Great Sporting Quotes
RTÉ Sport is embarking on a pivotal move into a shared workspace for its various platforms, with staff from TV Sport, TV News Sport, Radio Sport and RTÉ.ie Sport coming together under one roof for the first time in the broadcaster's history.
To mark the move, RTÉ Sport staff were asked to submit their greatest sporting quotes, of which the best will be used to provide decoration and inspiration in this new environment.
We've included some of the great, the good and the not so good below, but we'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject. So if you have any comments to make on the list below or would like to suggest any glaring omissions we may have made, then please let us know at sportonline@rte.ie and we'll add them in. Include 'Quotes' in your subject line.
GAA
'There is a level of politics in hurling. I don't think Henry Kissinger would have lasted a week on the Munster council.' Ger Loughnane.
'The miracle of the GAA is that it works so well despite itself. Paranoia, self-doubt, trenchant conservatism, fear of outside sports and veneration of the past are all key parts of the GAA psyche. In order to love the GAA, you have to swallow these faults whole.' Keith Duggan, The Irish Times.
'Life isn't all beer and football. Some of us haven't touched a football in months.' An unnamed 1980s Kerry footballer.
'Oh mother of God, there'll be a big night in the glen.' Eddie Moroney or 'Effin Eddie' from the Glen of Aherlow, Tipperary, commentating on the famous video of the Tipperary County U-21 Final between Aherlow and Nenagh in the 1990s. Listen to more from Eddie here on YouTube.
'And the referee is looking around and acting the mickey!' Eddie Moroney.
'All out bar the 'keeper!' A referee to the penalised defenders after awarding a penalty during a Donegal Senior Hurling Club final in Ballybofey.
'God would you rise it McMahon! If 'twas a skirt you'd lift it quick enough!' Athenry spectator.
'Drive her Maguire, for the seldom time ya get her.' A spectator roaring encouragement at a Leitrim club game.
'We're taking this match awful seriously. We're training three times a week now, and some of the boys are off the beer since Tuesday.' Johnny Pilkington.
'Babs Keating "resigned" as coach because of illness and fatigue. The players were sick and tired of him.' Offaly fan.
'He can take the ball from one end of the field to the other with just the player's occupations.' Jack O'Shea on Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'If Offaly win the National League again this year it will be the greatest accident since the Titanic.' Paul O'Kelly of Offaly.
'In the dust of defeat as well as in the laurel of victory, there is glory to be found.' JJ Meagher.
'There are two things in Ireland that would drive you to drink. GAA referees would drive you to drink, and the price of drink would drive you to drink.' Sligo fan.
'A wonder score by Joe Canning. That young man can walk on water. From now on it should be Joe 4-7 instead of John 3-7 ..... Brian Carthy - commentary - on Joe Canning scoring 4-7 for Clare against Galway in the Under 21 Hurling semi final.
SOCCER
'The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.' Danny Blanchflower.
'I'd love it if we beat them!' Kevin Keegan.
'All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football.' Albert Camus.
'What is a club anyway? It's the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city.' Bobby Robson.
'Winning isn't everything. There should be no conceit in victory and no despair in defeat.' Matt Busby.
'The only thing that has never changed in the history of the game is the shape of the ball.' Denis Law.
'I spent all my money on booze and women - the rest I just wasted.' George Best.
'The game is about being effective, being aggressive, winning the ball, getting on with the play. We'll put 'em under pressure.' Jack Charlton.
'I'd have given anything to hear what Dunphy, Giles and Brady would have made of the nightmare.' Chris Lowry, on TV3's coverage of Ireland's 5-2 defeat in Cyprus.
'I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one.' Brian Clough.
'When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Eric Cantona.
Some Brian Clough quotes courtesy of RTÉ.ie user Barry Noonan:
'Rome wasn't built in a day. But I wasn't on that particular job.'
'At last England have appointed a manager who speaks English better than the players.' Clough on the appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson.
