KEN POWELL,
Sir, - Having seen the photograph on your front page last Saturday, depicting a funeral wreath outside the FAI headquarters in Dublin, I feel compelled to ask: Have people lost their perspective? No one, thankfully, has died.
Roy Keane is a well-paid "professional" soccer player who seems to have put his own needs before those of the team. As many of your letter-writers have pointed out, he is in a position to act as a role model for many young soccer fans. Being an outstanding player is no excuse for acting like a spoilt brat.
I really wish the Irish team all the best in the World Cup. I'm sure they could have done without the extra pressure that all this furore has created. - Yours, etc.,
Dr LOUISE CROWLEY, Main Beach, Queensland, Australia.
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Sir, - Would Bono please drop his debt to the world and do Ireland a favour instead - by sorting out the "crisis" that is afflicting Irish football? - Yours, etc., KEN POWELL, Rosary Road, Maryland, Dublin 8.
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Sir, - Watching the video Shrek with my kids tonight, I couldn't help thinking about Roy Keane (an ogre who prefers his own company) and Eamon Dunphy (an irritating ass who doesn't know when to shut up).
At least Shrek has a happy ending. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL NEVIN, Abbeycartron, Co Longford.
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Sir, - Would it be fair to say that Eamon Dunphy has taken "the Keane's shilling"? - Yours, etc.,
MARK HAYDEN, Rue des Epiceas, Brussels, Belgium.
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Sir, - If Charlie McCreevy called Bertie Ahern a f**king w**ker, a crap person and a crap politician at a cabinet meeting in front of all of the other Ministers, would Bertie be open to Mick McCarthy arranging a reconciliation? - Yours, etc.,
DENIS HURLEY, Kilbrittain, Co Cork.
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Sir, - Everyone in Ireland is disappointed that Roy Keane won't play for Ireland in the World Cup. Some of us blame Roy Keane himself; others blame Mick McCarthy or the FAI. But whatever view we take on this issue we'll all get behind the team next Saturday in the hope that we can reach the second round or even the quarter-finals of the competition.
That's the problem, in a way. Roy is the only one who actually wanted to win it. - Yours, etc.,
CONOR MOONEY, Sandymount Avenue, Dublin 4.
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Sir, - I have never heard such nonsense as that about Roy Keane. Such concern by the public and the media is a poor reflection on our sense of values and priorities.
I am very disappointed that The Irish Times sees fit to allocate so much space to such a small matter. Please stop. The country still needs a government and the world is on the brink of nuclear war in Asia. - Yours, etc.,
UNA O'BRIEN LLB, Law Library, Dublin 7.
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Sir, - Having read his reported tirade against Mick McCarthy in Saipan, one cannot help but reflect that instead of Doctor of Laws, it might have been more appropriate had UCC awarded Roy Keane the degree of Doctor of Letters.
Four letters, of course. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK E. BANNISTER, Stillorgan Wood, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
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Sir, - When the pot is boiling over, you do not turn up the heat. You look to take the heat out of the situation.
Calling that players' meeting was a huge mistake on Mick McCarthy part. There was only going to be one outcome when that happened.
Roy Keane should not have said what he did. Equally, McCarthy must hold his hand up also for calling the meeting. I have always backed McCarthy as a player and a manager but he got it wrong this time.
Sport is not a matter of life and death. However, it is something that unifies the country. Everybody was looking forward to the World Cup and now the good has been taken out of it for a lot of us.
Roy Keane is not bigger than the team and everyone played their part in getting us there, but none more so than Keane. That is obvious to any genuine Irish football fan.
A compromise must be found. - Yours, etc.,
PETER GOREY, Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1.