West Indies build again after days of empire

Look back 100 years this summer, and Wexford were approaching the football championship with a mind to claim their fifth straight All-Ireland title.

There was a time when the Arctic tundra of Finland, not the plains of East Africa, served as the breeding ground for the world’s best distance runners and it’s only a generation or so since the West Indies were the dominant force in world cricket.

Things change. Empires vanish into the dust.