I’VE long held a fondness for leap years, and have loved them for almost 16 years to be precise.
February 29, 2008 was a particularly rare and wonderful date.
As you may know, an old tradition has that as a day when females can propose marriage to men.
Being a modern chap, I took the opportunity to pop the question myself. Spoiler alert: she was so surprised she actually said ‘Yes’.
Dissidents offer only hate, hurt and fear
Westminster election contest shaping up nicely – David McCann
We jokingly told some family members that we were going to get married in Moscow that May to coincide with the Champions League Final to be held there. The more gullible among them even believed us.
That ‘plan’ was abandoned once the Mighty Reds failed to reach the decider; I can’t remember which club did fluke their way to the trophy that season…It’s so long ago.
Hosting that major match in the Russian capital seemed outrageously outlandish.
Little did we realise that the 2018 World Cup would go there too, and the 2022 one to Qatar – in winter.
At least they did switch that; Saudi Arabia is talking about holding the 2034 World Cup in their summer, by which time even the Irish summer will have hot rain.
It all goes to show that nothing should surprise you in sport, and certainly not where mountains of money are involved.
Perhaps my wife and I should have changed careers to become a certain type of top level sporting administrator, showing a complete disregard for everyone other than ourselves.
At this time of wishes for a better future, maybe this could be the year when venue decisions are made to suit supporters, not just broadcasters.
Even when there aren’t rail strikes, football fans in England can be asked to travel the length of the country at all hours, simply for TV scheduling purposes.
It’s not too bad in Ireland, given the relatively small size of the island, reducing travel distances in comparison to many other countries.
However, there’s still plenty of work to be done in terms of integration of fixture schedules as the sporting bodies overseeing hurling, Gaelic football for both men and women, and camogie move closer together.
Leap years bring international soccer tournaments, at least when a global pandemic doesn’t get in the way.
Very shortly we’ll have the African Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup for those massive continental confederations, but in truth most soccer supporters in the western world largely regard those through the lens of losing star players from the club teams they follow.
The Euros in Germany this summer are definitely an event to look forward to. Germany is a large country but one with excellent transport infrastructure and, if the 2006 World Cup there is anything to go by, superb organisation.
The contrast with the next World Cup is stark, at least in terms of scale. The 2026 World Cup is expanding in all directions, going to an absurdly bloated 48 teams, and across three different – and huge – countries, namely Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
As with the farcical multi-venue format for Euro 2020 (delayed until 2021), there was little or no thought given to the actual fans attending matches, with the emphasis on the plural. The travel costs going between games could be huge.
Having said that, later next year supporters of Irish teams will no doubt be hoping that the number of participants for World Cup 2026 had actually been doubled, to 64, rather than only increased by half.
You always want to be there, even if you don’t know how you’ll actually get there, or get around.
Leap years also mean the Olympics. Let’s not get into the decision-making of its administrators, notably concerning Russia…
On the upside, for the TV audience at least there a similar time zone to here with hosts France.
The Rugby World Cup passed off fairly well there, although supporters might be well advised to pack gas masks just in case.
One last point on the subject of convenient venues: it would be great to see work start on the redevelopment of Casement Park in 2024.
Obviously its greatest importance is for the GAA, in Antrim and Ulster, but it’s also clear that Euro 2028 will not come to anywhere else in Belfast, not in a month of Sundays.
///////////////////////////////////////////
As it is now 2024, almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century, not to mention the new millennium, it’s about time we had truly intelligent sports equipment.
Boots to count steps in Gaelic football, linked up to a ball which notes bounces.
An image generated by HawkEye at Croke Park An image generated by HawkEye at Croke Park
Hurling gloves that can tell whether or not a sliotar has been thrown.
Cricket bats that indicate when they’ve made contact with the ball. Cricket balls which tell whether they’ve touched the ground before being caught.
That’s all probably asking too much.
Soccer in particular simply needs a reliable method to ascertain is the blooming ball in or out? Spectators and viewers shouldn’t be squinting at shadows and curvatures.
The GAA is still struggling with technology too, with disputes over the accuracy of scores.
The ‘Smart sliotar’ which was announced in early 2022 and launched last year wasn’t as exciting as it sounds. It does have a micro-chip inside it, and that links up to an app – but only in order to confirm that each individual sliotar is an officially licenced one. Indeed.
Given that only last year GAA match officials couldn’t keep count accurately over 15 – presumably a sock got stuck on one foot – perhaps asking for state-of-the-art technology high in the sky is more like pie in the sky though.
Baby steps then. Like the ones attackers take.
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Mort Laitner
Tarik Cyril Amar
Rami G Khouri
Bradley Blankenship
Michael Kwet
visit website
