It rallies us, it riles them, it can only be the fields of Athenry
I slowly lay the newspaper onto a cafe table, shake my head and say it again: wow. Martin Samuel is someone who I’ve often watched, with bald admiration, do the same job as I — but on a different level. He’s interrupted my mid-morning coffee many times.
This week his piece had me shaking my head for a new reason however. At the fag end of a 2,500-word column, which revolved around the risible soap operas of John Terry’s armband and Gerard Houllier’s ‘lucky scarf’, Britain’s Sportswriter of the Year spat a few hateful insults over his shoulder as he walked away from the remains of England’s Grand Slam dream.
“It came as something of a surprise to pick up the newspapers on Monday and discover what really inspired Ireland’s Six Nations victory over England at the Aviva Stadium: hatred,” he wrote.
“Andrew Trimble, the Ireland wing, let this slip, describing a rallying call from lock and most recent Lions captain Paul O’Connell prior to the game. ‘I always love listening to him during England week,’ Trimble said.
‘We wanted to get everything right technically, but we also wanted to use our physicality, our intensity, just a real hatred. We never get sick of beating England; that is why we enjoyed the win so much. There’s a lot of history there.’ “Indeed there is. Like the European Union’s £73.7billion bailout for the failing Irish economy last November, that could end up costing British taxpayers in the region of £6.07bn.
“Not many songs about that on Saturday, though, just the usual one about prison ships, prison walls and a terrible famine that took place 160 years ago yet is still thrown in the face of every visitor in an England shirt.
“Maybe next time Martin Johnson visits he could give a rousing and equally relevant speech before the game based on vengeance for all the little kiddies abused by Ireland’s paedophile priests. Or is it only the English who have entries in the history books of which their modern descendants might be ashamed?”
This is a different level of sportswriting — but I’m not craning my neck to view great work here. And Samuel is capable of great work. He can paint a scene, leave you laughing, build a convincing argument, break stories. Grit and the oyster, the complete package.
Yes Martin Samuel is an honourable man, Romans. This, however, leaves you confused by his rage. It’s like we’ve provoked a bar-stool bore into a venom-filled rant of non-sequitors.
Much like the Skibbereen Eagle warned the Kaiser in the early 20th century that the little newspaper would keep an eye on his activities from West Cork — I asked the Daily Mail this week if Samuels would discuss this piece with me. If I’m to write a column about one of the behemoths in the press room front row, a right of reply is a given. No reply was forthcoming — maybe he’s paid by the word.
So we’re forced to pick over the stinking carcass of this diatribe alone. Firstly, Andrew Trimble was speaking — clearly — about the history between the two sets of players and rugby-playing nations. To think he was alluding to the burning of Cork or Cromwell’s genocidal road-trip is, frankly, either idiotic or disingenuous. I’m sure Trimble is less interested in labels than I, but it’s clear that of all those in the Irish camp, the Ulster man is not one most prone to a Fenian outlook.
Secondly — the segue into the middle England whinge about the bailout... where does one start? A European-wide loan to Britain’s most important trading partner is no real shame to the ordinary people sitting in Lansdowne Road.
Who knew Samuels was so sensitive about the Fields of Athenry — a popular folk song? If its lyrics cause him such offence, he should know that none was intended. The song — and this is despite whether you like it or not — is sung at almost all major sporting events here, be it a Munster game, a soccer match, whatever.
It is certainly not a critique of the English people — and those welcomed to Dublin last weekend — as he seems to believe. Frankly, it never occurred to me that it might be a bit gauche of us to sing it in their presence. I’m surprised however, that someone who sits in the soccer grounds of England every weekend, tap-tap-taping on his laptop while supporters sing lustily of plane crashes, stadium disasters and serial killers would be so offended by a song about famine.
He must really hate that song though. For someone to be so moved to urge his national team manager to make a speech about paedophiles — or pin the Ferns Report on the Aviva Stadium dressing room wall — is, well, extreme.
No matter where I go in this game, if I ever wrap up a column with a sentence which is trite as it is vile, I’ll know it’s time to hand in the notepad and League of Ireland press pass. What a shame he wasted such ink and talent on this myopic, ungenerous rant. I thought he was better than that.
- Contact: adrian@thescore.ie
Twitter: @adrianrussell
