Ryan"s award

Can you imagine the outcry if Kilkenny"s James McGarry had been named as Hurler of the Year in 2007, as a bit-part netminder for the Cats, albeit after years of service as number one "keeper, with the selectors mindful of the terrible personal tragedy which befell him earlier in the year? Well, for all his wonderful consistency throughout the entire 17 year history of the Premier League, Ryan Giggs" selection by his fellow professionals as Player of the Year ten days ago is equally ludicrous.The Professional Footballers" Association (PFA) award came into being back in 1973/74, a full 26 seasons after the prestigious Football Writers"Association (FWA) award, during which the latter had been recognised as THE Footballer of the Year accolade. Looking back on the history of the FWA winners, one suspects that there were a few sentimental statuettes given out. My late father took the opportunity to remind me a few years back that I wasn"t Stanley Matthews, when I complained of feeling aches and pains after attempting to play indoor soccer, when aged 48 (I had already kind of suspected that I was no Sir Stan from a footballing viewpoint, when aged eight). So the "Wizard of the Dribble" getting the nod from the FWA in 1962/63, when he starred as a 48-year-old for unfashionable Stoke City, reeked of sentimentality in the extreme. To a lesser extent, you strongly sensed that other ageing FWA winners such as Tom Finney in 1957, Dave Mackay in 1969 and Alan Mullery in 1975 had got their award for longevity, rather than being strictly what it said on the tin i.e. the best footballer in England over the previous nine months.To be fair, the Giggs" award seems to be the first such Hall of Fame-type selection. The Welsh wizard could easily have got the nod in any of his first ten seasons as an unrivalled winger for Manchester United, to go with his richly-deserved brace of Young Player awards from the early 1990s.However, his role at star-studded Old Trafford is now naturally a relatively minor one, with him starting about one in every three games. As somebody who applauded the one-time GAA All-Stars edict that a sending off ruled a player out of year-end contention (albeit very occasionally eliminating a wrongfully-dismissed candidate), I feel that a player"s discipline should be a factor in the PFA"s thinking. As such, Giggs"candidacy is impeccable and his on and off-the-field behaviour is exemplary. For all Roy Keane"s marvellous displays, many of his shenanigans e.g. the disgusting Alf Inge Haaland tackle, made him far from the role model many perceived him to be (witness the rent-a-crowd/new-found Ipswich fans during the Mayfield man"s easy ride from Pat Kenny in last Friday"s Late Late).Needless to say, the FWA and PFA have regularly agreed on their player of the season (14 times out of 35, up to and including Cristiano Ronaldo last season). These include the aforementioned Keane in 1999/2000, but sadly not the other two Republic of Ireland winners since the PFA scheme was inaugurated, with Kenny Dalglish and Chris Waddle winning the writers" award ahead of players" choices, Liam Brady and Paul McGrath in 1978/79 and 1992/93 respectively. It also seems that the players are balloted relatively early (around February) for their nominations. With modern technology, one would imagine that a more sophisticated method could be employed nearer the season"s end - maybe the Irish political e-voting machines could have a use after all! The Republic can feel very proud of its three winners, tying with Scotland in the country-by-country chart.Giggs" selection brings Wales into joint second along with France at four each, with England obviously well ahead with 17. Ironically, two of the Welsh wins went to Mark Hughes, who never got the verdict from the writers. The current Manchester City manager is one of four double winners of the PFA trophy. There have been eight two-time winners of the FWA award, one of whom, France"s Thierry Henry remarkably won on three occasions during his glorious spell with Arsenal.Despite being one of many who feels that Giggs" selection has a touch of the Little House on the Prairies about it, the Welsh man (whom a succession of England senior managers must regret not nailing down as a teenager - and the converse probably applies also) would be an automatic on almost every pundit"s all-time Premier League side. It is an interesting exercise to attempt to pick such a side after 17 seasons of the "top flight" having this grandiose title and thereby (much to my annoyance) inflating the status of good old Divisions Two, Three and Four. Roy Keane would make all right-thinking fans" sides (even this fiercely anti-Saipan Sulker critic!), while Denis Irwin would make many. Shay Given would figure in many discussions for the goalkeeper"s slot, but Paul McGrath was nearing the end of his days when the "new" league started. What a fitting honour that he will be forever recorded as PFA Player of the Year for the first ever staging of the "moneybags" Premier League even if, sadly, the "Black Pearl" garnered very few such bags.How about this selection (and I don"t, per sé, support any English club team)? Peter Schmeichel; Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Marcel Dessaily, Denis Irwin; Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane (capt), Stephen Gerrard, Ryan Giggs; Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer. And, to boot, I think Nemanja Vidic should get the nod from the FWA - and I don"t, per sé, support any English club team!