Failing to get just rewards for talent
THE BBC have softened the blow somewhat for those desperately yearning for the World Snooker Championship that would normally fill the afternoons and evenings at this time of year, by reliving classic contests of the past.
On Saturday afternoon the focus was on Jimmy White’s agonising deciding frame defeat to Stephen Hendry, his sixth loss in the final at the Crucible and certainly the most painful one of the lot.
When he drew level at 17-17, ‘The People’s Champion’ must have felt the momentum was with him and it was finally going to be his year, but missing a black off the spot with the frame and match at his mercy will forever haunt White as he replays that costly twitch over and over again in his mind.
There’s few that follow the drama from the green baize that wouldn’t agree that ‘The Whirlwind’ was the best snooker player ever not to have captured the holy grail that is the world championship title.
White’s misfortune got me thinking about other sports stars that could also be considered unlucky not to get the rewards that their rich talents deserve.
In the world of golf, some of the best to play the game couldn’t manage to get their hands on a major, with Colin Montgomerie being the most obvious one.
The Scot has 31 wins on the European Tour to his name and was a key member of eight Ryder Cup teams, but the major championships continually eluded him, although he came close, finishing runner-up five times in the big ones.
Plenty of top jockeys will never know what it’s like to ride the winner of the Grand National, with household names like Richard Johnson, Peter Scudamore and John Francome all failing to taste success in the Aintree marathon.
In tennis, some seriously talented athletes like Henri Leconte, Marcelo Rios, David Ferrer, Mark Philippousis and Dinara Safina never triumphed at a Grand Slam event, despite enjoying plenty of success elsewhere on the tour.
Team sports are a different animal altogether though as you’re not just relying on yourself, and need a strong unit around you.
For those involved in professional sports, your success, or lack of it, is determined by whether you made the move to the right club at the right time, while in Gaelic games, hitting the heights in terms of medals on a national stage can be solely dependent on your place of birth.
If players like Wexford’s Matty Forde, Wicklow’s Leighton Glynn or Tipperary’s Declan Browne hailed from Dublin, for example, they would have numerous titles to their names.
That said, the Dubs themselves have had plenty of excellent footballers that deserve All-Irelands for their individual talent, but timing wasn’t their friend, wih powerful midfielder Ciarán Whelan being a prime example.
Then you see nearly men, who came so close to getting their hands on Sam Maguire, guys like Lee Keegan of Mayo and Kildare stalwarts like Glenn Ryan and Johnny Doyle.
Off the top of my head, it’s not difficult to think of supremely talented footballers from recent times that deserve All-Irelands if it was based on individual talent alone – Ciarán McDonald, Conor McManus, Eamonn O’Hara, Dessie Dolan, I could go on.
The small ball game is no different, with several top-quality hurlers not managing to get their hands on the Liam MacCarthy Cup, giants of the sport like Ciarán Carey, Gary Kirby, Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, Ollie Canning, Damien Hayes, Patrick Horgan, Darragh Ryan, Tony Griffin, John Mullane, Ken McGrath, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, Tony Browne and Paul Flynn.
In the professional world of soccer, there’s also many greats who failed to reap rewards in terms of silverware, never winning a major trophy in otherwise illustrious careers, many because of their loyalty to unfashionable clubs.
Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier is an obvious one that proves that trophies don’t equate to talent, as do Stuart Pearce, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Les Ferdinand, Antonio Di Natale, Carlos Valderrama, Giuseppe Signori, Socrates, Johnny Haynes and Tom Finney.
It’s a shame that sports stars, particularly those in individual pursuits like Jimmy White and Colin Montgomerie, are often remembered more for what they didn’t win than what they did.
Having said that, they all excelled in their chosen fields, so maybe they are, in fact, the lucky ones.
I guess being labelled the best player never to have won something is better than being the best at nothing at all.