IRISH ATHLETE MARK English has paid tribute to two of his classmates who passed away in the Berkeley balcony tragedy and revealed how he was affected by the ‘devastating news’.
English, who won a bronze medal in last year’s European Athletics Championships and a silver in this year’s European Indoors, was in college in UCD with Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh.
A Sky Academy Scholar, English wrote on the Sky Sports website about an emotional few months.
“June 15 will live for a long time in my memory. I was involved in a day of filming with Sky Sports in Dublin.
“The whole operation was precision personified. Everything was timed so that the crew had their job completed in time for their flight home to the UK that evening.
Devastating
“But there was little time to absorb the devastating news I received during filming that day of the death of two of my medical school classmates in the balcony accident in Berkeley, California.
“The accident claimed the lives of six students and leaving another seven in a critical condition. The magnitude of this tragedy caused me to stop in my tracks and think.
“Were it not for my athletics I may well have been out there myself on a J1 Visa. Less than a year ago I had shared a class holiday with Lorcan Miller (RIP) and Eimear Walsh (RIP) in Croatia.
They were two of the brightest, affable and most vivacious people I had ever met.
“Events like this put injuries and poor performances into perspective. I returned from the European team championships on June 23 just in time to attend the funerals of both classmates.
My own worries paled into insignificance.
“Athletics is not life and death. In September our class will be missing two vibrant young people who never got a chance to fulfil their potential.”
“In the light of all that has happened so far this summer I realise that it is important to live life to the full.
“To see that glass half full rather than half empty. There is still half the summer left. There is still time to improve on my form and set my injury straight.
“I will try to embrace the advice of the writer Samuel Beckett…..
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
There are a lot of columns on this player across every outlet but none ever seem to address what exactly her concerns are and/or what would it take to get her to play for Norway again. It appears it started due to the Norway womens team not getting the same treatment as the mens team so proper order in putting their foot down until they got that, but as far as it was reported the Norwegians addressed that issue fairly comprehensively and yet she still won’t play.
Problem is that it doesn’t bring in as much money as the men’s game. You can expect to play in front of a fraction of the crowd and still expect the same money. That said, previous stories of the FAI expecting women’s teams to hand back gear and be out of pocket for representing their country is crazy. If the women’s game generates as much money, they should be paid accordingly, but as things stand, it doesn’t.
@Rocky: expenses being equal should be a given. The national team is the national team regardless of gender. There was a time the irish women got about €30 a day per diem while on international duty or at training camp etc which might not sound much but when you are taking your annual leave from working in the type of job a 21 or 22 year old might have it was nice to have. Of course the Big Cheese pulled that rug out from under them disgracefully.
@Rocky: But most are not talking about appearance money they’re talking about the basics. Proper kit, proper medical, proper training facilities, showcasing, insurance, and decent expenses. In many cases the latter is way more important as they don’t earn nearly as much as your average Male player…and if they are representing their country, which for most will be the height of media exposure, all of the above is the least they should be getting