McIlroy: We will win at Bethpage

By Michael McCarron

I had been looking forward to the Ryder Cup all year and my excitement truly kicked in when I caught some parts of the brilliant Solheim Cup, which European Ladies thankfully managed to retain. Following their disaster at Whistling Straights two years ago, the European Men’s team did not fill me with confidence. Understandably, I was sceptical. Whilst it was tight on Sunday, the third and final day-of play, it was clear on the opening day that there would only be one winner – Europe.

As happy as I was to see Luke Donald’s men victorious, I confess the outstanding 6.5 to 1.5 lead attained on Friday was disheartening. All the build-up, all of the hype, all of the excitement, hoping and praying for an entertaining and tight affair only for the States to be blown out of the water after day 1! Thankfully, a dispute on the 18^th green on Saturday revived the tournament and gave both the players, and viewers a new lease of life heading into Sunday.

One of the main men in the middle of all this confrontation was Patrick Cantlay, a player surrounded by controversy all week in his apparent refusal to wear a team cap. Dubbed “hat-gate”, Cantlay’s supposed refusal to wear the team cap was widely viewed as a protest by the player, who allegedly believes players should be paid to play in the Ryder Cup. The notion of golfers wanting to be paid is an anathema to many fans who revel in the purity of the Ryder Cup. The European captain, Luke Donald, put it well in saying:

“The Ryder Cup represents true sport. It’s the purest form of competition we have, and I think because of that, the fans love it. It’s purely, purely sport. That’s what makes it so special”

When asked if players should be paid to play in the Ryder Cup in his post-match press conference, Cantlay attempted to set the record straight: “It’s not about that. It’s just about Team USA and representing our country. The hat doesn’t fit. It didn’t fit at Whistling Straits and didn’t fit this week. Everyone knows that”.

The real spark of the dispute on Saturday came from Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, or as some are calling him, “The man who saved the Ryder Cup”. Europe were six points ahead of Zach Johnson’s side when the final match of the session reached the 18^th green. Cantlay, who had been mocked all day for his decision not to wear a cap holed out a long-range birdie to win the point for Team USA. This putt sparked wild celebrations from all the Americans, and LaCava was in the middle of it. LaCava, who was celebrating by waving his cap in the middle of the green, got too close to Europe’s Rory McIlroy who was setting up his putt. McIlroy asked LaCava to move out of his eye line but LaCava initially refused to do so. Rory went on to miss the putt and lose his match. However, it didn’t end there. McIlroy was later filmed in the car park outside the clubhouse where he was filmed pointing and shouting at another USA caddie, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay. McIlroy, who was restrained by Shane Lowry, said it was “The angriest I have ever been in my career”.

Personally, I love the drama, and think that this is exactly what the Ryder Cup needs. As passionate as all who play in the competition are, I think it would intensify the viewing and the overall stakes of the tournament if these guys had a little more grievance between them. 

McIlroy now targets a rare away Ryder Cup win at Bethpage Black in two years’ time, “I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup and that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.” Hopefully the thrill of winning gives players like Lowry further incentive to keep pushing on and make these teams. I can’t wait until 2027 when the competition comes to the Adare Manor in Limerick – you can guarantee I’ll be there!

VAR – Where do we go from here?

At the time of writing we are eight weeks into the 2023/24 Premier league season, I write again…eight weeks in! In my time watching football, I think it is safe to say that I have never seen as many poor refereeing / VAR decisions as I have this season. Now, maybe it is because I follow the Premier League far more closely than I do any of the other top leagues in Europe, but to my knowledge there has been nowhere near as many poor calls through VAR, or the refs themselves, as there have been in the top flight in England this season. It begs the questions; how can the supposed “best league in the world” have so many painfully incorrect decisions been made week after week? Why does the best league in the world have some of the worst refs at its disposal? Can VAR be fixed? Should VAR be scrapped? Where do we go from here?

If you are a football fan, then no doubt you have likely seen the disastrous VAR display that went on in the Tottenham v Liverpool game at the end of September. This game had it all, a wrongfully disallowed goal and, not one but two red cards, which saw Liverpool down to nine men for the final twenty minutes of the game.

If there is one thing certain about football, it is that it’s a game that cannot be told through photos alone. The first of the controversial VAR decisions in this game was based completely on a photo shown to the referee. Just after 25 minutes Curtis Jones goes over the ball and subsequently off the pitch for a foul on Yves Bissouma. Those watching it in real time, like the ref Simon Hooper came to the same conclusion: free kick Spurs, yellow card Jones. Unfortunately, for Liverpool, all of these decisions are looked at by VAR just in case the officials have got something wrong or have missed something that a replay might show better. After being advised to go to the monitor, which almost always alters a ref’s initial decision, Hooper rescinded Jones’s yellow card, replacing it with a red one. During the process of the ref going to the monitor, we, the viewers, get a chance to see what the ref is being shown. On this occasion the VAR room had decided to show Hooper the very end of perhaps the worst moment of the tackle. Gary Neville was on commentary for the game and said exactly what we were all thinking: “He’s (the VAR) showing him the end motion and that’s not how it actually is – his foot slips over the top of the ball. It’s never a red card and he’s going to get one – it’ll ruin the game.” In my own opinion there was no malicious intent with this tackle, but it was a foul and probably a yellow card. I’m sure there would have been a few Liverpool fans upset if that had been the ref’s final decision.

