WITH World Cup fever fully underway around the world, fans of Irish football might be feeling a little left out. A summer of GAA action is providing some diversion, but with another competition coming round with no Irish involvement now might be the time to take a little wander down Memory Lane.

I HAVE a great pal, Mick Doc, who regularly makes reference to his Catholic pals—including myself—as ‘Good Romans,’obviously coming from the fuller term ‘Roman Catholics.’ But I’m not sure Mick knows, because I didn’t, that this term originated in the 16th century and was initially used by Protestants to differentiate the Church they had separated from.