At the end of the day it’s a sporting cliché

A Different View with Dave O’Connell

The World Cup coverage may have rammed home the point, but it’s long been obvious that footballers – and indeed sports people of all ilk – have an unhealthy preoccupation with the end of the day.

Not in the way Van Morrison sang about the end of the day, when we give thanks and pray….this isn’t actually to do with a cycle of daily life at all.

But in interview after interview, these Sporting Gods preface every second sentence with the phrase – and every other sentence begins with the word ‘obviously’.

In fairness to ‘obviously’ however, it can be seen as a moment to gather their considerable thoughts or perhaps to emphasise the point. At the end of the day, on the other hand, is a sort of modern equivalent to ‘when all is said and done’ – but it doesn’t have anything to do with dusk or, indeed, night.

Its use is often followed by the name of a sports pundit – or better still his nickname in the quintessential old pals act – as in: “at the end of the day, Gary” or “at the end of the day, Gilesy”.

Then it’s joined to a breathtakingly obvious fact: “At the end of the day Garry, football is a game of two halves,” and if you really want to reinforce your point, conclude your insight with ‘no question about it’.

Of course Eamon Dunphy can inject life into his analysis with the odd ‘f’ word, but that’s better than ‘I must be honest here’ – as though you’ve been lying heretofore – or ‘You’d have to say….’ when what you really mean is ‘I have to say’.

But we all know there’s a whole language to sports punditry that’s known only to those who practice very hard at it. Muck of the time it’s designed as a way to pretend you’re actually saying something critical when you’re really saying little or nothing at all.

So, star players are always ‘arguably’ the best players on the field, as though arguing over it someone strengthens your stance.

And one of the ways to win a football game is to play better than anyone could expect of you – as in, you give it 110%. Because to play to your full God-given potential is somehow never quite enough.

Good players, incidentally, will always step up to the plate. Which is fine if you understand the rules of baseball, but otherwise it suggests they’re forever eating big dinners, when they should really be watching their diet.

There’s no end to the sporting insights you can glean from players and pundits alike – gems like ‘a win is a win’, ‘we came here to win’ and ‘goals win games’.

Some games as ‘must win’ games – as thought others really aren’t – and good teams know that it’s never over ‘til it’s over….although occasionally the manager might concede that they simply ran out of time.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.