Roy Keane was right to speak out

international | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Wednesday November 09, 2005 20:49 by Kathy Sinnott

So should we

This week, I’m going to venture into uncertain waters by doing my first column on football and by having my say on the great Keano debate.

I was listening to a phone-in show the other evening in the car. The main topic of interest seemed to be Roy Keane. Roy had given an interview to his British club’s TV station. The station had then decided not to broadcast it because Roy had criticised his team-mates for not giving their all, for not being up to scratch. Most of the callers seemed to think that Keano was out of line, that it is an embarrassment to air your dirty laundry in public, that such matters are for the team meeting, not for the general public.

Interestingly, no one claimed his criticism was incorrect or misplaced, or defended the shoddy performance of the tam and some of the players. Callers just seemed to be saying that it was something Roy should bear in silence (at least in public).

This was not the first time this happened with Keane. In Saipan 2002 (World Cup), Roy said that the situation was intolerable, they were training on an unprepared field, often without the correct equipment. He said ‘No more!’ – that he and the team were not willing to tolerate it. He was right.

I believe that Roy Keane is a man of principle. A man who draws that line in the sand and takes that responsibility, someone who would never ask anyone to do something he was unwilling to do himself. The notions ‘Ah sure it will do’, ‘Stop whingeing’, ‘Who do you think you are, making demands’, ‘Keep quiet, you’ll only embarrass us’, ‘Keep up appearances, what will people think?’ – all these seem, from the criticism of the phone-in callers, to be a very common thing in Irish life.

But we should consider if these attitudes are obstacles to facing the problems in our health service, the problems created by the lack of government spending on care of its citizens. Is it part of why we are taking so long to develop a decent road and public transport system? How many of us think that if we ask, someone will say that we’re getting above ourselves or letting the side down?

And they will say those kinds of things, but so what?

When in my family, as children, we came rushing to my mother in floods of tears because of something someone called us or said about us, she would sympathise but remind us that ‘Sticks and stones may break your bones but words can never hurt you.’ I’m not convinced to this day that that formula is entirely true but there is a lot of truth to it. And hurt or not, if we are not willing to take the sting then we will not be able to get things said or done in the face of the inevitable disagreement or even hostility.

We were having a debate in the EU Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee on food additive labelling. I had made the point that in Ireland the Government adds fluoride to our water supplies. Fluoride is an additive and a very toxic one at that and I said that we should be forced to come clean by putting ‘flouridated water’ rather than simply ‘water’ on the label of anything that contains fluoridated Irish water. I pointed out that the Dutch held a referendum and amended their constitution to prevent their water from being fluoridated and if for no other reason than to be fair to them we should let them know that if they consume Guinness or an Irish-produced can of mushy peas they are consuming fluoride. I was pulled up by someone Irish right away for letting down Ireland. But this is the very attitude that allows unworthy, or in the case of fluoride, nasty and damaging practices to continue. They continue because they are unquestioned. They are unquestioned because so few know or are faced with the real situation.

No, it is important to call a spade a spade. And if we do, we might be surprised at the difference it can make. A few days after Keano’s interview, his team went out and beat champions Chelsea, and EVERY player played as if his life depended on it. If we want a team or a country that meets our expectations, we’re going to have to find a lot more Roy Keanes, or a little of Roy Keane in a lot more of us.

Now how ‘bout the Ireland job, Roy?