I was browsing through an old video tape the other day when I happened upon a programme of local show, ‘Season Ticket’. It was a programme from last year, when the show still had some decent content relative to Norn Iron football fans. If you remember last year there was always a round up of local soccer games and they generally showed every game. Nowadays the programme is a whole ‘mish mash’ and rarely has little to do with the local soccer scene, although they generally manage to get some ‘Irish’ rules football, attended by one man and his dog, onto the programme. Take last week for example, the producers in their infinite wisdom decided to highlight ex-Manchester United ‘hatchet man’, Roy Keane and his progress as manager of English side Sunderland. Now can someone tell me what relevance this has to local soccer fans? Did Roy Keane in earlier years star for one of our local sides; I would even consider Derry City in this instance. The answer of course is no, Roy went straight from a Cork junior side to English football and his only tenuous link with Norn Iron fans being the fact that he played for Manchester United, before finishing his career at Glasgow Celtic, both of whom have fan bases in Norn Iron. To say that Roy was vilified by Norn iron fans, as he played for the International team they ‘love to hate’, the Republic of Ireland (or to give them their proper name, Eire), would be to make a gross understatement. I can’t really speak personally on this matter, as I didn’t watch the programme, so I can’t comment on its content. But what I will say is, I as a Norn Iron fan, out of principle didn’t watch it and found it to be in bad taste considering the recent sacking of a real Norn Iron hero, English born Ian Dowie. Ian has contributed much more to the enjoyment of local fans in his short career, than Roy Keane ever could. But to get back to my watching of the old video tape, two former Norn Iron heroes, the legendary Pat Jennings and Sammy McIlroy, were discussing among other things, the notion of naming our new National Stadium after George Best. One of the points raised was whether it would go down well with the other Sports involved, Rugby and the Gaelic crowd. But Sammy and big Pat both made the point that George was a real hero and no matter where or in what company you mentioned his name, people all over the world would know who you were talking about. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could ever say the same about Roy Keane!
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