Remember those commercials in the 80’s for the cereal Lucky Charms. The little green leprechaun would run through the woods or some other random place giggling and holding onto his box of cereal with all of his life as all of these greedy little kids would run after him at a pace that would make you think they were likely going to tear him to pieces if they caught up to him just to get a bite of his delicious marshmallowly, sugary cereal.
Well I must admit that I never thought that the leprechaun in those commercials was very lucky at all. In fact his cereal had caused those children to become dependant on the sugar fix, thus, making them marshmallow maniacs loony for balooney and, thus, making the leprechaun always on the run.
Just like the accosted, unlucky leprechaun, the Irish national team have proven this year that not all things Irish are as lucky as Bono. In fact the Irish have been cheated worse then just about any other team in FIFA’s history. The squad was given the tough two match knockout leg of France and then when the Irish made it as close as it could be, the officials proved to be useless allowing France to win a game in extra time that they clearly had not earned.
Earlier this week the Irish asked FIFA for a 33rd team to be added to the tournament. How would such a thing even work? Perhaps another knockout match between #32 and #33 like March Madness college basketball? FIFA turned down the proposal and the Irish will remain at home this summer despite deserving a chance to play in South Africa. The ruling is unfair, but FIFA is too stubborn to change their ways and admit the Irish should be in South Africa.
And somewhere a bludgeoned leprechaun watches greedy, hopped up kids devouring his beloved cereal.
The Irish aren’t as lucky as you think.
