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Compiled by PHILIP REID

Wee Mac on Unicef mission

IRELAND'S leading golfers have split into different camps . . . but all for a good cause. Up to now, Pádraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell put themselves up as patrons of Goal, the third world charity, which also includes the likes of rugby players Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Heaslip among their ranks.

Rory McIlroy, however, has opted for a different plan of campaign. Wee Mac has been appointed as a global ambassador for Unicef Ireland, joining actor Liam Neeson in that role.

On agreeing to help Unicef’s information campaign, McIlroy received a special present from the organisation: a Barcelona jersey signed by Lionel Messi.

Nugent and Ward get the nod from TV watchers in Sicily

A WEEK on from that glorious rugby win over England and it is amazing how the perception of Ireland’s chances going into the World Cup later in the year have changed.

From a team going into a cul-de-sac and prone to giving away too many penalties to being espoused as the best team in the Northern Hemisphere. Sport is fickle but rugby is the most capricious game of the lot.

Anyway, apart from the fact that one game seems to have created a transformation in Ireland’s aspirations ahead of the real deal in New Zealand, and also confirmed how fortunate we are to possess two world-class outhalves, it was an education in itself watching the TV watchers at my choice of viewing: a hotel in Sicily, far removed from the hotbed of rugby.

Most of those crowded around the television were English, Irish, and Scottish – with the Scots very much siding with Ireland – and there was an all-round appreciation of the Irish performance. And not just on the field of play. The commentary used by the Italian broadcasting station was of RTÉ’s Ryle Nugent with co-commentator Tony Ward and the general consensus of those in the television room was that they were ahead of their BBC equivalent.

No flippant rehearsals

SPORT isn’t always about life and death – although those who prepare for motor racing must view it that way, as was demonstrated in the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix season-opener in Melbourne where a 60-strong medical team performed dress rehearsals of a “crash victim”, aka a mannequin dummy on a stretcher.

In the run-up to the race and the qualifying laps, the medical team performed full rehearsals using the dummy – with one leg severed – to practice on the speed of treatment and also the time it took to get the “victim” to the local hospital.

The mannequin’s severed leg might seem like taking things too far, but apparently it has to do with simulating the accident suffered by Italian driver Alex Zanardi in an Indy car race in Germany in 2001 which resulted in him having both legs amputated.

Sportspeople show they are not just overpaid professionals

FOR THOSE of us on the outside looking in, it can often seem that there exists a section of overpaid professional sportspeople who lack the moral fibre to realise how fortunate they were to be given a gift. This type of sportsperson lives in their own bubble, and exists, for sure; but the aftermath of the recent earthquakes in New Zealand and especially Japan would indicate that these morally defunct ignoramuses are the exception rather than the rule.

Some heartwarming examples of sporting philanthropy have come to light since the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, especially from those involved in that country’s two biggest sports, baseball and golf.

Ichiro Suzuki is so big in his homeland that letters posted to him don’t require any mailing address, just his name. For the past decade, Suzuki has plied his trade in the United States with the Seattle Mariners – where he has assumed the nickname, “The Hits Man” – and, as Japan’s most famous (and richest) baseball player, his response to the natural disaster in his homeland was to immediately donate 100 million Yen (€869,000) to the relief effort.

Others, too, have been far from shy in coming forward. During last week’s Transition Championship on the US Tour, golfer Ryuji Imada – an American-based Japanese golfer – pinned a hand-written note to every player’s locker saying he was going to donate $1,000 per birdie during the tournament and would appreciate others doing the same.

As it happened, Imada made only two birdies and missed the cut himself. But his motivation was taken on board by many others, with South Korean KJ Choi making a donation of $100,000 to the American Red Cross and American Bubba Watson writing out a cheque for $50,000 to the charity.

A similar noteworthy effort was executed on the LPGA Tour where Australian Karrie Webb donated the entire proceeds of her winner’s prize – $200,000 – in the Founder’s tournament to two charities in an equal split: one half went to the Japanese relief effort, the other part to a Christopher Reeve Foundation set up by the late Superman actor. Webb’s long-time coach Kelvin Haller has been a quadriplegic for 20 years.

And, American Major Soccer League side San Jose Earthquakes also marked their opening game of the new season by contributing a portion of their gate receipts to the victims in Japan.

The lie that all professional sportspeople think only of themselves has been put to bed, thankfully. Niall Quinn, of course, donated the entire proceeds – £1 million – of his testimonial game in 2002 at Sunderland to children’s charities, in Ireland and England, while his fellow-Irish international Gary Kelly raised a similar amount for two cancer charities from his testimonial at Leeds.

Of course, the most mammoth fundraising effort here has been the JP McManus pro-am staged every five years. Last year’s two-day tournament raised a remarkable €40 million for charities in the Limerick region – and, again, all of the players competing from around the world gave their time and effort for free.

As Pádraig Harrington put it ahead of last year’s event when asked why so many of the world’s top players would be there, “they like the fact that they are giving something back”.

The response to the Japanese disaster must surely warm the hearts of the coldest of fish, providing proof positive that sport is not entirely populated by people self-obsessed with banking as much money for themselves as they can.

Ironically, the giving nature of sporting deeds was highlighted by the actions of the Japanese Rugby Union back in February after the earthquake which rocked New Zealand. Unaware of what natural disaster would hit their own country within a month, the Japanese held a designated collection at half-time in their Japan Cup final with all of the proceeds going to aid the victims of the New Zealand quake to show solidarity between the two countries. But that original gesture by the Japanese showed that sport crosses boundaries for good, and that as long as there are those prepared to give rather than take all the time, then there is hope for us all.

Singing praises of a special Canary

IT SEEMS like a million years ago since the family would troop en force up Richmond Road to Tolka Park on a Friday evening where the Burdocks batter burger was one part of the fare on offer. The more appetising part of the menu, though, was invariably the week-in, week-out wizardry shown by Wes Hoolahan – and his move across channel has proved hugely beneficial to the ex-Shels playmaker.

Hoolahan has blossomed immensely under Paul Lambert’s guidance at Norwich City where he has become a huge terrace favourite and his form has helped the Canaries get within touching distance of a place in next season’s Premier League. So dramatic has his impact been this season that he has won the man-of-the-match accolade in four of his club’s last five matches.

He is clearly doing something right. But not enough, obviously, to catch the attention of Senor Trapattoni. In fact, Hoolahan’s only senior cap was won as a substitute in the Mickey Mouse friendly with Colombia at Craven Cottage in London nearly three years ago. Since then, Hoolahan has been deemed surplus to requirements whilst other midfielders who couldn’t lace his boots, and who hardly get a game for their clubs, still get the call.

Hoolahan may lack a physical presence but he has pace, skill and a work ethic that can’t be questioned. And I’d prefer a slick, hard-hitting bantamweight any day to a sluggish heavyweight – on his form, he deserves another chance with the Ireland set-up.

Maybe on the summer tour to the United States? For now, it’s the Canaries’ supporters who are left singing his praises...

“Who can take a football,

Take it on a run,

Stick it in the box,

So Holt can score for fun?

Wes Hoolahan can,

Wes Hoolahan can,

Wes Hoolahan can,

cause he is the man.”

Trust me, his football is better than the song.