When Paddy Barnes lost on Monday, many experts rose from their sofas and identified the reason for his defeat.
Barnes had been tweeting too much this rant masquerading as an argument went. Perhaps, they said, if he had concentrated a little more on his boxing and a little less on his social media profile, he would have put up a better fight.
Barnes’ ejection from the Olympics is another massive blow to the Irish boxing team on whom so much depends.
Michael O’Reilly’s failed drugs test is a hugely depressing development, whatever details emerge in the coming days, but Barnes was one of those who was expected to transform the Irish boxing story from bad to good. The Irish boxers are loved, but when Barnes lost his first fight in Rio, some were ready to turn.
Lots of Irish fans gutted for defeated Paddy Barnes but most have their mind on a certain golfer #Rio2016 https://t.co/LgsEinXGQi
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 8, 2016
He was one of Ireland’s best hopes for a medal, but the fact that the raised expectations were entirely down to Barnes’ phenomenal Olympic record was overlooked. Instead, he had now failed and his tweeting was to blame.
Barnes’ post-fight interviews acknowledged his difficulty in making the weight and there may be questions asked about his decision to fight in the lowest category rather than at the next division. But that was a technical and nuanced decision, so instead it was easier to blame his tweeting.
'I would have been embarrassed in the next fight' – Paddy Barnes says it's 'just as well' his #Rio2016 is over https://t.co/LN4BaYINqU
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 8, 2016
Sportspeople, it seems, must present only one face to the public. It must be serious and solemn at all times and they must always fear the worst. When it comes, they must react as if they have encountered the apocalypse.
When England went out of the 2010 World Cup, one newspaper printed a picture of the team after their defeat to Germany which, they said, showed them “chatting merrily”.
“Smoking cigars, feet up, smiling and relaxing with a few beers, you’d think this was a team celebrating a famous victory,” the report stated. “Instead, this is England’s hapless footballers just hours after crashing out to Germany 4-1 in the nation’s worst ever World Cup defeat.”
When England went out to Iceland in this summer’s European Championships, UK newspapers turned on those who had let them down, highlighting their wealth as something which was evidence of their careless ways.
“Shamefully, as they stepped off a private jet at Luton airport, the players seemed more engaged in their mobile phones than confronting the catastrophe for which they are responsible,” the Daily Mail said without highlighting exactly how they could have confronted the catastrophe as they stepped off a plane. They then highlighted the most callous gesture of them all – “Summing up the national shame, the team’s toy lion mascot was found dumped, unloved, in the back of a lorry.”
There is a strange desire to punish those who have failed for things other than their failure, and any sign of enjoyment seems to be something to be seized upon.
You don’t need any experience of elite sport to know how bogus this is. People laugh at funerals, they make jokes before they go to war and they can smile at some stage following a defeat without it revealing a lack of commitment.
Paddy Barnes didn’t abandon a mascot, unloved, in the back of a lorry and great wealth has not come his way as a result of his achievements for Ireland.
His career has been an example of sacrifice, but in the build-up to a huge fight, he did seem to be enjoying himself on Twitter and that was too much for some. Given his difficulties making the weight, maybe he would have been better off preserving energy than attending the opening ceremony, but that had nothing to do with his tweeting.
Barnes’ tweets over the past week may have put him in contention for the hotly contested ‘King of the Eejits’ title, but that has no bearing on what he did in the ring. His tweets to Rory McIlroy were enjoyed primarily by those with a need to experience banter, even second hand, and, as such, they were an unwelcome and unnecessary development, but they had nothing to do with what happened in the ring.
The world complains when sportspeople tell us nothing about themselves, but it turns out we only want to know about them if they can be sure of victory. If they can’t guarantee that then there is only one course of action; they have no choice but to lock themselves away.
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