Hard to avoid boys for Brazil

REVIEWING Friday’s newspapers on Morning Ireland, Valerie Cox was drawn to a story about RTÉ’s panel for Brazil. It was accompanied by a photograph of the experts. ‘I note,’ she said, ‘that all 11 are male.’

Cox was at least spared the sight of the full RTÉ line-up, which is imaginative and promises insight – if not a delicate gender balance. Absent were Dietmar Hamann and new additions Brad Friedel, Neil Lennon and Real Madrid coach Paul Clement.

The last three named suggest innovative thinking around Montrose, with Clement, who followed Carlo Ancelotti from Chelsea to Madrid, working daily with players who could decide the cup’s fate.

The most illustrious competition in the world is contested by teams of men, so male panels of experts are inevitable. There is no conspiracy or sexism here, no matter how hard some may strain to see it.

EUGENE KEATING is an inter-county footballer who is also comfortable with his humanity. In an age when players effectively absent themselves from life for the season, Keating (right) staunchly defended the right of his teammate Killian Clarke to go to Boston this summer. Independent thinking remains a possibility. LANDON MICHELSON reached a playoff in a qualifier for the US Open. Then he discovered he had signed for the wrong score and informed the authorities. He was disqualified. ‘I’m a huge idiot,’ he reflected, and the 22-year-old amateur will feel much worse when play starts on Thursday.

THE appeal in a part-time arrangement at Aston Villa is obvious for Roy Keane. But what is Paul Lambert thinking? He is a manager losing the fans, and appointing an assistant who splits his time with another job is no way of convincing them of his plan to rejuvenate the club.