Do we have to celebrate, and if we do, does it have to be in the PhoenixPark? Stop trying to stage-manage our emotions, writes Róisín Ingle
When discussing the most appropriate way to welcome the Republic of Ireland soccer team home from the World Cup, there is something we shouldn't forget.
Many of us who might be inclined to turn out in our tens of thousands this afternoon don't actually know much about the off-side rule. We couldn't name five teams in the national league. We don't support an English football team and we moan because on Saturdays soccer is all there seems to be on TV.
But that's fine because rightly or wrongly, this homecoming, like our participation in the World Cup, is not just about soccer, it's also about ownership. There is a little part of each one of us in Given and in Duff and in Keane (Robbie). We couldn't feel more protective of them if it was our own brothers or sons or uncles playing out of their skins on the pitches of Japan and South Korea.
All that is good about patriotism has been neatly wrapped up in the green, white and orange bunting that's fluttering everywhere these days. The rain has been relentless this summer, but having weathered the Roy Keane saga, our national disposition could only have been described as sunny.
Over the last few weeks, us fair-weather soccer enthusiasts have felt the players joy and lived their heartache. We have bitten our nails and cheered alongside the real football people. Occasionally we have plucked up the courage to ask the real football people some serious questions. Such as, if Mick McCarthy was really picking his best team for the match against Spain then why was Ian Harte on it? And, why didn't we win the World Cup. Why? Why?
Sunday did not end in celebration. There aren't many countries that would welcome their players as heroes simply for escaping from the group. There is a very good argument for not making any kind of fuss at all, actually.
Now we can play world-class football, surely we no longer need to celebrate when we lose. These days we are in it to win, we shouldn't need to throw a party because Robbie Keane saved us against Germany and the match against Spain was so gut-wrenchingly entertaining.
Put it this way. If Brazil are beaten by, say, Senegal in the final, the last thing Ronaldo will be expecting is a hero's welcome.
The fact is though, that the Roy Keane saga, the sinking we- should-have-beaten-Spain feeling and our appreciation of the brilliant football played by the team all seem to need an outlet. We are desperate for the kind of closure only an open-top bus packed with World Cup veterans inching its way down O'Connell Street in Dublin can provide.
So, excuse me for asking, but why are some people trying to stage-manage our emotions by carting the lads out to the Phoenix Park this evening? Why are they cheating us of an occasion that is as much part of our World Cup experience as Eamon Dunphy's fabulously inflammatory analysis?
I don't know about anybody else, but I don't want to view the players as insignificant specks in the distance like they were some boyband appearing at a rock festival. I want to be able to look up at Robbie and Mattie and Damian and mouth "well done, well done"; to be jostled in the street during an outpouring of slightly hysterical national affection; to be hit on the head with an inflatable hammer if it comes to it. I want chaos and ticker-tape. Lots of it.
I can't believe they players would prefer the park to the street parade. The Minister for Sport, John O'Donoghue, said he would have preferred the bus through the city too. Listening to Joe Duffy's show yesterday, one wonders how many fans will make the effort to go to the park.
While callers praised the grit and talent of the team and talked about giving them a special kind of homecoming, it was clear that for some, their dedication didn't stretch as far as the Phoenix Park.
What I suggest is a mass protest. We should all bring our flags and hammers and hats and children down to O'Connell Street anyway. Have a bit of a sing-song under Clery's clock, get rained on and go home. The players won't mind because the last time they went to Phoenix Park it was a bit embarrassing anyway.
Let's Reclaim The Streets for the homecoming, damn it, and pray the gardaí are all up at the park.