MARY HANNIGANmeets Stephen Hunt, who wants a regular Ireland starting place and our soccer team to be as popular as the men Down Under

HIS THOUGHTS might be focused on Friday’s penultimate European Championship group qualifier away to Andorra, and his efforts to persuade Giovanni Trapattoni that he deserves a place in the starting line-up, but Stephen Hunt is far from oblivious to another Irish sporting encounter the next day, Ireland’s rugby World Cup quarter-final meeting with Wales.

“I’ve been getting up at six and eight in the morning to watch them, make no mistake about it,” he said. “Will I watch the quarter-final? Of course! I’ve seen all the games and everyone is delighted they’re doing so well, it’s great. It will be interesting to see if they can beat Wales. Then obviously the semi-final against England – well, if they can beat France – would be a good one too,” he said with a grin.

It was only recently that Hunt spoke about how differently he felt the Irish international football and rugby players were perceived by the public and the media here, that the footballers didn’t quite enjoy the same levels of affection or support.

“Listen,” he said, “I have nothing against the rugby team, I’ve enjoyed every minute of the World Cup and, as I said, they’ve been doing great. But they are in and around the Irish media much more than us, which helps them to a certain degree. They’re able to do charity events, whereas we are not over here as much, so it’s more difficult for us.

“Some footballers are tagged with a certain reputation, when it’s not always true. We do our own stuff in England with charities, but we would all like to do more stuff here, like go visit schools and things like that. But with the schedule we have it’s very difficult.”

That opportunity, he feels, would help boost the players’ relationship with the public and, ultimately, help towards increasing the support they receive, not least for home games.

“The old Lansdowne Road had an atmosphere for years and years that was electric. Now we have the new stadium and to a certain extent it’s half-empty. Let’s be honest about it. It’s difficult to get the atmosphere in there unless it’s a massive team coming to town, or we end up in the play-offs. For the last two or three years it has been hard to create a feel-good factor. I’m not stupid enough to say the football has been great, but we all want what the rugby team want – to give the country a lift.”

A win over Andorra and a “favour” from Slovakia, in the form of a victory over Russia on the same night, would, he reckons, change everything. “The buzz would be huge, and I’m sure the ticket sales would go through the roof for the Armenia game (next Tuesday) – because if we won we’d qualify.”

Whether he’ll make it to Trapattoni’s starting 11, he’s not sure. But he’s not shy about letting the manager or his assistant, Marco Tardelli, know he believes he deserves his chance.

“Yeah, one or two times I’ve said to the manager, ‘listen I want to play’. He says ‘I appreciate your honesty and I know you want to play, we’ll see’.

“It’s like any manager. You’re in or you’re not.

“I remember saying to Marco, ‘listen, I’m a bit disappointed I’m not playing, I thought I did well enough’. What he said to me will remain private. But I have belief in them and to a certain degree they have belief in me. But you are better off getting it off your chest, my wife will tell you if I don’t let it out I’m worse.”

Does he communicate much with the manager? For example, by text? “Sometimes. Well, when he texts me I text him back. I don’t text him ‘ah, how are you doing?’ it wouldn’t be a wise thing to do. ‘What are you up to, like?’. ‘Just in Milan here chillin’, thanks’.”

He does, though, text a rugby player occasionally. Not anyone on the Irish team, rather a former Leinster legend of Argentinian extraction.

“I met (Felipe) Contepomi playing golf a few years ago and he is a really nice chap. So I always watch out for him and I text him every now and then. I just give him a bit of stick, don’t I? I met the Irish players on a night out once, I won’t tell you which one,” he grinned, a grin that suggested it was a night to remember.

As, hopefully, Friday night and Saturday morning will be. As Hunt put it, there’d be a right sporting buzz about the place.