There was a man from Irish sport on BBC Radio Four this morning. He was talking about how abysmally Ireland has done in the Olympics and how well the British have done. He managed to squeeze in that the British hadn’t been doing so hot in the early 1990s, but that then a development programme had been put in place which was now reaping rich rewards. It was time, he said, that Ireland did something similar.
The instinctive reaction is to say “You betcha!” Fail to prepare, prepare to fail and all that. And yes, as the Radio Four interview mentioned, sporting success such as Britain is experiencing gives a boost to the whole national mood. People feel better about their country, their athletes, even themselves.
But should Ireland focus on producing elite athletes who’ll show the world a thing or two? My mind goes back to the Jordanstown campus of the Ulster University in the early Noughties. The swimming pool on that campus, which I used daily and which, among others, was used by local special needs schools, was to be axed. Cost too much. Despite our enraged campaign against it, the pool was closed. Meanwhile, facilities for elite athletes on the campus were developed.
The choice is clear: do you put your money into developing a system where the really talented athletes are given a chance to develop their full potential, or do you concern yourself with promoting sport as widely as possible in the community and the country?
Fact: one-third of British children are overweight or obese. Besides problems of self-image and social integration, fat people (no, Virginia, fat is a three-letter word) are more likely to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes – all the ills that flesh is heir to. In the south of Ireland, one in four primary school children are obese or over-weight.
But doesn’t Olympic success spark interest in the general public, particularly young people? Short answer: no. The London Olympics were sold on that argument and the legacy has been nowhere near what the likes of Seb Coe and Boris Johnson swore it would be. As in finance, having a few dazzlingly endowed sports guys at the top does not trickle down and create a surge of activity among the young.
Athletes, we know, don’t just engage in dedicated training. They are meticulous in their diet, knowing that what goes into their bodies will affect how they perform. Governments, meanwhile, leave it up to the junk food companies to engage in voluntary restraint – no legislation need be put in place. In 2010, in fact, it had McDonalds and Pepsi representatives helping them shape their policy. Predictably, it doesn’t work. Children keep ingesting the garbage.
Think about it for a minute: would we be better devoting funds and energy and imagination into encouraging sport of all kinds among our young children, and putting in place the facilities that allows all of them to partake and enjoy; or would we be better concentrating on a heady fortnight of Olympic Games, when our gilded best can strut and succeed on the international stage? Chauvinist show-boating suggests the latter; common sense demands the former.
Corruption played more than a little part in Irelands woes in Rio.
Not only Michael Conlans injustice at being robbed of a medal but on the other side of the fence with suspicions around ticket touting from apparently one of the most powerful names in sport here.
Perhaps the wages from some of these sporting bodies would be better spend in improving the sport facilities available to the public and making them more accessible to all.
Don’t be too envious of Britains medal success at these Olympics. Not many young people can spend thousands of pounds on sail boats,state of the art cycles and the various other equipment needed to be successful. I havnt yet seen any young person around my town performing triple twists from a horizontal bar, apart from the regular ‘athletes’ hanging around the local play park. But that doesn’t count as their triple twists are due to performing enhancing alcohol.
Btw, the Australian cyclists are suggesting Britain has discovered new technology, bike wise, that is allowing them to be very successful in these games and previous ones. Yip, the investment in the equipment is very important.
It’s about time GAA was incorporated into the Olympic Games, then we’d be sucking diesel!
I don’t see why we can’t do both Jude. Great sport facilities for all and a well funded elite athlete program. They go hand in hand as well as even the top level athletes were once beginners.
There’s a problem that many people seem to be happy to only watch sport. The British and Irish public are without doubt avid sport fans, but seem more reluctant to pick up a tennis racquet or join a judo club. I don’t blame the government for this as the facilities are for the most part there but people seem to only want to be spectators.
I would encourage everyone to try and take part in sport. Your really missing out if your just watching. Apart from the obvious health benefits, sport helps develops discipline and confidence. It also teaches how to deal with failure as all sports people have failed from time to time.
