John Bruton TD

An Taoiseach

WHAT was that about the Global Village? John Bruton, in his capacity as a Meath supporter, experienced the new hi-tech age when stranded in Tokyo for an EU-Japan summit in late September. During Ireland's presidency of the European Union, the high-powered meeting obviously took priority over the replay of the All-Ireland Football final even if his wife Finola, a Mayo supporter, could experience the Croke Park action at first hand.

The Taoiseach had been present at the first match and had a genuine interest in the outcome of the replay. . . and a satellite television link-up to his room in far-off Tokyo proved unfeasible. However, in a sign of the times, the Internet came to the rescue of Bruton and other interested members of his party.

In the wee hours of the Japanese morning, Bruton's entourage were able to access the state of the game via a lap-top computer and the Internet and, much to the delight of the Taoiseach, news flickered onto the screen announcing a Royal County victory.

"In the absence of a television on which we could have viewed the game the Internet proved to be far more practical, and less expensive, than constant phone calls back home," said Bruton. "Obviously, it was no substitute for actually attending the game, but I am thankful for the technology which allowed me to keep updated.

"Until relatively recently, it would have been impossible to access such information so quickly and so easily - but I'm not 50 sure how thankful I could have been if the result had gone the other way," he added.

Pt John Vardy

(Wextord supporter)

A MASSIVE purple and gold banner with the legend "Glory Glory Martin Storey" emblazoned on it became a familiar sight to the citizens of Naqoura, a village on the Israeli/Lebanese border, in the summer of `96. Private John Vardy, who was on peacekeeping duties with UNIFIL, arrived there in April with more optimism than confidence that his replica Wexford hurling jersey would see much action.

But Sunday after Sunday, Vardy made the walk to The BBC Club where the RTE radio commentary of championship matches pierced the air with remarkable clarity ...

and Wexford hurlers featured more than he ever dreamed possible. Vardy followed every move of Storey & Co, and when the radio link broke down during the Leinster final, he rushed to a phone, contacted home (in The Curragh) and asked them to put the receiver up to the radio. His heart was very much in Croke Park.

For the All-Ireland Final, the Irish members of the UN peacekeeping force again had to rely on radio commentary. Micheal O Muircheartaigh's tones wafted through the Middle East air. "I must have lost about two stones in weight during the match. Near the end, Limerick got a free and sent it in towards the square. The incident only lasted a minute or so, but it seemed like half an hour to me. I was praying for the final whistle."

When it was all over, he phoned home in a bid to infiltrate the party. "I was homesick and, more than anything, wanted to be in Wexford." His brother, Aidan, summed up the carnival atmosphere when he told him that if there were any tourists in the county that night they would have to stay "because every signpost is covered with the Wexford colours and they won't find their way out". Vardy's heart was in Wexford.

Paddy Harrington

Father of Spanish Open champion, Padraig

MAY. Paddy Harrington sat in the living room of his Rathfarnham home with the television zapper for company and the phone close-by. His wife Breda had hot-legged it out to Madrid on the Saturday (co-incidentally, the third round of the Spanish Open was washed out) when it became apparent rookie professional Padraig was poised for a historic victory.

Paddy stayed behind. He doesn't like flying and rarely ventures abroad. "I'm not afraid of flying, I've no phobia - it is just that I suffer badly with my ears if I fly, not just the next day but for months afterwards." So it was that the golfer's dad relied on Sky Sports, Aertel and phone calls from his pal Pat O'Donovan in RTE Radio Sport for updates on Padraig's progress on Sunday, May 12th.

"I've never experienced tension like it," said Paddy, who played in the 1967 All-Ireland Football Final with his native Cork. "That morning, I wondered if they would play just 18 holes or fit in the full 36. There was a delay in play again on the Sunday morning, but it was decided to play the two rounds and, so, Padraig had only completed seven or eight holes in the final round when the television coverage stopped. Sky had used up the schedule. I was left in a vacuum and was tense again, relying on updates from Pat (O'Donovan) and Aertel, and welcoming phone calls because they generally bring good news."

