haven’t had an entry in a while. been busy. honest. will get back 2 ‘livin' with seoul’ soon, but just felt the need 2 comment on the latest irish letdown. now i don’t mean 2 kick a country when it’s down, least of all my own country, & especially not when i’m sitting on the other side of the world avoiding its issues. but what the hell, i’m going 2. ireland just failed. failed again. the irish soccer team failed 2 qualify for the 2010 soccer world cup finals. now, i’m not blaming the irish soccer team; i accept that they gave it their all (even i could see that, watching the game as i was on-line via an intermittent connection @ 5am this morning in my apartment). & i also accept that they, all being said, just weren’t good enough. but what i don’t accept is the tolerance of failure that is inherent in irish society. we react 2 failure as if it were a success, & react 2 rare bouts of over achievement as if we won the competition we’re competing in, even when we invariably exit the event. italia '90, where we didn’t even win a (read one) game (officially @ least... penalties don't count), is the classic example. back then failure was expected, & any sort of achievement was anything but (expected, that is). so, the perceived 'success' of getting 2 the quarter finals of italia '90 without even winning a game (yes it's possible 2 do, as ireland proved) & the euphoria it created amongst the irish public ensured it was a once-in-a-lifetime, 'where-were-you-when?' kind of experience for those who were lucky enough 2 have lived through it, myself included. but that’s not the point here; the point is that italia '90 was probably the first time i realised how good, & tolerant, we as a nation are @ embracing failure, something we’ve done on a regular basis ever since. harsh? na, i don't think so. the latest failure has just materialised (the game has literally just finished) so as yet the media - that’s you rte - hasn’t as yet gotten around 2 posting its reports or pundit feedback, all of which i’ve no doubt will spin the same old lines: that we were ‘unlucky’ (which of course on this instance we were, but again that's not the point here), that we ‘deserved 2 win', that we all should 'be proud' & that we 'did well considering we’re such a small country’. maybe it’s because we’re so used 2 failure. i dunno. one thing is for sure; how ireland go about accumulating failures seems 2 make them all the more acceptable. how we failed this latest time - by beating france over 90 minutes in paris, something nobody predicted, & only loosing out on a world cup place thanks 2 an extra-time goal that shouldn't have even been allowed - will of course please those who are happy 2 settle for second best. but what about the rest, the minority? roy keane is/was one of them. he was chastised for saying this years ago, in the midst of another failure. but why? because he’s a winner? & because he wanted nothing more than 2 be just that - a winner - with his country? of course. on both counts. but he got nowhere. sounds familiar.
robbie keane. a legend. just like his team-mates.
