Madam, - Garrett Tubridy (An Irishman's Diary, April 6th) complains about those who might support "anybody but England" during sporting events. His opinion piece appears to ignore the fact that any support shown for our neighbours' sporting opponents can often be for perfectly legitimate reasons.
Some sports fans refuse to support English teams simply because their sporting commentators, and their media in general, constantly display an aggravatingly smug superiority complex prior to, and throughout, most sporting events. From the FIFA World Cup to the World Tiddlywinks Championships they will be self-appointed favourites to be outright winners. In addition, we will usually be informed that the sport in question originated in England.
Another niggling annoyance for me occurs when a successful Irish sportsperson can suddenly change nationalities and become British in the space of seconds. A sudden sporting disaster can immediately cause the same sportsperson to revert to being Irish very quickly indeed!
I suspect that Mr Tubridy has never been present in a Scottish pub during an England v Scotland sporting event. I can assure him that the Scottish attitude towards their fellow Britons during such events would be worthy of an opinion piece in itself. Even during the recent England v Ireland rugby game at Twickenham, most Scottish folk became Irish for the duration of that game. Welsh fans would have behaved in a similar manner. Likewise, most English fans will display an "anybody but France" attitude during sporting events in which a French team is involved.
Mr Tubridy attempted to attach a political basis for support for England's sporting opponents.
Such naivety is unnecessary and I trust the clinical environment that would exist if Mr Tubridy had his way will never come to pass.
It is ironic that when many decry the introduction of politics into sport, some journalists will constantly insist on doing just that. - Yours, etc.,
E.F. FANNING, Churchtown, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Further to Mr Garrett Tubridy's opinion piece in the "Irishman's Diary" (April 6th), may I just add that if we could be guaranteed that the same gracious and humble reaction that the English rugby team displayed after winning the World Cup could also be displayed by their soccer counterparts, I am sure the "anyone but England" brigade would be substantially diminished.
After all, ask anyone "Why not England?" and the reply that you will surely get will be "remember '66, will we ever be allowed to forget that they were the greatest football team ever by the BBC et al?". - Yours, etc.,
DONAL HENNESSY, Rosehill, Wicklow.