I’m one of those odd fish who don’t give a fiddler’s about the olympics and don’t worry too much about football or footballers either.It’s obviously a fault of genetics on my part ,that the “tribal gene” was missing from birth.So at the moment, the fact that wall -to-wall sport consumes the rest of humanity finds stony ground in my world . BBC 1…BBC2….BBC4…wall- to -wall sport. How can I put this? …I feel discriminated against by all of this sport. In fact I am being discriminated by it. Mostly it’s nothing to do with “sport” anyway. The commentary is all about jingoism, nation -pride and not the individuals at all…as if some chair-bound fatso watching TV should be allowed to share the glamour and vitesse of a trained and disciplined athelete. It’s bloody absurd really.Ludicrous. I’m all for keeping myself reasonably fit , walking as much as possible, active on various manual projects around the home, eating real proper food and imbibing an adequate quantity of liquid refreshment that contain wholly natural ,if alcoholic ingredients but I don’t assume that an athlete represents me at all…just as i don’t believe for a minute that an English football team from an English city is somehow “mine”.
Awk Harry don’t be a kill joy. Its only every four years after all. Many of us are having great fun watching the games.
Bah…Humbug!!!!
Shakespeare pinpointed the fourth of the seven ages of man, Esteemed Blogmeister, as involving the warrior-like tendency to ‘seek the bubble reputation even in the canon’s mouth’.
The Olympics Games are nothing if not Canon Mouth Central. And while Michael Conlan has come in for some negative comments from the predictably prissy quarters for mouthing off in a manner which invoked the name of Francis Fukuyama, in this instance he was refreshingly justified.
The acute American academic of Japanese extraction has astutely pointed out that ‘the desire for recognition’ is the ‘primary motor driving human history’, Thus when the normally astringent and stingingly elegant Michael Conlan lapsed into an uncharacteristic bout of coarse motor mouthing , one could plainly see Fukuyama’s dictum in action.
The problem here is not with the isolated verbal coarseness of Michael Conlan but with a much deeper malaise : that of the commonplace, all pervasive coarsening of Irish life in general. One has put to tune in to any of the broadcasting stations at random to get an earful of aggressive Anglo-Saxonisms, normally beginning with the sixth and ninth letters of the alphabet. The crass lass is now as ubiquitous as the rude dude.
The late, grating Gerry Ryan must take a lot of the posthumous kudos for this coarsening of the Eireland airwaves. Certainly south of the Black Sow’s Dyke. Cead mile failte to Vulgaria.
That one hardly notices it any longer makes this coarsening every bit as insidious as it is invidious. For, it devalues the whole worth of the coarse verbal outburst or riastradh. There are times when such coarseness is not only desirable, but vitally necessary, as Ireland’s balletic bantamweight showed.
A pity therefore the Moaning Minnies and the Anal-retentive Anthonys do not direct their pique at the daily dross of radioland in the laughingly self-regarding ROI . Less talk in the form of guff-stuff (needlessly repeated across a tsunami of tsations) and more music might be a start. Music in the sense of harmony, rhythm and above all, melody. Dare one say it, even a revival of the much despised soundtrack of ‘easy listening’.
Is it a mere coincidence that the glory days of such Olympic heroes as Teofilio Stevenson, Nadia Comaneci and Wilma Rudolf coincided with the background sounds supplied by the orchestras of Mantovani, Percy Faith and Bert Kaemfert ?
Nowadays we get empty athletic stadia (for athletics – even standards are sinking too in ticket touting ) and instead of Percy, Bert and Manto the airwaves are clogged with cacophony for the cloth ear, courtesy of classified charlatans like a mountebank from Monto to Bono and Bob, sir.
If we are witnessing the demise of the Olympic games, we at least in Ireland still have the (gulp) GAA to cling to. Even if one wonders, for how long, given the low intensity war of attrition being relentlessly waged against it by the ‘national’ media. This is the same media whose sporting default consists of the (alleged ) Premier League with its Merchandise Utd and its Mercenary City.
Yet, as recently as last Sunday, there was an utterance of a sporting epigram which can be only described as Shakespearean in its execution.
