he should really just get on with it and play for England if called upon. That's what professional footballers do.

Now if I knew the facts, I would probably have a different take but I don't and from what I know, it looks like Bridge is hiding and taking the easy way out as he so often does for Man City.

An Exercise in Futility- Defending Rafa.

It can be a thankless business defending Rafa Benitez. Especially when Rafa himself is prone to the odd decision which would leave even his most ardent supporter baffled. I tend to give Rafa the benefit of the doubt. He trains with the players all week, sees them up close and so if he plays David Ngog ahead of Ryan Babel with Kuyt out on the wing, you would have to conclude that Rafa believes that he is putting out his best team.

On Babel, the only plausible explanation is that in spite of his big reputation, high price tag and occasional flashes of potential, the Dutchman is not as good as what Rafa and everyone else thought after his impressive showing at the European U-21 Championships a couple of years ago. You can see why one would have thought he was good but he obviously can't sustain that level of performance for 90 minutes week to week.

One of the biggest criticisms levelled against Benitez is that he just can't spot a good player. Torres and Reina were no brainers but there are question marks over the others. It is said that Benitez has had more than enough time to build a team capable of challenging for the Title and after six seasons at the helm, Liverpool find themselves out of the Champions League and it will be just shy of miraculous if they finish in the top four.

Last season was arguably Liverpool's best chance since Benitez took charge. They drew too many home games and the signing of Robbie Keane was a disaster. Did Benetiz ever really want him in the first place? I don't suppose we'll ever find out. That's the problem when analysing the performance of Benetiz at Anfield- nobody knows exactly what goes on behind the scenes.

We can't say for sure how much control Benetiz has had over transfer policy. Even the players he has signed, did he sign these because they were simply the ones he could afford rather than the ones he wanted? Were certain players like Robbie Keane imposed on Benetiz from above? The manner in which Benetiz made Rick Parry's disposal a deal breaker in his contract talks would suggest that the former Chief Executive was sticking his oar in where it didn't belong.

Even looking at the Keane signing, the rumours and stories are endless. One is that Liverpool only paid 8 million upfront with the balance to come from appearances and silverware. Another version is that he was bought for 20 million in August and sold back for 14 million in January at a loss of 6 million. It has also been said that only 14 million was paid and that this was simply given back when Keane returned to White Hart Lane. So many versions regarding a single transfer for which Benetiz has been vilified even though no one seems to know what really happened.

Robbie himself is the quintessential big fish/small pond player. He fits in at clubs like Spurs, Celtic and with Ireland but when he's asked to be a squad player he's not so amenable. When Harry Redknappp said that Robbie was not happy to sit on the bench and pick up his paycheck, I think he meant that Robbie was sulky and disprutive and had to be be farmed out on loan rather than that Robbie was willing to fight to get back in the team.

Every manager should be given the benefit of the doubt on the odd bad signing. Mourinho, Ferguson and Wenger have all had their share of disasters in that department. Signings are a risk and by in large, Benitez's signings have held or increased their value. Few can be said to have dramatically improved the team but at least he has been able to offload them for what he paid for them.

Benitez can also be accused of impatience with those players. He has had a severely high turnover of players and unlike Ferguson he has been unwilling to persevere with homegrown talent like Stephen Warnock and Danny Guthrie. These players may not win the league for Liverpool but they understand the nature and spirit of the club, much in the same way that players like Fletcher, Brown and O'Shea at United personify the attitude required by Ferguson and set the standards for what is required of new players.

Benitez has failed to grasp the concept that players improve with time and teams get better the more they play together. Either that or he has decided that Guthrie (now with Newcastle in the Championship) and Warnock (with Villa) were just not up to it. In any case perhaps with the exception of Alonso, the players Benitez has let go are really no better than their replacements.

What Liverpool really needed last summer was a striker in the mode of David Villa and a winger like David Silva. Instead Alonso was sold and Aquilani was brought in. That is not the transfer policy of a rational man let alone an intelligent and highly qualified coach. Surely what happened was that the money for Alonso was too good to turn down and Aquilani was a cheap as chips replacement. Only a 5m down payment for a younger and potentially better player. Having sold this deal to Benitez, the Americans made no further money available to him. Johnson was signed for money already owed by Portsmouth. With the state Pompey are in, this is now starting to look like the shrewdest bit of business of all.

Fans will ask why he didn't quit if he was faced with such constraints. The answer I suppose is what would have been the point? Benetiz still had Torres and Gerrard, decent players around them and the potential of Aquilani to come into the side as well. Why not have a crack and who knows a Man City style investor might appear during the year if you can give the impression of solvency.

It has not worked out that way. Torres will probably never be 100% fit again. Without him Liverpool are blunt in attack, leaving a burden of expectation on Gerrard which even he can't carry. Others have not performed well without the comfort of having Alonso to direct operations. Skrtel and Agger have failed to fulfil their potential, while Lucas never really had any. In fact man for man to look at the squads, Liverpool are probably where they should be in the league. If Torres and Gerrard stayed fit they might be higher up but they do not have the squad to compete at the very top.

