Is football really that important? Oh my, yes

It is often very, very hard to get excited by football.

True, The Board is as loyal as a Templar in his support of Manchester United, but even this can't hide the fact that 90 minutes of football, very often, is a more numbing exercise than beating one's thigh with a hurley.

Yes, Ireland are playing in Paris tonight and yes, the nation is scavenging for straws to clutch ahead of our gallant, tedious 1-0 defeat to the worst collection of Frenchmen since the Vichy government.

But do we really care? Pro-rugby bias may be the fibre in The Board's rhetorical diet, but only a fool will deny that recent successes in the 15-man sport, coupled with the stoic crapness of the Irish football team, has murdered the passion of '88, '90 and '94.

But football still gets people going, of course. The Board highly recommends this article in the Lindo about Thursday's qualifier between Algeria and Egypt, and how it is likely to result in riots, blindings and the mass destruction of telecommunications equipment.

Similarly, the Guardian's excellent Paul Doyle has a very interesting piece about Alex Villaplane, the first man of Algerian origin to represent France, who later became a nefarious collaborator with the Nazi occupation and was later executed for all kinds of dastardly treason.

Even if tonight's match in Paris bleeds the enthusiasm out of you, take heed in the knowledge that now and always, football will be defined by more than just the game.