Net users aim to log Duff on as top player

IRISH soccer star Damien Duff is favourite to be named as the best player in Europe in his position today.

The anticipated honour for the 23-year-old Dubliner can be partly attributed to an internet campaign by Irish football supporters throughout the world.

The next target for internet campaigners are the inflated prices being charged for alcohol in pubs and nightclubs.

The Blackburn Rovers winger is hotly tipped to be named as left-sided midfielder on the UEFA Team of the Year 2002, which will be announced this morning.

Seeing off tough competition from some of the games top stars, the diminutive terror of the touchline was just ahead running up to the close of voting last Friday evening.

Following the phenomenal success of the Wolfe Tones’ anthem ‘A Nation Once Again’ in a BBC poll for the world’s top tune late last year, Irish internet users flexed their patriotic muscles again by backing the World Cup star.

Challenged by fellow nominees in his position: Freddie Ljungberg of Arsenal and Sweden, Hasan Sas of Galatasaray and Turkey, Juan Valeron of Deportivo La Coruna and Spain and Zé Roberto of Bayern Munich and Brazil, getting through will be a tough task for the ‘Duffer’.

But if Duff wins, he looks set to join the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Michael Ballack and Clarence Seedorf in an all-star side.

Tallies in the past week showed that Duff and Seedorf were still ahead in the right and left midfield polls respectively, but their leads had been cut. Voting for the strikers and central defence positions were far tighter.

Currently being publicised via e-mail and the internet, ‘National Boycott of Pubs and Nightclubs Day in Ireland’, is scheduled for Friday, February 28.

The publicity material states: “Irish drinkers are being ripped off. What are you going to do about it?”

Campaign organisers say that prices for alcoholic drinks are a staggering 59% above the EU average, according to a major international study.

According to the campaign: “Irish pubs and nightclubs, especially those in Dublin, are churning out incredible profits. These profits, earned from the toil of the Irish consumer, can be explained by none other than total greed.”

“You have a choice. You can put up with this ludicrous profiteering and continue to whinge about prices being too high, or you can take action.

“It is about time the Irish consumer struck back.”