Is this Benitez's fault? The team still play with heart and desire. They lack quality players in key positions and we can only assume that he has been denied the funding to improve the team. Maybe the Americans decided that fourth place will be good enough to maintain the revenue streams and so Rafa was left with a squad which could just about finish top four. The money men have no motivation to finish any higher.

Even allowing for the unknown factors that go on behind the scenes at Liverpool- debt, American owners with no money or ideas, interfering chief executives and strict budget restraints- it could reasonably be concluded that after six seasons Rafa has not built a squad capable of winning the title. That is the bottom line and therefore unacceptable for a club of Liverpool's stature (self-delusion being the outstanding characteristic of any Liverpool fan).

Overall Benitez has performed as well as possible with the players available to him. He has not exceeded expectations but it would be fair to say that Liverpool have been the third, maybe fourth best team in England since he took over. A large part of that is down to the presence of Gerrard and Carragher because unlike Ferguson or Chelsea, Benetiz just has not had the resources necessary to build a good enough team.

The question most Liverpool fans seem to have answered already is that he has had more than enough time.

Survival Integral to Wolves (And Us All)

If I said that Mick McCarthy is a simple man and that Roy Keane is a moody bastard, would you disagree?

It's a generalisation, based on a public perception of their personalities which is to large extent controlled and who knows, to know them the opposite might even be true. All the same from what we know of them, I think it's a fair summation and I've read both "Keane the Autobiography" and "Captain Fantastic".

Mick is a practical person thinking about the realities of the situation he finds himself in and trying to get the best result possible. Keane is a winner who accepts nothing less than victory. Mick would make the best of a bad situation, Keane cannot stomach mediocrity.

It was unfair to see Mick pummeled by the media and everyone else this week. He didn't invent the Premier League and it's not his fault it's top heavy or that he had to go to Old Trafford three days after grinding out a win at White Hart Lane. The English said he was worse than Thierry Henry because at least Henry was trying to win. Practicality over single-mindedness.

Neil Warnock is still going on about Liverpool playing a weakened team against Fulham in 2007. What is never mentioned is that Warnock himself played a weakened team at Old Trafford himself that season and United too played a weakened team against West Ham in the last game of that season, a game the Hammers won sending Sheffield United down. No one dares to criticise Ferguson but it's always open season on easy targets like Benitez and McCarthy. Steve Coppell famously did his best not to qualify for Europe and just about succeeded the same season. It is unfortunate but undeniable that success has become a relative concept in the Premier League.

I'm stating the blatantly obvious here which does not make for interesting reading. That I feel the need to rebut such weak arguments from football's most eminent writers is a further indication of how boring and irrelevant football is becoming. It sold it's soul a long time ago while those with a vested or professional interest continue to deceive us (and probably themselves) into thinking that the romance is still alive. Mick McCarthy is neither sentimental nor delusional and never has been.

Arsene Wenger criticised Mick for bringing the integrity of the Premier League into question. The beauty of the Premier League is that it has no integrity. It doesn't care for local talent, fair play or level playing fields. It is survival of the fittest at a very base level. If you are big and strong you can devour the weaker teams but even the weaker teams are happy to take a beating once in a while as long as they live to fight another day.

Wolves are like Ireland in the EU, small fry but as long as we get a cut, we won't bother the big boys. Mick is a simple man and he has no illusions about Wolves becoming Kings of the Jungle. The Premier League is great not because any team can win but because survival and success is gained by the most efficient use of all resources available to a team over the course of the season. It forces everyone to think outside the box and try every trick in the book.

Occasionally this results in diving, cheating and submission but there's also the magic produced when there's no other way out, the sheer unpredictability of it all (I mean, let's face it the Wolves team that night and all the controversy that has followed was unforeseen), getting a result when you absolutely need it or not when it's absolutely expected, the euphoria of survival, financial ruin for those who don't and all of it happening at a hundred miles an hour.

That's why people love the Premier League. There are so many factors which dictate the outcomes, no one controls them and so we are always left guessing, questioning and most importantly of all, watching.

Celebrating One Year of the Blog by Writing in It.

To celebrate one full year of the blog, I am actually going to write something in it. I suppose it's a good example of how long I stick at something before quitting. Six months is consistent with other notions I've had over the years. Then it all just seems to tail off.

Have I learned anything from the year that was? Only that football can be a cruel game and that life is dreadfully unfair sometimes. Whether or not I learned it this year, I also realised that when you get knocked down, there is nothing for it but to get up, brush yourself down and drive on again. Was it Vince Lombardi who said that it's not about how hard you fall but how quickly you get back up?

