Sir, - In one of the great colonial put-downs, Matthew Arnold described the Celts as a romantic people, incapable of self-government.
On Monday, I opened the sports section of your paper to find a panegyric on Ireland's heroic failure against Belgium, and a yearning for a better future. This was not serious sports journalism. Questions need to be asked of any unsuccessful manager. This is particularly true of one who favours players not making the first team at their own clubs.
We got some passing references to this from Peter Byrne and Mark Lawrenson. We got obsequiousness from Tom Humphries. In Saturday's edition, Mr Humphries lamented those who do not challenge Mick McCarthy to his face. I remind Mr Humphries that he is paid to ask serious, if not searching questions at press conferences, not to identify with failure or create tragic heroes.
How is our national team to improve, surrounded as it is with complacent and (paradoxically) apologetic journalism? No other country would countenance it. Qualify for the next European Cup? As Arnold might say, "Dream on!" - Yours, etc.,
Eamon Morris,
Marino, Dublin 3.