Coincidentally, it occurred in the canon mouth of Croke Park, in the goalmouth under the Davin Stand, and was uttered by (gulp) John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer of Team Tipperary. It came in the form of a game-changer of a goal.
It was of such sublimity – the angle, the pressure, the wrist , the eye – that the Great Shakes would assuredly have given his thumbs up, indeed thrown his sweaty night cap itself into the very air, if his ghost could but drag himself away long enough from his beloved bull-baiting. It was an apt way for the four-province sporting association to honour the 400th birthday of the Immortal Bard.
It would not be the first occasion that Tipperary South and Shakespeare have cross fertilized. Pistol in Henry V mentions a song called ‘Callino custurame’ – a garbled version of a catchy Leprechaun song current in London of the time:
-Cailin cois tSuire me / The Darling girl of Suirside.
But, of course, the Olympics were as connected to the bonny Suirside as Shakespeare himself. Carrick-on-Suir’s Maurice Davin, apart from being a co-founder of the GAA, held a number of world athletic records in the 1880s. Dual Olympic gold medalists Dr. Pat O’Callaghan, (hammerthrowing champ, Amsterdam, 28, Los Angeles, 32) worked his days as a GP in Clonmel.
Indeed, one has a pleasant memory of spending an interesting afternoon with the Doc in February 1980. Afterwards one dropped into the offices of the Clonmel Nationalist in the hope of scrounging a good snap of the Homeric Olympian. One was not disappointed.
What one did not realise was that the helpful lady photographer of the newspaper was harbouring a secret which was only revealed to the nation the following week. That was the discovery of the Derrnaflan Chalice the previous week – she was the photographer who was sworn to secrecy till the National Museum had conducted the necessary study.
Thus, by a commodious vicus of recirculation does one return to …John ‘Bubbles ‘ O Dwyer . He was born the same year as Michael Conlan, and within a poc fada / long puck of Derrynaflan. It wasn’t only a chalice that was found on that auspicious occasion but also a paten which is a sort of ecclesiastical plate. Oddly enough, a self-deprecatory Bubbles claimed the pass for his goal was handed to him on a – plate.
If so, and such was the sublime nature of his goal, a score for the ages, then no less a plate than the Derrynaflan paten itself would have sufficed.
If John “Bubbles’ O Dwyer helps to bell the Cats of Kilkenny on the first Sunday of September there will be no need to compose a song in honour of his Shakespearean skill with a curved stick. That would be equivalent to re-inventing the wheel. The song already exists:
-Sean O Duibhir a Ghleanna.
To conclude on a note Olympian: this afternoon another Suirsider will be be competing for Ireland’s first medal on the track since Los Angeles 1932. That will be Thomas Barr who will be trying to emulate Bob Tisdal in ‘seeking the bubble reputation even in the canon’s mouth’ by winning the 400 m hurdles.
One would like to wish him well, but one will desist, for fear of putting the mockers on him.
Tiocfaidh a la, bealach amhain no bealach eile.
Indeed I am very surprised the free state media hasn’t blamed the GAA for the Irish Olympic teams poor display. After all if our youth weren’t being preoccupied with the bogball we could have had gold medal volleyballers etc on the podium by now!
Jude, you mention the British concentration on elite sports people, and the money and expertise which has miraculously enhanced their collection of Olympic medals.
But the cynic in me wonders if money and training can wreak such an improvement honestly.
The British and American cold war against Russia, blaming the state for drugging all their athletes, has certainly nobbled their efforts to bring home much of a haul of medals.
But apart from the Russians, and one silly Irish boxer, do you ever remember such a ‘clean’ Olympics?
Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but I’m not aware of any other athlete having tested positive – even the English cyclist Lizzie Armistead who missed three drugs tests but was still declared clean to compete.
Something stinks in the whole set-up, with authorities determined to show the gullible world how clean every country is – except the bad Ruskies!
I wonder how long we’ll have to wait for information to come out in public.
