Stephen Hunt: People’s choice
At least that’s according to the FA who have turned down Nemanja Milijas’ appeal against his red card, the Wolves man harshly sent off by referee Stuart Attwell for a sliding tackle on Mikel Arteta in last Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at the Emirates. This was the decision which prompted the Wolves gaffer to remark: “Was it a red card? Not while I’ve got a hole in my bum.”
Stephen Hunt was also aggrieved about the card, charging Arsenal players had pressurised the ref into showing red.
“Players are clever, their reactions sometimes do not help the referee,” he said. “Every team does it, but we don’t do it and get punished. Maybe we should start doing it.”
On a quiet news day Hunt’s remarks were trumped up in some quarters as “controversial”, though it seems to me the dominant tone was altogether more resigned than inflammatory. The mini-media squall which ensued also overshadowed Hunt’s rare and refreshing support in the same interview for the oft-criticised ref.
“I like Stuart Attwell,” Hunt said. “He’s an up-and-coming ref and referees the best he can. I will take it on the chin if he makes a certain mistake. I make a mistake, and so can he. A lot of people criticise, but what are we going to do? We need up-and-coming referees, it is getting faster as well, so the fitter you are the better you should be. But everyone makes mistakes. I like Stuart, he’s always respectful on the pitch, always talking and learning the game as well.”
Maybe Mick McCarthy wouldn’t be quite so generous about the man in black but you can be sure he would defend his player’s right to say it. “He says things from the heart,” McCarthy tells Brenda Donohue in a new radio documentary about Stephen Hunt. “It’s not contrived. He says what he feels. That’s what I love about him.”
Your correspondent is one of the contributors to Never Say Die – The Stephen Hunt Story (Monday, 9am, RTÉ Radio One) but don’t let that put you off checking out an informative and intimate documentary which presents a fully rounded portrait of Hunt, not just as a professional footballer who defied the odds to get to the top, but also as a son, brother, husband and father.
It also helps explain why Hunt, though never nailed-on for a starting place in Trapattoni’s team, has reserved a special place in the affections of Irish football fans.
My own theory is that the Hunt’s all-action, wholehearted play effectively closes the gap between the stands and the pitch. In an era when many of the top players can appear remote and untouchable, superstars with no real emotional attachment to the lives of the people who watch them from behind the hoardings or perched on a barstool, the supporters clearly see something of themselves in Stephen Hunt. He may have more talent with a football than the vast majority of those looking on, but they all find it easy to relate to his passion, his patriotism, his workrate and, above all, his honesty. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Hunt shares those attributes with the erstwhile Boys From The County Reading. In common with Kevin Doyle and Shane Long, Hunt hails from a rural Ireland where gaelic games held sway in his youth. And, although now a seasoned professional with a privileged lifestyle, there’s still something of that old warrior spirit about the way he goes about his business, a feeling that, deep down, he is still playing sport for the sheer joy of doing something he loves. But he also understands that, in order to win – or even be in with a chance of winning — the minimum requirement is to give it everything you’ve got. The man they call Hunty always does that on the pitch and the Green Army loves him for it.
The title of Monday’s documentary – Never Say Die — is also a reminder Hunt has had to overcome some difficult hurdles to get from the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains to the dizzy heights of the Premiership, including being let go by Crystal Palace, the infamous Petr Cech incident in his first Premiership game for Reading and various injury setbacks. But he persevered and the rewards have been rich indeed, including that £40m goal for Wolves against Blackburn last season and, now, qualification for the Euro finals with Ireland.
The night Ireland secured the latter in Dublin, Hunt, with just the right balance of passion and perspective, recalls as the third-best experience of his life – after his wedding and the birth of his daughter. His wife Joanne speaks warmly about their relationship on the documentary, which also features contributions from Stephen’s father John, his uncle Tom and his footballing brother Noel, as well as fond and funny insights from Mick McCarthy, Steve Coppell, Giovanni Trapattoni, Kevin Doyle and John Delaney. I suspect people who have a caricatured view of Stephen Hunt as a court jester will need to review it after this. And I’m certain, after listening to this revealing account of his story, the many who liked him before will like him even more.