'I'm not saying he's pale and thin, but the maid in our hotel room pulled back the sheets and remade the bed without realising he was still in it.' Clough referring to former Nottingham Forest player Brian Rice.
'For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls!' Clough on Alex Ferguson.
'They shot the wrong Kennedy.' Bob Paisley to full-back Alan Kennedy as they walked down the tunnel to the dressing room after the full-back had played an uncharacteristically bad first half in an English First Division game. Thanks to RTÉ.ie user Brendan Crean.
RACING
'After all, if you remove the gambling, where is the fun in watching a bunch of horses being whipped by midgets?' Ian O'Doherty, The Irish Independent.
'It was better than sex.' Jockey Mick Fitzgerald to interviewer Des Lynam after riding Rough Quest to success in the Aintree Grand National.
SPORTS PHILOSOPHY
'You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.' Plato.
'Nothing reveals so much about us as how we play the games we play.' Q, Star Trek.
'Sport marks out those who strive: it rewards inequality of both talent and application.' Kevin Myers, The Irish Independent.
'In sport everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.' Jean-Paul Sartre.
'Nothing is simultaneously freer and more constrained than the action of the good player. He quite naturally materialises at just the place the ball is about to fall, as if the ball were in command of him - but by that very fact, he is in command of the ball.' Pierre Bourdieu.
'Beyond the touchline there is nothing.' Jacques Derrida.
'Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theatre where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential.' Writer Dr George A Sheehan.
OTHER
'A daily festival of human suffering.' Lance Armstrong describes the Tour de France.
'Cricket is the greatest thing that God created on earth, certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either.' Harold Pinter.
'Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.' Michael Jordan.
'Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.' Arnold Schwarzenegger.
'Pain is temporary. Failure lasts for ever.' Lance Armstrong.
'Strength lies not in defence but in attack.' Adolf Hitler.
'I never doped my horse, ever, and I'll prove it.' Jessica Kuerten.
'I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi and wear Reebok.' Shaquille O'Neal.
'Lads, nobody died.' John O'Sullivan, Atlanta, July 28, 1996.
'The slums of Chicago are full of first round leaders.' Golfer Peter Jacobsen.
'And if I ever go to the moon I will never be as high as I was that day.' Eddie Macken on Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, as heard by RTÉ.ie user Paulette Roche.
'The atmosphere is so tense, if Elvis walked in with a portion of chips, you could hear the vinegar sizzle on them.' Darts commentator Sid Waddell.
'If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?' American Football coach Vince Lombardi.
'Honey, I forgot to duck.' Jack Dempsey to his wife shortly after losing his World Heavyweight crown to Gene Tunney in 1926. Thanks to RTÉ.ie user Brendan Crean.
'The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey.' Cricket commentator Brian Johnston in a 70s Test Match with West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding about to bowl to English player Peter Willey. Thanks to RTÉ.ie user Brendan Crean.
'When Alexander of Macedonia was 33 he cried tears of salt as there were no more worlds left to conquer ......Eric Bristow is only 27!' Darts Commentator Sid Waddell. Thanks to RTÉ.ie user Brendan Crean.
RTÉ COMMENTARIES
'What a shot, what a score, what a woman.' Marty Morrissey.
'Okey Dokey, we'll leave it there so..' Bill O'Herlihy.
'Pat Fox has it on his hurl and is motoring well now, but here comes Joe Rabbitte hot on his tail. I've seen it all now, a Rabbitte chasing a Fox around Croke Park!' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'.....and Joe Rabbit is marking Pat Fox - it must be the only time in history that the rabbit has chased the fox.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'Sean Óg Ó hAilpín....his father's from Fermanagh, his mother's from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'I saw a few Sligo people at mass in Gardiner Street this morning and the omens seem to be good for them, the priest was wearing the same colours as the Sligo jersey! 40 yards out on the Hogan Stand side of the field Ciaran Whelan goes on a rampage, it's a goal. So much for religion.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'... and Brian Dooher is down injured. And while he is, I'll tell ye a little story. I was in Times Square in New York last week, and I was missing the Championship back home. So I approached a newsstand and I said: "I suppose you wouldn't have the Kerryman would you?" To which the Egyptian behind the counter turned to me and he said: "Do you want the North Kerry edition or the South Kerry edition?" He had both, so I bought both. And Dooher is back on his feet...' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'There won't be a cow milked in Clare tonight.' Marty Morrissey, following the Clare Munster Championship win in 1992.