I remember waaaaay back, a Canadian guy call Ben Johnson, I think, won the 100 metres. But then ooops – failed a drugs test. Ignominy. That was around 30 years ago…
Sherdy, the whole set up has a whiff about it. Firstly all countries are tasked with administrating their athletes’ individual doping tests, hence the Russian doping agency getting blamed for their ‘scandal’. However what a lot of folk don’t realise is that several prominent countries cease testing their athletes in the six months leading up to the games eg Brazil and Jamaica cough cough, which can leave a window of opportunity for those who want to take illegal substances. Added to that we had a Kenyan official offering, at a cost of £10000, information to athletes about when the authorities would be carrying out their tests.
Btw, it matters little if the English girl who missed her 3 mandatory tests was declared clean to take part in these games. The fact is she dodged the tests and the suspicion is she had to dodge them until the drugs had left her system. Remember Rio Ferdinand? He missed his tests although when he was eventually tested he was ‘clean’ too.
One other thing, competitors from various countries are raising their eyebrows at Britains cyclists persistent successes at this Olympics and the previous Olympics. The question they are asking, how is it that these same cyclists are poor at other events eg world championships and yet seem unstoppable when it’s the Olympics? Has Britain suspended its dope testing in the lead up to these games too? I wonder, one things for sure, it won’t be a Bolt out of the blue if more doping scandals are revealed in the future………..especially once they have reached their sell by date and their marketability has been exhausted.
“Think about it for a minute: would we be better devoting funds and energy and imagination into encouraging sport of all kinds among our young children, and putting in place the facilities that allows all of them to partake and enjoy; or would we be better concentrating on a heady fortnight of Olympic Games, when our gilded best can strut and succeed on the international stage?”
Cant we do both?….What’s the point of Ireland even competing in the Olympics or other International Sports Tournaments if our Athletes aren’t given the best tools to do the job by our Government?
Its called the “Olympic Games” but the reality is its not a Game, it’s deadly serious. Nations reputations are on the line, hence the great temptation for Nations to bribe officials, drug their Athletes, etc I’ll be honest I’m embarrassed and angry by Ireland’s performance at the Olympic Games but much of that was due to corruption, as we saw in Michael Conlan, Katie Taylor and Paddy Barnes fights, and God knows in what other sport that we haven’t heard of yet. I’m not angry at the Athletes, I’m more angry at the lack of drive and determination from our own people/government to win medals. I can only speak for myself but I’m inspired by Sports and so is children in my family who watched the Olympics, the Euros, etc. Ireland’s boxers is our most prized asset and I’m certain if any of our boxers won a Gold Medal it would inspire young people to get into boxing. The same goes for other sports. Winning at International tournaments can only be a good thing. There’s a mural along the Falls Road of Michael Conlan when he won a Bronze at London 2012.
This is obviously just my own personal view, but I would rather have an Irish National Soccer Team that was on par with the likes of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, etc rather than have Ireland win 100 medals at the Olympics. Roy Keane exposed how the FAI was running the Irish National squad in 2002, how it was underfunded, how the training was in Keanes words “an absolute joke”. When Keane told Alex Ferguson he said it was a “Disgrace”. Keane even said “you were lucky to even get a Tracksuit, and that’s no exaggeration, there were African National Teams better funded than the Ireland Team was and we were preparing for a World Cup!”.
Now things have certainly improved in recent years for the Irish National Soccer Squad (Thanks to Keane) but there’s many things that could still be done that would enhance the squad. More funding and better facilities would make a big difference, especially investment in training more talented youth players. I know money isn’t everything but its very important, Iceland proved that in Euro 2016 when they reached the Quarter Finals. Iceland before hand was a team maybe a bunch of lads from the Falls Road could beat in a game but not anymore. Since there has been significant investment in the Icelandic Squad their fortunes have improved greatly.
If we’re not going to invest in our Athletes, our National Soccer Team, etc then we shouldn’t enter tournaments, its as simple as that. Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail….and that’s exactly what Ireland has been doing in Soccer and most Sports at the Olympics: Failing……but we can change that if we want to……