Sky recommended live coverage shortly after seven o'clock, at which stage Harrington was on the 15th hole. "I knew once Padraig got by the 15th and 16th holes he was home, he could almost fall over and still win. But there is definitely more tension watching a tournament on television than actually being present at the event."

Christy O'Connor Jnr

Professional golfer

IF GOLF pumps through Christy O'Connor Jr's veins, you could say that boxing flows through his arteries. His brother Albert was a Connacht champion in the early 1960s and while the golfing fairways trodden by his uncle Christy Sr proved more enticing, Junior never lost the gra for the noble art.

When amateur boxer Francis Barrett - the man who carried the Irish tricolour at Atlanta `96 - stepped into the ring in the Coliseum, the pictures were received in the O'Connor household in Oranmore with considerable interest.

"I felt as if I had some affinity with Francis, not only because he was a fellow Galwayman, but also due to the fact that his trainer Chick Gillen is a very close personal friend of mine," said Christy. "I was so proud of him when he won his first fight, and also with the way he handled himself generally. He was a credit not only to the travelling community, but to the entire country."

On both occasions in which Barrett boxed in Atlanta, Christy nestled into his favourite livingroom chair surrounded by the rest of the O'Connor damn. "My injury meant I probably spent too much time watching sport on television, rather than competing myself, for much of the past year," said O'Connor. "But I must say it gave me particular satisfaction to stay up late and watch Francie."

Joe Hayes

Irish Ambassador to China

IN ANY normal year, Joe Hayes's sporting allegiance revolves around the welfare of the Tipperary hurling team - and, indeed, he admits to "spending a long, steamingly-hot afternoon" in the kitchen of the Redemptorist House in Bacolod in Occidental Negros, in the Philippines, on one occasion during the summer musing over the team's fortunes with a fellow Tipperary man Fr Martin Ryan and a Presentation nun from Thomastown, Kilkenny, Sr Bernie Purcell.

1996 was no normal year, though. Once word about Michelle Smith's first gold medal filtered through to the Irish Embassy in Beijing from HQ in Dublin, the six Irish staff working in the embassy switched on CNN in a bid to follow her progress. "We never for a moment thought the carefully controlled Chinese media would give us any joy since they were focused almost exclusively on the fate of their own large national team. However, CNN's Olympic coverage was virtually nonexistent - patchy, capricious and second rate."

Salvation was at hand, albeit from rather surprising sources. "It was the People's Daily and its English language companion the China Daily which surprised us all by carrying a glorious photo with Michelle's hand raised in salute which told us all we needed to know to lift our spirits," he recalled.

Smith's medal haul "lifted our spirits on a humid overcast July day thousands of miles from home," said Hayes. But there were other memories ... like Meath supporter Patricia Lee, from Dunboyne, phoning home at one in the morning to discover the score in the All-Ireland Football Final ... and a letter from a group in Taiwan eager to establish an Asian GAA club.

John O'Shea

Founder of GOAL, the sports Third World charity

WHEN Michelle Smith was minting her golden bounty in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Centre, John O'Shea wasn't exactly in some far-flung corner of Africa or Asia. No, O'Shea, a self-confessed sports fanatic, and wife Judy had headed off to Mojacar, in the Almeria district of southern Spain, for "our first foreign holiday in 20 years", combining the merited break with an opportunity to see their daughter Karen, who works in the region.

O'Shea's efforts to see Smith's sporting endeavours proved to be rather frustrating, to say the least - indeed, he might have had more success in witnessing her triumphs if he had been in Africa or Asia. "For some reason, any time we turned on a television expecting to see Michelle swimming, we were met with a weightlifting competition or gymnastics . . . it was terrible, we all wanted so much to see her competing, but there was absolutely nothing we could do about it.

"Despite our best attempts, we really missed the whole excitement of Michelle's achievement and had to rely on phone calls home to update us on what she was doing and then buying newspapers a day or two later to try and feel a part of it all. We were aware of what Michelle was doing, but unfortunately we did not get the opportunity to see any of her races until we got home and watched them on video."