Saipan film review – ‘Enjoyable, but still ground zero for Irish football fans’ | OneFootball

The mere mention of the island of Saipan stirs emotions in Irish football fans that have barely faded almost 23 years after it became ground zero for one of the most talked-about incidents in the nation’s sporting history.

To many reading this, it will seem strange to suggest a row between Ireland manager Mick McCarthy and his captain Roy Keane is more notable than the achievements of boxing great Katie Taylor, the golfing miracles served up by Rory McIlroy or the heroics of the Ireland rugby team.

But reality in Ireland is that Saipan is a volcanic moment that will always spark a debate. It remains one of the biggest meltdowns in World Cup history.

Those under the age of 30 may not be fully up to speed on a story that started long before former Ireland captain McCarthy and Manchester United talisman Keane’s ultimate showdown in the Ireland team hotel before the 2002 World Cup finals, so here is a brief recap.

These two giants of Irish sport fell out when they were national team colleagues on a summer tour of America, with Keane’s refusal to allow a fall-out to fade into the memory ensuring their relationship would never be the same again.

So when McCarthy became Ireland manager, it may have been inevitable that fireworks would eventually light up the animosity between the duo.

Sadly for Irish football fans, their defining explosion happened in Saipan, just before the Ireland team prepared to play in the World Cup finals.

The volatile Keane was not happy with the quality of the pitches, the lack of equipment and the general organisation of an Ireland set-up he felt was more designed for the players to enjoy themselves than compete in a World Cup.

Keane came close to leaving the camp and flying home before a huge row with McCarthy in front of his team-mates finally ended his World Cup story.

Attempts to bring the Ireland skipper back into the fold reached the highest levels of government in Ireland at the time, but this row could not be resolved and the nation’s opinion was divided along defined lines.

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You were either a Keano man or you took McCarthy’s side and believed the Ireland captain should have put his grievances aside for the good for his country.

It says much about the magnitude of this fallout that a movie has now been released that has reignited the discussion that has rarely left the agenda in Ireland.

Planet Football was given an advance viewing of the movie in London last month and the first point that needs to be clarified is that SAIPAN is not a documentary about a fallout between an Ireland manager with a turn of phrase and his star player.

Instead, it is an adaptation of events told through the eyes of those who were not there when Mick and Roy went to war.

So it will come as no surprise that the version of events portrayed in SAIPAN have been hotly disputed by the players who were in that Ireland squad back in 2002.

Images in the movie of players getting drunk, driving golf buggies around the ground of the team hotel in the middle of the night and showing a general lack of professionalism has drawn a predictably strong response from those involved.

“The record needs to be set straight on a few falsehoods so that people learning about Saipan, via the film, do not think we were a pub team on tour,” said former Ireland midfielder Kevin Kilbane in his Irish Times column.

“We reached the last 16 at the tournament without the best midfielder in the world. Sure, we met up for a few pints when the players landed in Dublin in advance of an international week. But that was it.

“We were not p*ssheads. Such an overt suggestion is an insult to the non-drinkers and gym-obsessed players in the group, such as Kenny Cunningham, Clinton Morrison, Lee Carsley and Steve Finnan.

“I’m not sure if the film-makers talked to any of my team-mates.”

The buzz over SAIPAN has been rumbling on for more than a year now, with the initial premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September allowing a limited audience to catch a glimpse of a story that sees the impressive Eanna Hardwicke play the role of Keane and respected actor Steve Coogan morphing into McCarthy.

Now the world is finally getting a chance to see who comes out on top in a battle that will always divide opinion and the final verdict is similar to the reality of this story, as there are no winners in the movie SAIPAN.

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In the red corner, Keane’s character is depicted as being passionately driven and intolerant of anyone who refuses to join him in his search for perfection.

By all accounts, that is a pretty accurate description of what Keane was then and still is now.

He is also characterised as being a loner in the Ireland camp before and after their arrival in Saipan, with the other Ireland players and the character played by Coogan depicted as being wary of the firebrand Ireland captain. Only a few have ever stood up to him.

In the blue corner, McCarthy is unlikely to welcome his portrayal as a less-than-confident headmaster doing all he can to placate his most talented and troublesome pupil.

Many of the early interactions between Hardwicke and Coogan depict a manager cowering in the presence of his iconic captain, but there is little evidence that Keane and McCarthy shared such moments together.

So it’s safe to say McCarthy will not be impressed by his appearance as a confused and uncertain leader who was not in control of his own camp, with the final battle with Keane also disputed.

One of the more disputed elements of the final showdown is the comments Hardwicke’s character questioning the ‘Irishness’ of English-born McCarthy, with those present insisting those words did not form a part of the tirade of abuse Keane threw at him.

SAIPAN ends with a phone call between the two main protagonists, as a final attempt is made to find a way to get Keane to play in the World Cup.

Many in Ireland were hoping that call would happen and yet, in reality, it never did.

SAIPAN the movie is entertaining and if it were not based on real-life events, the debate over the rights and wrongs of the storyline could be erased.

The trouble is, this story is very real for all Irish sports fans and while it is an enjoyable movie laced with humour and colour, those affected by it will never see Saipan as anything other than a national tragedy in a World Cup that could’ve had a very different ending for McCarthy and Keane if they had put their feud on hold for a few short weeks.