Jacob: critics take the biscuit
December 04, 2013
Rory Jacob has hit back at Oularts critics
In a statement issued via his account - @RoryJacob - last night, Oulart The-Ballagh's left corner-forward described the 'guff' and 'digs' that have been thrown in their direction following the 0-8 to 0-11 defeat as being 'nothing short of a scandal'.
The Model County hurler strongly refutes the accusation that Oulart's players lack 'bottle' and 'character' and adds that they know better than anyone else that they let themselves down in their fourth Leinster Club final defeat in a row.
'In sport criticism is part and parcel of the game and I for one accept it as something you have to live with when you play sport. When criticism is constructed in an analytical way you accept it and learn from it. Over the last few days I have heard comments and listened to comments from respected people who know the game and I respect their views on the reasons why we did not perform as a group on Sunday.
'However some of the guff being written and said about our group of players over the last few days both nationally and locally by people who have never even played the game or use their position of power in the media to get digs in at people has been nothing short of a scandal.
'Yes we did not perform at the weekend but we have been persistent and consistent in our pursuit of glory over the many years that this great club of ours has been in existence. We have come up short on occasion through our own faults but that does not give anybody the right to publicly or privately castigate us as some sort of lesser men because we did not win on Sunday.
'Wexford hurling in generally would be in a very dark place were it not for the efforts of our club. We have produced some of the best players ever to wear the purple and gold and given young people in the county heroes to look up to and aspire to be. We have raised the bar in Wexford club hurling and it has forced other clubs to up their own standards to stay up with us, which as good few of them have.
'Our achievements in winning our own county championship have been belittled by small minded bitter people who have not only shown a lack of respect for us but also other great hurling teams in Wexford who have pushed us to the limit to achieve anything we have achieved in our own county.
'Our character and bottle has been questioned over the last few days. It takes bottle and character to get to 10 county finals in a row winning 8. It takes bottle and character to win 5 county championships in a row. Something no other club in Wexford has ever done. It takes bottle and character to get to 4 Leinster club finals in a row and to be beaten in them all and still come back for more. We don't throw in the towel we put ourselves out there to be shot at but is it not a sign of character to do this than to crawl up and die?
'One so called commentator questioned one of my teammates wearing of leggings in the game on Sunday. This player had knee ligament damage and was advised on medical grounds to wear leggings. This player performed admirably in the game and the so called commentator who ridiculed him maybe should have focussed on this players performance rather than the gear he wore but I would expect nothing different from somebody who courts controversy.
'I don't know whether we will ever get the opportunity again to win a Leinster medal but I know one thing for sure I will be back on the pitch in Oulart next year striving to win the Wexford club championship and I will have a group of committed Oulart The-Ballagh men with me whose whole life has been dedicated to hurling. It is not a sacrifice to play hurling it is a privilege. Hurling is what we do it's all we know it's not a matter of life or death it's more than that.
'We are hurting this week more than ever before we let ourselves down on Sunday with our performance and we are all very well aware of that. It's very easy to sit in the stand or in a sitting room or hide behind a mobile phone or computer and cast aspersions on people's character, we have to live with Sunday's result and with the results of the last few years for the rest of our lives, we are better than our performance showed but we can't change it now.
'All we can do is lick our wounds regroup stick together as a team and attempt to come back stronger and better than before. Mt Leinster Rangers deserved their victory on Sunday and fair play to them they took their chance when it arose and the best of good luck to them'. Tweet