Other things I've learned include:

1. It turns out that Stephen Ireland isn't all that good after all and we didn't need him to qualify for the World Cup;


2. The Limerick Hurlers are shit but then we knew that already. I don't think I'm even going to bother fooling myself into thinking they have a chance next year;


3. Getting a book published isn't all that easy;


4. Geovanni Trapatonni drinks whiskey straight, no ice;


5. Packie Bonner is huge in person (and also very cagey);


6. Paul McShane is sound, if a bit dodgey under a high ball;


7. People get genuinely offended when I slag off Munster Rugby;


8. Mark Foley is to Limerick hurling what Elin Nordregan is to Tiger Woods;


9. I was cheated into using Gillette shaving products, it's Wilkinson Sword for me from now. Two Blades, job done, no fuss, no lies;


10. The Robbie Keane debate is no closer to resolution;


11. Shane Warne made it acceptable (expected even) to burn the candle at both ends;


12. Being a substitute goalkeeper for a Championship side isn't all it's cracked up to be;


13. Face guards do work;


14. Clare U-21 hurlers showed that occasionally you get what you deserve;


15. If you get an opportunity and don't take it, it may not come around again;


16. Ireland will not be making a bid to host the 2016 European Championships;


17. Irish people like to whinge about injustice;


18. 5 a side soccer is awesome;


19. Andy Reid was fat after all and not just big boned;


20. The Irish taxpayer should not be paying Eamon Dunphy's wages (or anyone else's in RTE for that matter);
21. Darragh O'Sé did have one more season left in him;
22. Found out what the State of Origin is.

For all it's faults I do love sport, such as:

• Coming into work on a Monday morning and reading all the match reports from the weekend.


• Putting my heart and soul into Ireland qualifying for the World Cup and then being crushed when we didn't. To quote Lomdardi again: In great attempts it is glorious even to fail. I tend to agree.


• Watching Hurling matches.


• Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 (I miss you both terribly).


• Reading well written articles, reports and interviews or listening to good discussions.


• Tracking the progress of young players and seeing them make a breakthrough.


• Scoring goals.


• Surprising yourself with a defence splitting pass or bit of skill.


• Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.


• Being right about something or even pleasantly surprised when you're not.


• A fit Fernando Torres.


• The Munster Championship.


• Meeting people more obsessed with hurling and soccer than I am.


• Pucking ball just for the sake of it of an evening.
  

I don't know when I'll write on here again. I don't think it really matters but one thing is for sure, out of all the bullshit that surrounds us it's important to have a passion in life be it sport, writing or whatever you're having yourself so throw yourself into it, don't worry about what anyone else thinks and if you stick to your guns, it might just get you somewhere.

A Premier pasting!

A couple of years back when Tipperary and Limerick met in the Munster Championship in what became an epic trilogy at the end of which I remember thinking Jesus I hope we never meet these guys again. They were games that gave great hope to both sets of fans for the future it also cemented Richie Bennis status as a local hero. If anyone had told you that a couple of years down the line these two teams would meet again and there would be a 24 point gap between them you would laugh.

Yesterdays scoreline isn't a fair reflection on both of these teams Limerick are not this bad and Tipperary are not this good. Tipperary played very well as a team, they went against the old premier playbook of hitting high balls into the forwards and instead played possesion hurling with players like Pat Kerwick and Noel McGrath turning providers rather than taking pot shots from far out. This worked well but they will not have this kind of space against Kilkenny and the Cats will be far more physical then the Treatymen. As a unit the Tipp forwards were flawless Noel McGrath and Lar Corbett showed an almost telepathic link at times finding each other numerous times during the game.

The only worry was the the normally productive pairing of McGrath and Woodlock in the center of the park was anonymous yesterday but in truth they weren't needed. All day the Tipp half backs bypassed them and delivered straight to the half forwards who held possesion well and all six forwards contributed to the final scoreline.

Limerick on the other hand couldn't buy a point and they never seemed to settle, In the first 10 minutes they were very physical in defence but let themselves down by taking random shots from too far out rather than trusting themselves to take on the Tipp backs. Even on a day of such a hammering the old reliable Mark Foley never let his own high standards slip.

This was expected to be a game befitting of its stage and venue but in the end it was a whitewash that no one could have predicted. Limerick have improved in the last two years but when you look at the qualifying games they had to play Wexford, Laois and Dublin with the greatest of respect to these teams they are not top tier championship teams, yet.

Another positive Tipperay fans will take from the game was that Tipp kept up the intensity right to the very end and did not do their usual fading trick that saw them let big leads be slashed in previous games.

In the post match interviews Justin McCarthy was gracious in defeat and wished Tipperary well, You had to feel sympathy for the the man. He is probably the most experienced senior hurling manager in the country and a true gentleman. He has brought Limerick on since he took over. And as a manger he still has more to give, I don't think there should be any question over his future as Limerick banisteoir.

As for Liam Sheedy he too was gracious in victory. He paid credit to Limerick and stated they are better then what we saw. Next up Tipp's reward is to throw themselves in front of the Kilkenny 4 in a row juggernaut. It's the final that people have been predicting since last May and it should be a classic.