A friend of mine recently sent me a series of YouTube videos of Irish football fans abroad and on the lash. I’ve always been rather sceptical about our self-proclaimed notion that we are the greatest fans in the world – after all, self praise is no praise at all.
W e are living in strange times. Angry times. It’s a weird period in our history where it often feels as if all the old rules of civilised behaviour and reasonable engagement have been discarded and the mob has now decided that it has the right to do whatever it wants and woe betide anyone who disagrees with it, its actions or behaviour.
There was a time when people who pay attention to American politics looked at any forthcoming presidential election with a sense of excitement. That’s because they do things bigger there – from portion sizes to sporting events and awards ceremonies, everything appears to come with an extra dash of razzmatazz that seems rather alien to those of us who live in the more formal and stuffy countries of Europe.
Since Stephen Kenny was finally put out of his misery back in November, the Republic of Ireland men’s team has been without a replacement. Initially, there was no consternation. Kenny was a decent man who tried his best – but, ultimately, his best wasn’t good enough.
“One is too sick and the other is too mad.” It seems a fairly accurate summation of the current American presidential election, which veers from the grotesque to the unprecedented to the unbelievable. American politics, it appears, is having its own gubu moment.