Pat Dolan Column: How Taoiseach Simon Harris could learn from Declan Rice after apparent FAI snub
Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, attended Saturday’s Nations League game against England with Taoiseach Simon Harris.
A picture tells a thousand words.
Keir Starmer, the English Prime Minister, is all about fresh starts. He was delighted to travel to meet with Taoiseach Simon Harris at Farmleigh House, pose with jerseys and talk about new beginnings and better relationships.
In the picture taken at Farmleigh, they swapped jerseys. Simon Harris gave the English leader the special gift of our special green jersey.
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In politics, just like in life and football, relationships are absolutely central to our world.
If you want to get things done, it’s a hell of a lot easier doing it together. And that’s why another picture on such an important day told me a troubling story.
On a day when both the leaders of our country and England were sitting together at this match, it was so noticeable, disappointing and sad that the President of the FAI Paul Cooke and our Taoiseach were not sitting side-by-side.
When you have got visits like this, with such huge security, everything is planned.
So in an era when the FAI and the Government have had such a toxic relationship, it is beyond my belief that on Saturday it was the English Taoiseach and not Harris that was sitting next to Paul.
That is deeply worrying. Amidst all the banter and the swapping of jerseys, Keir Starmer is a leader who, in every sense, supports football.
He regularly attends English top league football as an avid Arsenal fan.
How different it is for us, when we have Simon Harris and so many Irish politicians who are so often absent on the big football days and yet are never missing from Croke Park.
It is hard to reflect on the difficulties facing Irish football, particularly after watching an England team without some of its best players show themselves to be on a different level to the current Irish team.
Thirty years ago when Ireland were flying high in the FIFA rankings, well above England, a match between the two teams was a toss-up.
Thirty years of mismanagement, neglect and governments ignoring our biggest sport mean that now when Ireland play England, like they did at the Aviva, it’s almost like we are a local amateur side looking for a big miracle shock in a cup competition.
Simon Harris and Keir Starmer talk all about equality, about building relations and making things better.
Yet we are led to believe that the current government, on this massive day for Irish sport, would rather put the English leader between our Taoiseach and the FAI President.
The visuals are appalling.
All the young boys and girls that dream of pulling on the green jersey, of becoming little magicians who can one day live out their dreams of playing in World Cups and European Championships, need support and help. They need facilities.
And they need a government that is going to choose to be proud to be associated with the beautiful game.
On Saturday Simon Harris - a very capable politician who is aware of every photo and PR opportunity - should have been sitting next to the FAI President.
Football needs help. Football needed Harris to be sitting with Paul Cooke, showing the country and all the millions of Irish people that care so passionately about football that this government is right behind our beautiful game.
Perhaps it was the FAI that saw it as an opportunity. Maybe after decades of a lack of investment in Irish football, perhaps they will turn to Westminster for funding!
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that when you look at the picture, the politician with the most passion and clear love for Irish football is once again our wonderful President Michael D Higgins.
Look at the joy and pride that he has watching our best players represent our country.
To be fair to Michael D, unlike so many other politicians, he is not just there on the biggest of days like Saturday, he is there supporting Ireland’s biggest sport when there are no cameras there.
No wonder Paul Cooke is looking so glum in the picture, as he tries to work out just what the FAI are going to do to improve the desperate state of our senior men’s international team.
He must be so confused and possibly a little bit hurt that on a tough day for Irish football Simon Harris appeared to distance himself from the FAI. I think Simon should apologise to Paul and explain to football fans everywhere why on earth he was not side-by-side with the FAI President.
On Saturday a far from top-strength English team travelled to Dublin, played okay in the first-half and scored two fine goals after 26 minutes.
This meant that for the next 76 minutes of football it wasn’t a real contest. In fact England were so damn average at times in the second half and yet we never really got near them.
I have to say that whilst we might have been hurt by his history, Declan Rice was absolutely magnificent.
On a day when so many people were there to remind him that he was once an Ireland international, the reality was he was there singing the anthem and playing for his country.
His performance showed real character as well as ability, and wasn’t he just so impressive in how he spoke about the occasion after the game.
His emotional intelligence is a phenomenal gift. He was so inclusive, praising the new manager and reminding people not to forget the old one.
Declan Rice knows that football is so important to the people of his country, England, and to the country where he first played international football.
He is so desperate to succeed, so tidy in his approach on the football pitch, and yet so calculated to say the right things at the right times with a microphone in his face.
How ironic it is that Simon Harris could learn from Declan Rice, because even the man who turned his back on us knew that his first game back in Dublin playing against the country that gave him his bow in international football was a crucial opportunity to show respect to Irish football and the FAI.
Rice was in the right place at the right time all afternoon.
What a pity that it was Keir Starmer and not Simon Harris in the right place next to FAI President Paul Cooke for those 96 difficult minutes in Dublin 4.
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