DUFF’S SUMMER OF BENDERS AND BOWS
Ex-Irish star recalls team’s booze-fuelled adventures in 2002
GIVEN a job away from football, Damien Duff could have made it as a stand-up comedian such is his wry recall of the ups and downs with the Republic of Ireland in the 2002 World Cup finals.
The bust-ups, the booze and the bowing are all part of a stroll down memory lane by the Irish coach, who shared his thoughts with the Open Goal podcast.
Like Donald Trump’s former security advisor, John Bolton, the 100-cap Irish winger was in the room where it all happened, and the pub, and the pitch too.
Unlike some of his colleagues, Duffer kept his sanity, and his shoes. Along the way, he got ‘lamped’ a lot.
Let’s start with Saipan, the tiny Pacific island where events split a nation and left Ireland without their best player and captain, Roy Keane.
‘Roy had every right to go crazy at the facilities over there,’ recalled Duff. ‘It was 10 days out from the World Cup. We didn’t have footballs. We had no kit, we ran around in our polos. The pitch had no grass on it, it was like a carpark. It was a shambles.’
For training on day two, by which time the gear had arrived, the Irish players arrived to see a battered fire tender, and an elderly man with a hose, in the centre of the pitch.
‘The fire engine was from the World War. The fella with the hose must have stood in the middle of the pitch for a couple of hours, watering the centre circle.
‘As soon as he saw us pull up, he rolled up his hose and drove off. We played five-a-side in the middle of a mud bath, all sliding around. It was bizarre but we saw the funny side.’
Not everyone was larking about. ‘Roy flipped, he decided he had enough. He had every right to lose his rag. Roy’s standards were sky high. As they should be.’
The final Keano eruption took place in the team hotel before dinner a couple of nights later. ‘He (Keane) was constantly cracking, just simmering, then he just exploded.
‘Everyone was divided over it. Footballers are selfish creatures. I guess it was upsetting for players. Me? I wanted to play in the World Cup and go far into it with Roy. Would he have helped? I’m sure he would have.
‘I just wanted to get into the team and play well. If Roy was going home, ok. If he was staying, ok. I wouldn’t have walked because I was desperate to play in the World Cup.’ Duff speaks highly of Keane, as a player and leader. ‘Roy was the king of absolute simplicity, he always played the right ball, the right weight, the right angle. His passes were the cleanest and crispest I’ve ever seen. He didn’t do Cruyff flicks or step-overs, but was the best at driving the game.’
‘Keano bullied a few but he was always as good as gold with me. I never experienced the death stare. His banter was cutting, he could cut people in half.’
As the tournament unfolded, Duff felt the mood among the players was to give it a go.
For bonding purposes, Mick McCarthy allowed the squad some rope, a lot of it, according to Duffer, who told of nights out after the Germany game, before the last 16 knockout with Spain and again before the flight home.
While the players gave it a right lash, on the pitch, they stayed focused and played as well as any Irish team in a major final. With a smidgin’ of luck, they could have reached the semi-finals.
‘We were in a happy-go-lucky mood, a sort of, “Let’s go and have a crack off them”. We played Germany in the second game and they got to the final. We could have beaten them. After that game, we drank till 4am.’
Duff joined an elite club of Irish World Cup goalscorers with the third against Saudi Arabia in the rain in Yokohama.
‘It was a clean strike with no power. I was f **** d. It was nearly the 90th minute. The goalkeeper dropped it in. From a goal point of view it was s**t. Although not many Irish people have scored in the World Cup, so it was nice.’
As for the celebration, that was different class. ‘Robbie had cartwheeled after he scored against Germany, which I thought was cool. I was brushing my teeth that morning and thought if I scored, it would be nice to do something. Everyone bows at you in Japan and Korea. I thought I’d bow. It ended up an iconic image.’
The next night there were other images, thankfully not recorded, as the Irish players hit the town, hard. ‘Mick brought us out to watch Spain play in their last group game. When it was over we snuck out to an Irish bar. There were 12 of us, we called ourselves the “Dirty Dozen”.
‘Me and Steven Reid decided to go to a stand-up comedy club where you put your name down and do a sketch on stage. I did my sketch. Reidy did his. Thank God there was no footage of this stuff because it’s so embarrassing.’
The Spanish game was a few days later after a hairy flight to Seoul. ‘I’m not good at hangovers. If I didn’t go out and get lamped I’d have played better.
‘I was playing without fear. I just wanted the lads to give me the ball and let me dribble with it.
‘We should have beaten them. They weren’t the Spain we know now. They were down to 10 men, we missed a penalty. They got (South) Korea in the next round. There was a pathway there.’
After losing on penalties, the Irish squad had to wait for two days before flying home. It was the cue for one last drinking marathon.
‘After the Spain game, there was a 48-hour bender. I remember walking back to the hotel and I see three bodies lying on the concrete. I’m stumbling to the hotel and there’s lads with no shoes on. It’s Gary Kelly, Richie Dunne and Ian Harte.
‘They couldn’t be arsed getting back to the hotel and slept on a path in the middle of Seoul. They threw their shoes in the bushes.’
‘I look back at the World Cup and hate myself now for getting lamped because I like to think I was a top pro.’
He was, and a top storyteller too.
“I was playing
without fear against Spain”