This charming man . . .
Related Articles
Monday May 11 2009
So, here's the deal. You are invited to meet the Queen. You either see it as something of a quirky honour, something to have a laugh with your mates about. Or maybe you see it as a bit of a pain in the arse, but as a professional sportsman you just have to grin and bear it every time you're dragged out for some stupid photocall when you'd really rather be back home.
Or, if you're from Cork, you display all the manners of a 13 year old corner boy.
That was the impression given by the reliably surly and truculent Ronan O'Gara last week when the Irish rugby team met the Queen.
Now, as someone who is the product of a bunch of in-bred Germans, Betty always seems actually quite nice; and, after all, when you're married to a madman like Philip the Greek, you need to have a good degree of forbearance.
But that cut no ice with the charmless O'Gara who stood in front of her with his hands in his pockets and a typically Cork slieveen smirk on his face.
If he is that much of an anti-Royalist why didn't he invent a brief illness to keep him away from the event? Or did he want to show off to his mates back home?
Although, as one Leinster fan pointed out in the office yesterday, he played with his hands in his pockets for 80 minutes in Croke Park, so why should he be any different meeting the Queen?
Stephen Ireland, Roy Keane, the Cork footballers and hurlers, Michael Collins and now O'Gara -- is there something in the water down there or something?