Unfortunately, for Liverpool it didn’t end there. Down to ten men, and perhaps fired up by the questionable decision, Liverpool managed to take the lead. The offside flag went up and after a quick check it seemed that VAR had given the all clear. I’m not sure what would be more frustrating, the ref getting this call wrong, or VAR actually getting it right but due to a mix up in communication the result was the same – no goal. I cannot get my head around this one. The PGMOL, after a request by Liverpool, then released the audio from the VAR room and if you haven’t heard it stop what you are doing and go and listen to it, it’s shocking. Thinking that the on-field decision had been a goal, VAR said, “Check complete”. To make matters worse, if you could, the VAR team then realise what has happened and, as Jamie Carragher put it, they “panicked” and “froze”. With the game having restarted, the VAR and refereeing team all came to the same, yet wrong conclusion, “They’ve restarted the game. Can’t do anything, can’t do anything”. I’m sure with the game not even restarted a full minute, it was far too late to delay the game.

When it comes to the Jota red card, I do think there is a lesser argument against the decision that was reached, but this game has to be up there with one of the worst officiated games in modern times at least, and it doesn’t stop there!

You’d think after the scrutiny that VAR came under that weekend that they would be trying their best to make sure nothing like that Spurs game would happen again. One week later Arsenal are playing Manchester City, in what is for both teams a huge game. Okay, people weren’t happy with the Curtis Jones tackle but if that’s a red card, we’ll all get on with it. After all, Chelsea’s Malo Gusto was sent off for a very similar tackle to Jones’. At least there is some consistency, right? Step up Michael Oliver who chose not to send off Mateo Kovacic for what many believed to be a far worse tackle than the other two. To make matters worse, Oliver actually had two chances to send him off but all Kovacic escaped with was a yellow card.

What is the next move for VAR? Personally, I cannot see a situation where it is scrapped completely and nor would I want it to be. Yes, it is inconsistent but decisions have always been inconsistent! It is clear that the problem isn’t necessarily VAR itself but with the people behind the screens. Just like the way the best clubs bring in the best players, the best league should bring in the best officials. Is it any surprise that only two English refs were chosen to officiate at the World Cup in Qatar? Another solution, and I would love this, would be to mic the refs up like they do in rugby and let us hear the reasons behind the decisions and VAR calls. Unfortunately, I can’t see that happening anytime soon.

To round it off here’s a quote from Mark Goldbridge who is appalled by what has been happening this season with referees: “He’s (Michael Oliver) an absolute joke, he should be suspended but he won’t be because it’s mates race, its favouritism, its nepotism, It’s not acceptable, and it’s coming to a club near you!”. Something has got to give and until it does we will be having these same talks about poor officiating and VAR decisions without anything really happening. The time for change is now.

Quarter-final Heartbreak for Ireland again:

Another Rugby World Cup, another quarter final exit for Ireland! We may have been keeping quiet about it, but a lot of Irish supporters were thinking that there was a chance we could have gone all the way. And with New Zealand now set to face Argentina in the semi-finals, perhaps we weren’t too far wrong.

After winning four out of four games in the “Pool Stage” (Group Stage), Ireland were rather unlucky that their reward for these good results was to face the All-Blacks. Say what you want about New Zealand’s form over the last couple of years, this was never going to be an easy match for the boys in green. Yet there did seem to be this feeling that we’d get the job done, get over the line and get past the quarter-finals for the first time in our history. It has to be said, Ireland were favourites going into the tie, something no one would have thought possible a couple years ago going up against the All-Blacks. It was always going to be a tall order and unfortunately we just came up short, losing out 24-28.

Said by some to be the best Irish rugby team ever, it was a very disappointing evening and I believe all of us thought Ireland would get that game-winning try at the end after a thrilling 37 phases. Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said he was “very proud” of his team, despite just falling short of what would have been a record equalising 18^th successive test match victory at the elite level.

Unfortunately, there was no fairy-tale ending for Ireland legend Johnny Sexton who has now retired from rugby after a seventeen-year long career. There is no doubt he goes down now as the greatest Irish rugby player of all time and he all but confirmed this status during this world cup when he surpassed Ronan O’ Gara as Ireland’s all-time leading points scorer. Sexton himself acknowledged not getting the dream ending to his career, “You’ve got to work hard for fairy-tale endings and we didn’t get it but that’s life”. What Sexton has done for Irish rugby is massive and as his Ireland team-mate Jack Conan put it:

“He has been everything that has been good about Irish rugby for nearly two decades and to not give him the send-off that he deserves is probably the hardest thing to take. He is how we measure ourselves, he is the standards setter, he is the leader”

As for the remainder of the tournament I fancy New Zealand to win the whole thing. They definitely have the easier semi-final facing Argentina, compared to the other semi between England and South Africa. I think if they are fit to get past this Irish team, then they will likely be crowned champions for the fourth time in their history. I think it will be a New Zealand South Africa final, and it will be a tight one for sure, but I think the All-Blacks will go all the way.

Edited by Laura Ward