The Stephen Ireland thing
By Donal "Chris Biggins" Cullen
Mentioning the name Stephen Ireland (or even referring to him as Stephen Manchester) in and around this site and the YBIG forum is guaranteed to get you in a whole lot of trouble almost as much as saying you want England to win the next World Cup. The subject is basically taboo and while there are people within the forum who will talk about it there are others that get extremely annoyed at the mention of the Cork youngster. This is understandable as, I think it is fair to say, he has let his country down very badly. There are some who think the country has let him down with the pettiness of arguments that have surrounded him since he opted not to play for us for the foreseeable future. Whatever the merits of such arguments and the heated passions that have surrounded this individual there is one thing most people can agree on – he is an extremely talented footballer and he should be playing for us. The fact that he is not is the subject of this blog.
Now let me say from the outset that I am one of those who get extremely annoyed at the very mention of these players and have written several posts which have made my views clear. There are others on the forum who have admirably defended the man and his decisions and, yet, there are others still who think the very mention of him should be banned altogether. But that is the points of a forum. All shades of opinion get to be aired and the ensuing debate gets up somewhere. But not with this issue as it has stalled on the same old arguments. I don’t intend to bring up all the stuff again and equally have stayed clear of turning this into a rant piece – I have taken a pill and sipping on a cuppa tea as I write J.
Despite a tiff with previous Ireland boss Brian Kerr, 19-year-old Stephen Ireland was drafted into Stephen Staunton’s first squad as Ireland boss. Ireland made a good start to Staunton’s reign when they beat Sweden 3-0 and Stephen Ireland made his debut, coming on as a sub in the second half. By the time he won his second cap, things had gone badly pear shaped for Staunton with a 2-5 defeat in Cyprus. There were few to emerge from that debacle with credit but one of those who did was Ireland who scored his first goal just before the rot set in. Another goal followed in another dreadful display in his third cap when he got the winner against San Marino in injury time to save all concerned from embarrassment. He made it three goals in three games when he scored against Wales in the first every soccer game at Croke Park. His fifth cap was again at Croke Park when Slovakia were beaten 1-0. The games that would decide Ireland qualification or not for Euro 2008 were the two away ties in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in four days of September 2007. As an important member of the side Ireland was in the squad for both games. He played and scored again in the 2-2 draw with Slovakia but while Irish eyes turned toward the Czech match, Grannygate forced him to return home and never to don the green shirt again.
Basically, Stephen Ireland approached manager Stephen Staunton and told him that his granny had died and he would have to return home. Despite his poor record as Ireland boss, Staunton had an understanding of what it was like to combine football with family matters and immediately agreed that he should go home. The FAI, equally understanding, chartered a private jet to bring him home under apparently tragic circumstances and nobody would argue that family was more important then football.
However, it then emerged that his maternal granny was alive and well and questions began to be asked. Ireland said it was his other Granny but further research reveled that she too was still on the right side of the grass and now curiosity began to turn to anger. Ireland was cornered and admitted the truth that his girlfriend Jessica had in fact mis-carried and wanted him home. She apparently even invented the story of the dead Granny to get him there. Naturally Stephen Staunton was annoyed but it says much for him as a man manager that he refused to criticize the player. Not so Ireland’s Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson who had dropped him for the following Saturday’s match and was livid. Ireland certainly dug himself in a hole with a string of lies but not too deep as not to be able to extract himself from and play again for both club and country with everything forgotten.
Ireland emerged to become a better player for Manchester City but despite requests from Irish managers and players he would not consider a return to play for Ireland. This despite a plea from his club and country captain Richard Dunne who assured him that there was no hard feelings and it would be best if he came back sooner rather then let it drag on. But it did drag on and on and despite pleas from players and managers he has remained steadfast in his unwillingness to come back into the country fold. The speculation is that he was bullied by his Irish team mates but this does not hold up to much scrutiny (like the Granny story) as he would be subjected to as much if not more of the same from his club mates. Steve Finnan was recently quoted as saying that Ireland would welcome him back and that “players and manager want him back.” There is no doubt that he would suffer some backlash if he came back but nothing he couldn’t get over when he gets a few games under his belt. He presumably knows this so what is the main reason? I think it has to do more with family then football.
