Katie Taylor


On the front page of the Irish Independent this week was the heading ‘Trapattoni goes to Norwich’ now I must admit I’m not the biggest soccer fan in the country, but when Ireland are playing I do support the team.

That said it’s hard to be enthusiastic especially after the European championship this year. There was more talk of Trapattoni going this week than the team going to the World Cup in two years’ time. So when I saw this headline I thought it would make a lot of people happy.

It seems after reading the piece in the paper that I was sold a pup! Trapattoni is going alright but going to Norwich to see some of the Irish players play. Wasn’t he supposed to be going to see the player play all along? Isn’t that part of the job? Trapattoni has always seemed a bit stand off-ish and that’s not a good thing for a team. Sometimes it seemed that he was totally disinterested.

I wrote a few weeks back of Jim Mc Guinness and the leadership he has given to the Donegal Lads! He was at one with them, he knew them inside out and that made a huge difference to the boys. No matter how much they are paid players still need a friend and leader on the side-line.

Trapattoni never seemed to have made that connection, the fact he doesn’t have good English is a factor in this, the movie last in translation comes to mind!

After the Germany game there was calls to have his head and many believe that this was the natural time for him to go, but even after the writing being on the wall for everyone to see, he is still there. He says once he has the backing of the team he will remain.

On the other side it must be very hard for Trapattoni. It’s one thing having a lot of the public against him (sticks and stones and all of that), but when you have every pundit pushing against you too you’d imagine it would be easier to say ‘feck this I’m out of here’!

This is where the money comes into play. There is no doubt that when Trap looks at his bank balance every month he has a smile on his face. The same smile all the pundits wear for giving out about him! Trapattoni is a God send for them. The worse he does the more they get to pile on the players. You see the game we are all watching at home on TV is not the only game being played.

Anyways away from those who live for money and onto a true Irish sporting hero and a young lady who has turned her back on the World of Professional sport because fighting for her country means more than anything else, she of course is Katie Taylor.

Without her women’s Olympic boxing might not exist! When you look at Katie Taylor the person and all that she stands for, you have to be taken by this young lady whose sporting ability is matched by her beauty.

There is no doubt that there was a huge carrot waved in front of her after winning gold in London. I thought for a split second that she might go for it, but I wasn’t a bit surprised that she’s staying as an amateur. She has turned down six figure contracts to go and fight again for her country and defend her title in Rio.

If this was anybody else I’d be saying that it is a PR stunt and that there was never a six figure contract there, but not in this case!

Katie Taylor is in a different place than most people. She has never had a bitter word to say about anybody, when you meet her she will always have a smile and be interested in you. Her faith is another thing to be admired, whether you believe in God or not! Maybe if more people had faith like Katie they might be better off.

So this week there in Ireland we have two sports personalities, both coming from very different corners. I wonder who is happier of the two. The man who gets millions and dives in the box or the lady who turned her back on a fortune and boxed clever!