Ireland have never progressed beyond the World Cup quarter-finals.
It was nearly 18 years since Rafael Nadal was outside the top 10 men's tennis players and the world has become a somewhat different place.
There are many aspects of professional football that do not interest Ben White, who does not watch the sport on television and does not pay much attention to the various off-field dramas that define the modern game. “My profession just happens to also be a lot of people’s hobby,” he recently told the Arsenal website.
Conte labelled his players “selfish” and attributed their attitude to “Tottenham’s story” of not competing for major trophies.