My wife, God bless her, works as a nurse in labour and delivery in the local hospital and when she saw me getting angry at the telly one day while watching football she asked me why. None of my teams were playing so her enquiry was valid. I turned to her and pointed to Stephen Ireland playing for Man City and said “because of that prick!” Ireland was having a great game for City and had set up all three goals and I was annoyed he was not doing it for us. Now any of us who have non-football supporting wives or girlfriends will know the conversation does not end there and begins to drag with a series of questions no matter how much you try to explain that you are trying to watch football. So, in the end, I told her the whole sorry story and she came up with a different take on the whole situation.
One of the area’s my wife specializes in is post-delivery care. She, at one time, wanted to concentrate on care for women who suffered still births or miscarriages as there is absolutely no help there at all. You come in to have a baby, you have one and the care kicks in. You don’t have one and you are sent on your way. The fact that these mothers-to-be who suffer the misfortune of not having a baby need possibly more help, psychology, is overlooked and what concerned my wife. So when I related the story of Stephen Ireland and his girlfriend Jessica she focused on Jessica.
Imagine, if you will, the expectant mother being rushed to hospital to discover that her baby is dead and then being sent back home. She phones the father to tell him and she wants him home. She is alone, afraid and not in a fit state to do anything. The general course of things is that these poor women are told to get on with it and they try to. But with her boyfriend abroad she can’t and wants him home. In tears she probably told him to make up the story of his granny and this got him home. Despite what you think of the lies, it is obvious family come first and Ireland was at home with his girlfriend when the news broke. It started a whole series of reactions which probably led to his girlfriend and him making the decision that they would never get into that situation again and that would mean not playing for his country again. That coupled with the anger he and his girlfriend must have felt at that time left Ireland with little option but to turn his back on his country.
I think all of us would agree that family comes first in all things and who knows what we would have done in similar circumstances had our partner rang us at work wanting us home because we had lost a child. My wife says the there is a lack of understanding of what an expectant mother goes through with the loss of a baby during pregnancy and it can be a very emotional time. She equated it to our 6 year old getting sick and being brought to hospital (which happened). She asked me would I have stayed at work when she phoned me about it and I said no. I even lied to my boss in that my daughter had a severe ear ache but I said she was getting sick. The fact is, like Ireland, I didn’t have to lie but felt that I needed to. Unlike Ireland however I came back to work.
Since that day, Ireland has emerged as one of Manchester City’s star players and had things turned out differently could be one of Trappa’s key players also. But despite repeated pleas from team mates and manager he has refused to make himself available for selection. Speculation about this is rife but as Richard Dunne said to him the longer it drags on the worse it will get. And it has. So much so that we have turned our backs on him like he has done to us.
The simple fact is that if he looked at the situation he would find that it is not all bad. Sure he does himself no favours by parading around with angel winged tattoos, strangely decorated cars, superman underwear and various hairstyles and he must resent all this intrusion into his private life but the fact is he brought all this on himself. The Grannygate story was clearly a mistake but we are all human and prone to errors but also forgiveness. If Stephen Ireland did make himself available for selection once again for Ireland and was called up for a game sure there would be much critism and argument about his merits and the player he would replace. There might even be a bit of booing and the like when he was playing for us but we are, in truth, much more forgiving then he seems to give us credit for. Right now he is in a no-win situation as regards playing for his country but he needs to put that behind him and get back to playing for his country. After he does that and has a few games under his belt the whole sorry situation will be forgotten.
Meanwhile players like Kevin Kilbane, Shay Given, John O’Shea and others will continue to turn up for us and because they do they do not get the coverage that a player like Ireland gets when he doesn’t bother. But like all the players before, now and in the future who have played for us we will get behind them and hope they give of their best for us. And when they hit misfortune, like David Langan, they will still have our backing. And so it will be for Stephen Ireland when or if he ever plays for us again.
