PFA Player of the Year; Ryan Giggs

I read his book last year; 'Giggs-The Autobiography'. The first sportsman autobiography book that I had read indeed. Sometimes it is cruel but somehow it must be said. Some players are wonderful, even great, when they are playing for their clubs but somehow when they play for their country they fall short of expectation. Whereas, there are another group of players that are marvelous for their nation but their nation just could not produce enough quality players to make a decent team. Such was the case for Wales and Ryan Giggs.

Giggs is a player with tremendous talent. I still cannot find a 35 year old who still runs at defenders as he does. He does the same for his country of origin but sadly to say he has gone nowhere. He runs just the same but into a brick wall. The thing is he keeps running at the wall over and over again for his beloved country. He started donning his national colours at the age of 17 and finally he said enough is enough. He is tired running into the brick wall of failure.

The point is one player does not make a team. The team should consist of several players to goalkeep, to defend and to attack. To make the grade into a final, like the world cup final or European championship final, you need a good team with several good players. Sad to say that Wales only has Giggs. Bellamy is a great that never was. His indiscipline has gotten him no where. George Weah was another player to be placed in this category. He was voted world’s best player but he never got the same accolades with his national team.

I still remembered the time when Giggs came to Malaysia with Manchester United. I was form 3 that time. My friend and I skipped the prep hours and went back to our dorm just to watch ManU vs Malaysia match on tv3.. Spirit! :-) Although he was playing against a 122 (is it that still? Opsss,its 161 now!! cannot believe that no huh?trust me) ranked team in the world, he still played his best. It doesn’t matter if you beat the team 10-0 but the key is you must give it your best. Which is something I cannot say for the rest of the squad. The team cannot ‘save face’ the Malaysian team or else they will never realize how far lagging they are. That is the mark of a true sportsman.

A sportsman should be true to himself and should be true to his paying fans!

For the first time, he has won the precious award in his glittering career- he is the Professional Footballers's Association of the Year!!! :-) Congratulation to you Giggs!