I wouldn’t say it was my favourite World Cup Final of all time…
Driving home from Shannon airport on Sunday night I flicked through the radio stations trying to get news on the game. RTE1 had the life story of some 1930s opera star, RTE2 was playing cheesy 80s pop. The Gaelic station, Radio RNG had a discussion on the cultural impact of the Dalcassian kings*, Lyric FM had soft classics and the man from Clare FM seemed to be doing lots of shouting. Maybe I had dreamed it all. Maybe there wasn’t a major international football tournament on at the moment. Then the Man on Radio 2 said “And so it’s one-all in the World Cup final”. And that was it. He was reading out requests from people who probably weren’t listening to his show because they were Watching The World Cup Final And Having A Beer Somewhere. Then, at last, Clare FM went to their man in Berlin. “And it’s 1-1 in the World Cup Final.” Now, back to the studio and here’s a hit from China Crisis. Radio RNG was on a discussion of how farmers used to make up dark red paint for the wooden furniture in their old style cottages**. The man on RTE1 briefly had a talk with someone else about subsidies in the sugar beet industry. Then every channel seemed to be playing their 80s compilation CDs and all the presenters had fecked off down the pub to watch the football together.
Then, with only about 5 miles to go, I encountered The Most Selfish Driver in Ireland. Someone who was content to drive at 30 mph on a Sunday evening WHEN THE WORLD CUP FINAL WAS ON AND THE BLOKE BEHIND HIM WAS TRYING TO GET HOME BEFORE THE SECOND HALF STARTED. Selfish Driver was in a small silver car and was probably pointing out to his equally selfish spouse all the interesting historical sites on the road from Ennnistymon to Doolin. Just put your foot down or get to the side of the road. He then stopped for ages at the Lisdoonvarna crossroads, unsure which turn to take and pointing out to his wife the interesting petrol station in the distance.
I missed the goals, of course, but did get to see Zidane headbut one of the Italians, who apparently had been driving slowly in front of him and refusing point blank to give him any info about the World Cup FInal. The final straw was when he started to hum a 1980s cheesy pop hit. Zidane just lost it then, and who can blame him?
* Not entirely sure ** Might be wrong on this. They might actually have had an expert panel in discussing tactics.
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