Keane pointing out the reality
While Michael Clifford’s retort to Keane was considered and accurate in many places, it does not do justice to the legitimacy of Keane’s argument.
Irish football supporters have waited ten years to witness their team at a major championship finals, only for the players to capitulate. While the Irish supporters once again lifted the spirits of the nation after a depressing performance by those on the field, Keane was clearly aggravated by the Irish players and FAI officials who waxed lyrical about the fans rather than focus on the shortcomings of the team and the enormous difficulties facing Irish football culture in general.
Those who have decried Keane’s criticism should remember his railing against the ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ corporate-box element at Old Trafford. In essence, Keane is highlighting the same problem. For a large section of both sets of supporters the football was merely incidental and provided little more than a colourful backdrop to a social gathering. For those such as Keane who live and breathe the game of football and were nurtured on the game, the sight of thousands of people calling themselves ‘football supporters’ but seemingly detached from the on-pitch proceedings must be a particularly alien experience.
Some commentators such as Eamon Dunphy have lauded the Irish football supporters for extolling all the best virtues of Irishness at the European Championships, laughing in the face of adversity. While this may be true to an extent, it does not justify them cursing the name of Keane, a man who did more than most to raise Ireland’s lowly standing in international football. Consuming large amounts of alcohol and singing songs about the Famine is hardly a new way of dealing with failure in this country.
David Levy
Passage
West Cork
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