066-915 0530 || 
I am looking forward to two World Cups, cricket and rugby, coming up in the next year. I am also thinking of the German victory in this years soccer World Cup and of Saturdays game against the ‘Boks. George Hook’s words after the game ring in my ears, both his fulsome apology and his comments on where the game was won.
It was won on the pitch, yes, but more importantly it was won on a note pad a week or so before. There was a plan and the players stuck to the plan. The folks in the squad were picked to do a job, they were told the job and then they worked at it and won. As a Leinster fan I am used to seeing this from Mr. Schmitt. I remember commenting to a friend a few seasons ago when we were at our height, that it didn’t seem to matter when we had injury worries as it appeared that the guys who were standing in were able to take their place with out the team losing shape. There always seemed to be good planning and solid team work. I am told that that is what won the world cup for the Germans. Brazil and other teams had lots of stars, big names and celebs but the Germans had a team. Now this could turn into a rant about substance over form but I don’t think that that would be fair. There is plenty of substance to some of those star names and thinking of those springbok players, the last thing that they lack is substance! It is about what a team can do. Even though the Brazilians had all those star names, the Germans had a team. The Springboks have many big names in rugby and whilst we were missing many of our first line players we played as a team and showed that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. It reminded me of an evening eight years ago when I settled down to watch Ireland v. Pakistan in the cricket, just to see how much we would lose by, and saw a miracle. We had no big names, some of our team were still working as ‘sparkies’ and postmen but we beat the best players in the world! I suppose that’s why some people love sport, you never know what will happen. I love watching team sports because it speaks to me about what we can achieve when we work together, when we do what we can with others around us. I don’t care much for this X-Factor cult of the individual stuff, for me the real X-Factor is team work and togetherness.
No one is an island, entire and of themselves. Why else have people been remembering those who have passed away this month but to somehow acknowledge that we are all part of a team and that our field position was earned by players who have left the field for the benches. So let’s remember to play as a team and for the sake of those who will run on after us and those who are on the bench, lets make the most of our field position by working together.
Rev. Máirt, One wife, Two Rugby internationals to watch, Three children and Four months till the end of the Cricket world cup, ( it starts in February, Ireland’s first match is against the West Indies 10pm GMT Sunday 15th)
