RTE keep national treasure hidden from view

Sensitive souls might have gained a somewhat disconcerting view of Irish horsemanship from watching the Christmas Day screening of Ben Hur on TG4. They would have seen one of our own, Belfast's Stephen Boyd, provoking severe apoplexy among the stewards as his character, Messala, used the whip outrageously in a chariot race against the admirably stoic Judah Ben Hur, played by Charlton Heston.

Happily the damage would have been repaired emphatically, before the end of the festive season. For there could hardly have been a more exhilarating, heartwarming sight than that of Charlie Swan, easing Istabraq to victory in the Tote December Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown.

It was a great pity, however, that one had to turn to BBC1 or Channel 4 for a live commentary of the race. Presumably, there were sound, financial reasons for RTE's absence, and given the current difficulties in this newspaper, one has a certain sympathy with programme planners at Montrose in these straitened times.

Still, it seems extraordinary that whereas Network 2 covered racing from Leopardstown live on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, viewers had to wait five hours after Saturday's showpiece for RTE television pictures as part of the 6.0 p.m. news. Then, we had only brief comments from the owner J P McManus, from Swan and from the trainer, Aidan O'Brien.

All of which becomes richly ironic when one recalls McManus talking of Istabraq as really belonging to the Irish people, as a sort of equine, national treasure.

With the British stations understandably preoccupied with racing in their own country, we were denied the extensive, post-race interviews which are so much a part of the enjoyment of these events, especially with a wonder-horse centre-stage. Flicking from one channel to the other, the general impression from experts, including Channel 4's John McCririck, was that Istabraq's win, though welcome, was lacking in conviction.

Then, in an analytical re-run of the race, their commentator informed us of the crucial, third-last flight: "He (Istabraq) basically put his leg out without really jumping properly; Charlie half saw a stride and then left him alone. He just dived at that, Istabraq, but was clever enough to get over it as the race is now on in earnest."

Later, McManus confessed: "My heart missed a beat when he appeared to make a mistake on the third last."

Meanwhile, for the benefit of those frightfully erudite folk who would claim that Southwell should be pronounced Suthell, Channel 4's racing team had a gentle history lesson. We were informed that the name dated back to Roman times when a north well and a south well were dug in the area. So, Southwell should be pronounced precisely as it is written.

Later on BBC Grandstand, John Inverdale introduced a boxing segment, topped and tailed by a Spitting Image style take-off of Lennox Lewis, Audley Harrison and Frank Bruno which was far too incestuously British to be appreciated beyond the homeland.

In between, however, was a fascinating and disturbing interview with former world heavyweight boxing champion, George Foreman.

The 52-year-old grandad talked about his early life in the ring with more menace than even the notorious, ear-biting Mike Tyson could muster. Quite simply, Foreman admitted that he once took a firm decision to kill his next opponent.

It stemmed back to the Mexico Olympics in 1968 when he won the gold medal as heavyweight champion but refused at the flag-raising ceremony to ape compatriots John Carlos and Tommy Smith with the black-power salute of clenched fist and bowed head. "Some people expected me to do it but I had been rescued from the gutter and I was really happy to have won my medal," he explained.

"Later, people came to me and accused me 'why would you wave a flag in the Olympics?' So, as a back-lash, I became defensive and determined to knock someone's head off. And I got up with Sonny Liston, the former champion, who became my sparring partner. He was so mean to people and I decided, if you're gonna be champion, you've got to be mean. And I became even meaner than Liston."

Yet, of his title-winning fight in Kingston, Jamaica, he said: "I was afraid of Joe Frazier. I didn't really think I could beat him. And I knocked him down six times, thinking: 'I've got to get him before he gets me'. "

He went on: "When it came to the fight with Ali (the so-called Rumble in the Jungle), I was only doing him a favour because I heard he needed the money. And I said I'd knock him out real quick so he doesn't get hurt. Over-confident, I was."

As to the warning that Ali would be sent home in a body bag, he admitted: "I kept telling people I was gonna kill him. Put him in a body bag. And some of his handlers came to me and said 'Look, we know you're gonna fight Muhammad, but please stop saying you're gonna kill him.'

"So I said, 'okay, I won't kill him.' And I actually thought I was gonna spare his life."

Then Foreman made the remarkable admission: "If I tell you I wasn't trying to kill people in the ring, I'd be lying to you. You talk about the killer instinct. Look, when opponents kept saying 'I can beat George Foreman', I thought, 'I'm gonna have to kill one of these people, then they will stop talking.' That's the way I felt about it, not understanding that if you took someone's life, you'd never see them again."

Two years later, he found God. In the dressingroom after losing a 12-round decision against Jimmy Young, he "felt the Lord's hand on my forehead and I started screaming, 'Jesus Christ has come alive in me'."

But the need for cash brought a comeback to the ring 10 years later, and he regained the world title at 45. Handled in a very low-key manner by Inverdale, it was an outstanding interview.

Finally, the BBC reported another notable Irish story. "Gareth, you told me before the race that Ireland had more chance of winning the World Cup than you had of winning this race. You were kiddin' me, weren't you?"

This was Brendan Foster, talking to Gareth Turnbull, after the Belfast athlete had won the Great North cross country in Newcastle-on-Tyne, for a third successive year.

"No, I was deadly serious," came the reply. "Ireland have a great chance of winning the World Cup, so I wasn't really kidding." Get your money on now. The odds will be much better than Istabraq's were.