'A Nation holds its breath.' George Hamilton - Italia 90.
'This is the 671st game in World Cup history, starting all the way back in 1930 in Uruguay... and no I haven't seen them all.' Jimmy Magee, Japan v Croatia, 2006 World Cup.
'Ardiles strokes the ball like it was a part of his anatomy.' Jimmy Magee.
'And Bonner has gone 165 minutes of these championships without conceding a goal. Oh danger here...' George Hamilton.
'Real Madrid are like a rabbit in the glare of the headlights in the face of Manchester United's attacks. But this rabbit comes with a suit of armour in the shape of two precious away goals.' George Hamilton.
'Careful lads, we need him for the Championship!' George Hamilton, after fellow pundit Marty Morrissey gets caught up in Munster's celebrations.
'There's only one plan in football: win your next match.' John Giles.
'In the space of about 10 minutes he's knackered himself.' Jim Beglin, as Stephen Hunt bursts from the bench for Ireland.
'Ability and guts is an unbeatable combination.' Eamon Dunphy.
'It's not meant to be entertaining. If you want entertainment, go to the pictures. This is serious!' Eamon Dunphy.
'Dave Barry is doubtful for the replay, he's still feeling the effects of a groin stain.' Tony O'Donoghue during his time at RTÉ Cork.
'In the first half they played with the wind. In the second half they played with the ball.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'The first half was even, the second half was even worse.' Pat Spillane.
'The stopwatch has stopped. It's up to God and the referee now. The referee is Pat Horan. God is God.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'There are some things in life that are more important than money and the GAA is one of them.' Joe Brolly.
'We could be analysing every scrum since Adam grabbed Eve.' Tom McGurk.
'And it looks like there's a bit of a schemozzle in the parallelogram.' Mícheál O'Hehir.
'Anthony Lynch the Cork corner back will be the last person to let you down - his people are undertakers.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'This is really a lovely horse, I once rode her mother.' Ted Walsh.
'You have to admire the courage of the man, pulling himself off in front of 48,000 fans.' Jimmy Magee after Johnny Giles substituted himself when player-manager of Ireland.
'Teddy looks at the ball, the ball looks at Teddy.' Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
'And Ireland have got to contain the brothers Baggio.' Later in the game.......'The Baggio brothers, of course, are not related.' George Hamilton.
'You sir, are an idiot!' George politely rebukes Lilian Laslandes after a red card offence.
'The symbol of peace, the pigeon!' Jimmy Magee at the opening ceremony of one of his many Olympics.
'I think, putting Thomond alongside the likes of Fatima and Lourdes, this defies logic.' George Hook after the 'miracle match' between Munster and Gloucester in 2003.
'If Reggie Corrigan's expiry date was on my youghurt, there would be cheese growing on it by now.' The Hookster referring to the Leinster player during the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Bath in 2005.
'It's like putting your Ferrari at St Stephen's Green during rush hour, there's no space.' George again and the build-up to the Ireland v England game in 2004, and Jason Robinson playing at 12.
'When I said they'd scored two goals, of course I meant they'd scored one.' George Hamilton.
'It's becoming increasingly difficult to remain objective about the outcome of this race.' RTÉ Athletics commentator Tony O'Donoghue describing the action at the bell as Eamon Coughlan makes his move in the final if the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.
E-mail us your favourite quotes at sportonline@rte.ie.
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