OCI FLAME IS STARTING TO FLICKER AGAIN
EVIDENCE accumulates by the day exposing the absurdities that riddle the concept of nationalism. The notion that a person must possess unquenchable loyalty to a flag for no reason other than they were born there has caused centuries of misery, but watching two of the great defenders of modern civilisation become shrunken and nasty as they answer to nationalist impulses is a reminder of its dangers.
As Britain and the United States teeter close to chaos, despair seems the only fitting reaction. That is not to say, though, that there are no instances when a person can feel proud of their flag, or believe that an individual, team or movement acting in the name of Ireland cannot improve society.
In August of 2016, it would have been impossible to imagine a time when the Olympic Council of Ireland were an agent of positive change in Irish life.
The Rio ticketing controversy overshadowed the start of last year’s Games, and it was a staggering experience to find Ireland at the centre of the most sensational story at a global gathering that, for all of its glamour and excellence, has been stained by scandal for decades.
The consequences of a few bewildering days in Brazil continue to manifest themselves, but one became instantly apparent on the morning of Pat Hickey’s arrest: any credibility that forlornly clung to the OCI had been swept away.
For years, Irish Olympians had felt little connection to a body that many saw as little more than the crowd that organised their flights and digs for the Games. As a factor in their efforts to reach an Olympics, a target that consumes the lives of athletes as well as those that share their lives, the OCI had no meaningful function for many of them beyond that of a secretariat – if one swelled by enormous self-regard.
More serious again were the inadequacies exposed by investigations into the OCI subsequent to the arrest of Hickey (pictured). They were most vividly recounted in a report commissioned by the Council from consultants Deloitte, which discovered an organisation that was failing to adhere to requirements regarded as basic in properly functioning bodies. The cost of dealing with the biggest mess in Irish sporting history was put by new OCI president Sarah Keane at €1.5 million in June, with the expectation that the final figure will climb considerably. Since she was elected in February, Keane’s public appearances have been conducted in the sober tones of a doctor giving updates on a patient with a flickering pulse. Restoring the OCI to health is one challenge; another one was making people care, because if the patient was for many months critical, there were no candlelit vigils or anxious demands for update on its condition. That was why the publication of a strategic plan by the OCI this week was encouraging – and held out the truly remarkable prospect of Ireland’s Olympic emissaries becoming significant not merely in the lives of sportspeople but the country as a whole.
This last target goes beyond Keane’s desire to turn the OCI into a net contributor to sports funding in this country, and encompasses a determination to use the Olympic movement as an inspiration in a society struggling with the repercussions of unhealthy lifestyles, particularly among its children.
Given that the Olympic Games, which should be the most inspirational event in the world every four years, have been brought to nearruin by cheating, this is an ambitious target. But Keane is absolutely right when she argues for sport as a force for improving the lives of Irish people, and she is correct, too, when she says its power is not sufficiently harnessed.
This is a political failing; it has been since the foundation of the State and there is nothing to indicate this will change.
However, it is surprising to suppose that the Olympic Council of Ireland could start to have a transformative effect on the well-being of the population, as the GAA, the IRFU, the FAI and other sporting bodies do through their work in communities every evening of the week.
It sounds unlikely, and there is a towering amount of work to do before that can happen.
But why not? Sixteen months ago, as journalists from around the world sought out Irish counterparts and information about a bizarre story involving tickets and halfdressed arrests, one could not have conceived of the day when the OCI was a happy news story.
That it is even possible attests to the good sport can do – and the worthwhile pride it can stir.