Sir, – Ken Early’s article is a novel take on the opinions that normally surface when the Republic of Ireland soccer team misfires (“Argentina shows us what Ireland could be if our GAA culture escaped the island,” July 25th). The sort of opinions that involve soccer fans casting a greedy eye over the GAA’s players, volunteers and financial resources in a bid to boost Ireland’s chances of winning the World Cup or the European Championship.
It’s a useful method of easing the pain in that it involves no introspection. The less-than four million people of Croatia manage to periodically excel at soccer while also maintaining top-class basketball, water polo and handball teams. So, rather than seeking another sport’s resources, perhaps ask the question: how could we do better with the enormous human and financial resources we already have? – Yours, etc,
PETER BOLAND,
Galway.
