“The game is dying everywhere because it’s not played on the streets anymore… There is no-one with that cunning, that guile that great street players have.” – Eamon Dunphy, June 2016
The salvation of Irish football is coming back from Los Angeles.
The revolution will take place on the streets.
Uefa are in fair old Dublin town today for the official logo launch (!) that officially celebrates Ireland as one of the host cities for Euro 2020.
As part of the celebration, Ireland’s record caps holder and goalscorer Robbie Keane has been given a new role and responsibility.
Keane, who is leaving LA Galaxy but is far from retiring from the club game, is set to ‘spearhead a Street and Community Football Legacy programme’. This is all part of Dublin’s Legacy Euro 2020 campaign, which sounds like an amazing piece of blue sky thinking.
Keane will lead the campaign, which will build on Street Football initiatives and hopefully get ‘more boys and girls out playing football in their communities’.
This will come as superb news for Dunphy, who believes embracing the street footballers within our shores will see us blaze trails across this globe for years to come. Only five months ago, Dunphy did not see much hope for us at all. He told RTE:
“In terms of the game in this country, it’s dead. There’s no players coming through; no-one. Not one. No-one… that we know of.
“Football as we know it, or as we have known throughout our lives, is dead.
Wait until this legacy campaign kicks in though…
In fairness, it is a noble goal. If Ireland can unearth another Robbie Keane or Wes Hoolahan through this campaign, it will have been worth the trumpet-blowing and press releasing.
Dick Clerkin makes his GAA Hour debut to talk about a wonderful career and argue passionately with Colm Parkinson over Sky Sports GAA. Subscribe here on iTunes.
