We live in an era of hyperbole. Everyday we are told that we are in the worst recession ever; we have experienced the coldest winter ever; last week we held the most important general election ever and the Ireland Cricket team is now the greatest Irish team ever.
None of these are quite true. The famine of 1845 to 1848 was a tougher recession, the winters of 1740, 1741or 1963 would chilled the warmest heart, the General Election of 1918 which saw Sinn Féin win 66.9% of the valid vote, was a major springboard for our independence, while you could pick several dozen teams in sports which range from boxing to show jumping who could lay claim to be the greatest Irish team ever.
As any insurance official will tell you, we also live in an era of exaggerated claims.
Ireland did have an extraordinary win over England in the cricket World Cup last week. For the cricket community in Ireland it undoubtedly was our best ever win, but we will have to wait until the tournament is finished before we can judge if England were an average team having a bad day or, an excellent team that was out-preformed.
My hunch is that the England cricket team will prove to be no more than a good/average team by current standards. This will not take from Ireland’s victory because a team with the strength of and depth of players England have should never lose to Ireland, but it will take from the claim that they are the greatest team ever.
Last Wednesday, as the drama of the day unfolded, more and more people joined in on the experience. The game was a welcome break from all the gloomy politicians and prophets of doom that have filled our lives for months.
In our office, we began to post the score, and the state of play, on our Twitter page, @corkeveningecho. The tweets were going up every couple of minutes. “Get to a TV fast Ireland have a chance of beating England at Cricket” said one of the first. “Kevin O’Brien could score 100” said another. After this came the long countdown, “Ireland need 45 of 39 balls” and so on. We could see people engage and our tweets were being passed on.
Near the end of the game, one Twitter follower replied, “I don’t know what your are saying but I think Cricket is my new favourite game.” This comment probably summed up what many people felt as the news of the Irish victory rippled across the country.
In the media hyperbole that followed Ireland’s win, the result was compared to many other “great” upsets. England’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of the USA in 1950 World Soccer Cup was quoted. That was a great win for the USA, but it was achieved by playing six men across the back, (totally against the spirit of the game) and the England team, who were beaten by Ireland in 1949, disappeared down the World Cup plughole as “also rans”.
Back in 1990 when James “Buster” Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson to become the undisputed world heavyweight Boxing champion, the world reeled in shock. It was later that we found out, that Tyson was well down to road to ruin long before he stepped into the ring against Douglas. Tyson fell under the influence of Don King after the death of his mentor and minder, Cus D’Amato in 1985. King was a dodgy character, and never replaced the meticulous training and coaching of D’Amato that had made a champion of Tyson. By 1990 Tyson had fallen back to Douglas’ standard. The result was surprise but not an upset.
A truly great upset is one where the winner’s are clearly inferior to the pre-game favourites. In nearly every case, the winners do not seem to have the resources of their opponents. When Liverpool defeat Manchester United, as happened last Sunday, is never an upset because both sides are more or less equally matched in resources.
The powerful Leeds United team of early 1970s were on the wrong side of two incredible soccer upsets. In the fifth round of the 1971 FA Cup Colchester defeated Leeds 3-2. Leeds were the most consistent team in England at the time. They were in the semi-final of the European Cup, runners-up in the league and FA Cup the season before. Every player on the Leeds team was of international standard and they ground opponents into submission almost every Saturday.
Colchester didn’t just “catch” Leeds on the day; they outplayed them and won fair and square. The true value of Colchester’s win was shown by the fact that Leeds would remain one of the best teams in Europe for four more seasons.
During that four seasons however, the all-star Leeds managed to be at the end of another great upset in the FA Cup Final of 1973. This time they lost the final 1-0 to Sunderland. In the world of upsets, it doesn’t get much bigger than these two defeats of Leeds United.
There is an air of romance (if you can use such a term in a sports column) about victories such as those of Colchester and Sunderland and that is why they are hailed as great upsets. In the GAA, where the honour of the parish is the mainstay of competition, there have been many upsets that claim to be the greatest ever.
The victory of Louth over Cork in the 1957 All-Ireland final is one such case. It was painted that way by commentators because Cork regularly figured in hurling and football finals and Louth did not. Louth were actually more successful in Leinster football during the 1950s than Cork were in Munster. Both won three provincial titles but by virtue of the fact that the Leinster championship was the tougher tournament to win, Louth should be rated at least equal to Cork in potential. This should not lessen the value of Louth’s win rather is should remove some of the shame that was cast upon Cork in the aftermath of the final. It has to be admitted however, that Cork did not play well on the day.
One of the really great upsets in history of the Cork County Championships came in the 1926 when St Finbarrs defeated Blackrock in the county senior hurling final. Thirteen of the Blackrock players featured with the Cork team that won the All-Ireland title a month earlier. Six minutes from the end of the county final Blackrock led by 11 points. The Barrs then scored four goals and snatched the title by a point 6-2 to 5-4. That is what you call a real upset.
The Ireland cricketers now find that they have to pull out another super human performance against either South Africa or the West Indies in order to advance in the competition and to put themselves in line for consideration as the greatest Ireland team of all time.
Ireland like Colchester, Sunderland, Louth and “Buster” Douglas have earned their place in the record books because they took their chances when they came their way. Their opponents are part of the same records because they could not fulfil their potential. The world of sport may be full of hyperbole but there is one truism that remains steadfast; to be second is to be last.