Thinking of America

I’m sure I speak for most people when I say that events in America have made football seem rather unimportant these past couple of weeks. I was driving back from seeing some friends of mine in Sheffield when the news broke on Radio Five Live, and just couldn’t believe what was happening.

Once I’d got my head around it, all I wanted to do was get home and give my wife and kids a big hug. How can humans do that to other humans? Forget about us – what sort of world are my children, and their children, going to be brought up in if people have that much hatred for each other?

I’ve done a lot of work for Marsh, the insurance company, which is represented here by a lovely man called David Kearn. I rang him the other day to see how their people in New York were and he said that 300 of them were missing, presumed dead. Hearing that really brought the enormity of the loss home to me.

The other thing I’ve been touched by is the bravery and selflessness of the rescue workers. When I was over in New York for the World Cup, another Dublin friend of mine, Frank Moynihan, got one of his NYPD connections to bring my wife and kids round the harbour in a police launch. I was still with the squad so I didn’t get to go, but they treated my family to one of the best days ever. When you hear that cops and firemen have been killed trying to help other people, well, it makes you feel very humble.

Overall, I think football’s response to the tragedy was about right. You can argue the toss about Tuesday’s Champions League games – I switched Liverpool v Boavista off at half-time because, well, it was garbage – but playing on the Wednesday when the extent of the casualties was known, would’ve been wrong.

As was the criticism leveled at certain individuals following the weekend’s Premiership programme. Once the lads had been asked to play, it was their duty to give 100% concentration and effort. Roy Keane is where he is today because of the way he applies himself on the pitch. He knows himself that it was a bad sending off, but to portray him squaring up to Alan Shearer as being disrespectful to those who died in the United States is totally unfair. If they don’t want you to play the way you always play, fair enough, leave it a month. Those ‘Keano Is A Disgrace’ and ‘Football’s Day Of Shame’ headlines were written by journalists, who by being there in the press-box, were saying “it’s business as usual.”

What was disrespectful was PSV Eindhoven blaming their 4-1 defeat at Nantes on their players being upset, and demanding a replay. I’m sorry but that’s a cheap shot.

Something else that beggar’s belief was UEFA’s insistence on Rangers having to play in Dagestan. Fair play to their midfielder, Barry Ferguson, for going: “No, I’m not prepared to compromise myself, my wife and my young child by playing in what’s virtually a war zone.” I thought Rangers got it spot on when they said to UEFA: “We’ll only travel there if one of your top officials comes with us.” That’s when they changed their bloody minds and agreed to a neutral venue!

While I really do think it was a lame excuse for PSV Eindhoven to come out with, I remember John Aldridge being so affected by the Hillsborough disaster that he had to withdraw from an Ireland game. In fact, all the Anfield lads I knew were shattered by the tragedy, which tore right at the heart of the community. It’s to Liverpool Football Club’s credit that, rather than turning up once or twice and then leaving the supporters to it, they went to the funerals and comforted the families. As a player, it was amazing to see the reaction you got just from visiting someone.

The power of football is incredible, which is why so many politicians are suddenly professing to being a life-long supporter of this or that team. I was amazed to hear the other day that Bertie Ahern had been a pundit on RTE’s Saturday night football, but he’s actually very knowledgeable about the game.

While it’s a lovely concept, I think it’s a bit naïve to say that sport and politics don’t mix. Hopefully it won’t arise, but if, say, Iraq were to qualify for the World Cup while at the same time the international community decided that they were sponsoring terrorism, you’d have to stop them participating. My heart would go out to any 22 players who deserve to be there but can’t because a certain individual’s running their country. But I think there are times when decisions of that kind have to be taken.

The World Cup’s been fortunate in that, unlike the Olympics, it hasn’t been affected in the past by boycotts or, indeed, the sort of terrible incidents they had in Munich and Atlanta. Even if things are quiet between now and next summer, making sure all the teams in Japan and Korea are safe is going to be a security nightmare. I also wonder how many supporters will stay away because they’re frightened of a terrorist group using the finals to stage some sort of spectacular atrocity.

More immediately, there has to be a question mark over whoever finishes runner-up in our group travelling to Asia for the play-offs. Personally, I’d be very reticent at the moment about getting on a plane to Saudi or Baghdad.

Which is why I totally understand the Americans wanting to postpone the Ryder Cup. Not only is it unfair for them and their families to have to go through that sort of worry, but the rivalry has become so intense that having the US and Europe at loggerheads like that wouldn’t be right, in the prevailing circumstances.

Right now, though, my thoughts are with those who died or lost a loved one last week in America. You have to hope that out of those terrible, terrible events, something positive will emerge. But you can’t ever bring back to life those who were killed.