ABSTRACT
On 14 June 2012, the Republic of Ireland soccer team was comprehensively beaten 4-0 at the UEFA Euro Football Championships by the eventual winners Spain. During an on-the-pitch post-match interview for the UK’s ITV network, the Irish midfielder Keith Andrews praised both the quality of the opposition as well as the ‘brilliant’ support of the Irish fans, who continued en masse to sing ‘The Fields of Athenry’ throughout the final minutes of the match. Coverage then returned to the studio where the former Republic of Ireland and Manchester United player Roy Keane (working as a regular analyst for the station during the competition) was invited to comment. He was, as is his wont, livid:
I think the players, and even the supporters, they all have to change their mentality. It’s just nonsense when players speak after the game about how great the supporters are. Listen, the supporters want to see the team doing a lot better and not giving daft goals away like that. So, no, listen, I’m not too happy with all that nonsense … I know that we’re a small country and we’re up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.1
