SHAME ON YOU
Falkirk forced to apologise as their fans taunt Shiels with fake eyeballs
FALKIRK were forced into an embarrassing apology last night after their fans brought fresh shame to the club by throwing fake eyeballs on to the pitch in mockery of Dunfermline player Dean Shiels. The teams were meeting for the first time since Falkirk players Kevin O’Hara and Joe McKee received lengthy bans for verbally abusing Shiels (right), who had an eye removed in 2006 as a result of a
THIS is no way for the Greatest Of All Time, the finest Scottish sports person to ever enter the arena, to take his leave. Andy Murray deserves to be carried off court shoulder-high, clutching yet another trophy as he’s held aloft by an adoring nation, convinced that he’s quitting while at the very top of his game.
But how often does that happen in sport? How rarely are even the most gifted and glorified of superstars allowed to choose the manner of their departure? This is a cruel business. Unyielding and vicious. And, at some point, all of the hard work, determination and drive in the world won’t slow the descent of a competitor heading south on the wrong side of that hill.
Murray’s public admission of enduring fitness concerns yesterday can hardly have come as a surprise to anyone with even a passing interest in his career.
Yet the language used by an elite athlete normally so taciturn and reticent, the bleak tone struck giving the impression of a man forced to confront his own sporting mentality, definitely jarred the senses.
No matter how often he’s prepared himself, regardless of how many times mum Judy has warned the world that her boy can’t go on forever, the realisation that this may be The End definitely hurts.
He should know that, while he and his immediate family will suffer most, there are millions out there who share in his pain.
Because the prospect of a premature retirement — and it would be premature, at the age of 30, six years younger than Roger Federer — just seems so damned unfair on a guy who has wrung every last tenth of an ounce from his God-given talents.
Murray made himself into a new kind of Scottish sporting hero, the very antithesis of so many previous favourites down the years.
Come on, you know our collective history is littered with the hollowedout or over-fed carcasses of brilliant individuals who never made the most of their ability. These brilliant ‘stars’ were too fond of the bevvy. Or unwilling to indulge in all that ‘bananas and porridge nonsense’ when there was a chip shop just around the corner.
Even among those who stuck to the rules, there has been a reluctance to move beyond home comforts — even if heading abroad for a spell might be huge for their development.
It’s hardly the worst of crimes, wanting to live forever in the area where you grew up. Staying grounded through childhood friendships, continuing to share every success and failure with the family unit who have always been — and will always be — there.
But small-town superstars have to move on to bigger stages, if they are to maximise their potential.
That’s what a teenage Murray did with his famous flit to Spain, that single-minded confidence of his — backed up by a family who recognised youthful wisdom as well as ability — convincing him that staying in Britain would see his talent left to wither on the vine.
As much as that great speed and wondrous hand-eye co-ordination nurtured during those early years in Dunblane, this willingness to take risks and belief in bettering himself have perhaps been Murray’s greatest assets as a tennis player.
His dedication has, of course, become legendary even within a game where gluten-free, sugar-free, taste-free diets are the norm.
As we prepare for the final curtain to fall on a magnificent career, it’s only right to wonder if we’ll ever see his like again. Even if the answer is guaranteed to depress. You see, Murray’s departure will leave a vast chasm in our sporting lives — and several major gaps in the calendar.
January, often the most depressing of months, was always enlivened by Andy going deep in the Australian Open.
While tennis buffs who live for highlights from Eastbourne, Toronto and Den Bosch will remain tuned into everything that happens, a generation of casual fans raised on Murray’s consistent glory will gradually drift away.
Because we’re greedy, we’ll all keep everything crossed for Our Andy. Pray for some kind of surgical miracle to that hip of his. And hope that we see him back at his best.
It seems wrong that he should have to bow out ahead of schedule. We always thought Federer and Nadal would go first, leaving the path clear for Murray and Djokovic.
But the human body doesn’t stick to a timetable. Pieces start to disintegrate for odd reasons.
And so it appears that Murray’s career will end the way it started. By his body letting him down. That skinny teenage frame of his was regularly cited as the reason why he couldn’t mix it with grown men in those heady early years.
So he went away and built himself up, becoming the fittest, strongest and most durable guy on tour.
Until he simply couldn’t do it any more. Until, it seems, now. Hope for the best. Expect the worst. And brace yourself for the void left behind should Murray finally be forced to stand down, lay down his racquet — and limp into the sunset.