Sound of one hand clapping

IT WAS interesting to read last week of the retirement of five times Tour de France winner Indurain, and even more interesting to read the reported comments on his departure by two of our own best known bicyclists.

"He's doing the right thing to stop now ...", Stephen Roche told us, "but it was obvious last year that he no longer had that extra 2 per cent and it would not be good for him to continue on the slide . . . The fire inside him is not burning any longer ... there would be fierce pressure on him ... and I don't think he would have been able to cope with that ... Indurain was lucky he was competing in an era when there were no other top time triallists to challenge him ... good luck to him in his retirement."

Sean Kelly was equally enthusiastic about Indurain's decision: "He has to be regarded as one of the all time Tour greats, but... he just may not be mentally right to continue ... in his early years he did not look to be anything out of the ordinary, but he was gradually brought along by his directeur sportif... he obviously did not have the motivation to go on for another season . . . Yes, to retire now is the right decision."

Right. I don't suppose many people noticed that on the same day Indurain announced his retirement, the career of 15 times world canasta champion Ricardo Casabaglio also came to an end, with his announcement that he would henceforth devote his time to the breeding of Appenzeller Spitzhauben hens.

I asked two of our own great canasta heroes to comment. Stevie Joe Hennessy, the champion from Mallow who twice came close to completing the great treble (World Series, Pan American Championship and Mayo Open) said: "Well it's obvious Ricardo is no longer the player he used to be, though there are those who say he never was. In his early years he had a couple of lucky wins, especially on the day that Louis Vacaro went over the cliff in that unexplained traffic incident during the Capri Pro Am and, of course, it was fortunate for him that he never had to face the great diamonds in hand specialists that I regularly came up against."

But a fine champion, nevertheless? "Well, he had great heart of course, though it's true he funked a series of simple deals in the 1984 Italian tour. That was the year before he dropped out of the French Open in Nice for reasons known only to himself, though I often thought of asking him about the puncture marks on his left thigh. Perhaps he fell on a holly bush along the Croisette.

"Of course his family brought him along in his early years and indeed during most of his middle years, as the Sicilian famiglia tends to do."

So Casabaglio was just the right man at the right time? "I beg your pardon? Am I saying that without luck, sharp practice, price fixing bribery, objectionable personal habits, team corruption and an early criminal background, Ricardo would never have got anywhere in the canasta world? Well of course not. He had to have talent too. Good luck to him in his retirement. He was truly one of the greats, and, I envy the hens under his care.

Seanin "cliste" O'Mara, the dour Crossmolina man who was twice runner up to Casabaglio in the canasta World Series, also agreed that retirement was the best option and suggested that the Italian might not be mentally fit to continue - or emotionally fit or psychologically competent or morally safe, not that I am suggesting, that Wilhelm Offensturm's sudden death in the 1990 European play off at Monte Carlo was anything but an accident".

Would you say Casabaglio is burnt out? "Well, a lot of those reports about his private life are probably exaggerated, and I don't personally believe the prostate rumour. Speaking of burning out, as a reporter do you recall any investigation into the strange hotel fire in which his great rivals Hans Hoffmeister and Federico Lasagna died just before the 1991 World Series final in Cagliari?

No? Nor do I. Ricardo was certainly a lucky man to escape with his life and all his luggage."

And has Casabaglio lost motivation? "Well, I don't think the Italians have a word for motivation, but they certainly understand money, and if Ricardo now has enough, as I'm sure he has, what with his child labour enterprises - on Thai beaches, his fireworks contracts with certain emerging African nations and all those unusual plantation interests in Colombia, then perhaps he has indeed suffered a motivation fall off, which is very sad of course. But I wish him the best.

"All in all, Casabaglio was certainly one of the greats. I hope he will be happy in his retirement, and not over troubled by conscience."