The Ballad of Richard Dunne

We live in an era where many footballers see wearing the jersey of their national team as a burden, with many turning their back on International football entirely to focus on their club careers. One man however takes his job much more seriously, weather he is wearing a proper jersey or not.

I had a dream the other night that they made a remake of Sergio Leone's Spagetti Western "A Fistful of Dollars". They called it "A Few Euro Qualification Points More" and instead of Clint Eastwood as 'The Man with No Name' the star of the show was Richard Dunne, 'The Man with No Jersey'. Like Eastwood's character, Dunne has become somewhat of a folk hero. His heroics in an Irish shirt, and his performance against Russia especially on September 6th 2011, will go down in legend.

With Irish backs to the wall throughout the 90 minutes in Moscow, Dunne gave one of his finest displays as an Irish international. He held the back four together throughout, keeping his defense tightly in line. He was commanding in the air and made one impossible goal line block to stop what would have been a certain goal.

But with less than 20 minutes left in the game things took a turn for the worse when Ireland's influential center half skinned his face on the running track. Requiring stitches and a new jersey Dunne had to leave the field. It being the Football Association of Ireland however things never run so smoothly. Instead of having a spare set of shirts with numbers printed on the back, they had a blank shirt to cover such an incident. I can only imagine what Roy Keane's response would have have been to such a lack of organisation. To be fair there is nothing in the rules that state you have to have numbers on your replacement shirts but referee Felix Berdych insisted Dunne could not come back on without a number to identify him. How the german official could mistake the player Everton fans affectionaltly dubbed "The Honey Monster" is anyones guess. It was up to quick thinking Goalkeeper coach Alan Kelly to do what all 10 year olds were thinking at home, draw on the number with a marker.

As a kid I didn't have the luxury of getting my favourite players name and number printed on my favourite teams shirt at a local club shop. That was for another generation. I made one failed effort of getting an iron on number on my shirt. I bought it by mail order off an add in Shoot magazine. I got my mother to iron it on but it peeled off soon after. It was then I had the brainwave so many other kids before and after me have had. I got a marker and I proudly went for a kick around with my mates sporting a makeshift number 8 on the back of my Wesr Ham shirt in honour of Frank McAvennie. Like a kid at the local park Richard Dunne resumed his role at the heart of the Irish defense with his makeshift shirt.

And it's almost with a boyhood innocence that Dunne plays for Ireland. As a kid I dreamed of playing for Ireland and never imagined that anyone could possibly turn down a chance to represent your country. I could not, and at times still fail to understand the attitude of players like Stephen Ireland, who refuses to play for his country or James McCarthy who turns up for Irish games when he feels like it. Instead Dunne shares the passion that all those loyal fans who spent their hard earned money to travel to Moscow have. He displayed that as he ran around like a Sherman tank getting in the way of every Russian attacker for the remainder of the game.

Following the game Dunne's performance quickly garnered rave reviews with former Irish legend Paul McGrath desribing his efforts as

"the best performance I have seen from an Irish centre half and that includes myself."

That's high praise coming from the man who pretty much single handedly beat the Italians in the '94 World Cup. Richard was also trending worldwide on Twitter after the game with the hashtag #BelievableRichardDunneLies adding to his folklore. My favorite tweet froom @rubot sums up his now mythological status  

Richard Dunne is ranked above Ireland in the FIFA Ranking #BelievableRichardDunneLies

Dunne should be nobody's hero, having the unenvieable record of top own goal scoprer in the premier league. He also has a high red card count, looks a little overwieght and was once reprimanded by a manager for turning up for training the worse for wear after a heavy session the night before. His club form has at times been inconsistent yet despite all his faults he remains a firm fans favourite winning Manchester City's player of the year four years in a row. When he became surplus to requirements as soon the big money arrived in Eastlands, none of the top four sides came sniffing. Instead he departed for Aston Villa.

His club form didn't warrant a signing by one of the top clubs yet his performances at International level far exceed those of any other premier league defender. Neither John Terry nor Rio Ferdinand have had the string of outstanding games for their country that Dunne has had over the past few seasons. Is it the fact then that Richard Dunne is that rare breed of footballer who actually takes more pride in playing for his country than playing for his club. Unlike Gary Neville he does not see playing for his country as a waste of time.

Most of us watching from the stands would love the opportunity to play for our country if we possesed the abilities of a professional footballer. That is why it is refreshing and a joy to watch someone of Richard Dunnes immense abilities give his all every time he goes across the white line on our behalf. They will write songs in Dublin about his heroics. The ballad of Richard Dunne should be sung so young and old can remember that you can take pride from wearing your national jersey, with or without a number.