A Different View with Dave O’Connell

Every dad who has ever stood on a sporting sideline had to feel a small twinge in the back of their leg at the sight of Jurgen Klopp hobbling back with a pulled hamstring after berating John Brooks, the fourth official in Liverpool’s weekend win over Spurs.

I say ‘dad’ not to be sexist – but because women, for the most part, aren’t the parents who fling abuse and insults in the direction of the officials at football matches.

And it’s also a sort of admission of shamefully bad behaviour in the past.

Indeed my first thought, as Klopp hobbled back to his seat carrying his leg and embarrassment in equal measure, was that Jurgen could so easily have been me.

Not at Anfield as the manager of any team obviously, let alone Liverpool; more likely on the sideline in Westside on an inclement Sunday morning, when Corrib Rangers were denied a definite penalty or conceded a goal that was a mile offside.

The problem would have been that, if I pulled something, there would be no seat to go back to and recover my walk and my pride.

If I had a hamstring problem, there was the possibility of being carried across traffic on the Seamus Quirke Road, through the field where the helicopter lands with actual medical emergencies, over the hospital grounds and into casualty.

It wouldn’t be the first time that someone left the sporting field with an injury that required medical attention, but it might be the first time that an animated dad was on the trolley with a mouth problem that led to muscle strain.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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