The extended Team Ireland family; they play a key match Sunday.

At the beginning of this week, days after their third nail-biting win, this time over Zimbabwe, Ireland cricketers were involved in yet another close finish. In this contest, the difference between the two sides wasn’t a scampered single or a stunning catch but the answer to a very difficult question: Who in the Irish Team has a teddy bear called Chicky?

At Ireland’s intra-team quiz competition, it was the final round, about weird facts about team mates that broke the tie. By answering the ‘teddy’ question, the team consisting of coach Phil Simmons, Ireland Cricket president Joe Doherty, towering pacer Peter Chase and boyish wicket-keeper Gary Wilson nosed ahead at the buzzer. But since Chicky happens to be Wilson’s bear, there have been unending fake fights and hours of ribbing among the 28 quizzers from 4 teams and several others in the audience who too are part of the extended Team Ireland.

Ireland isn’t walking alone at this World Cup. They are marching from city to city, making friends and influencing people, with a happy army of parents, wives, partners, children, siblings or World Cuppers behind them. Ireland is an entertaining team on the field and, away for it, they are anything but a big bunch of bores. Actually, it is a big, happy, noisy family.

“There are Kevin and Niall’s parents, Kevin’s wife, Niall’s girlfriend. Simmons’ wife and children, Ed Joyce’s wife and young boy, Alex Cusack is from Brisbane so he has many among his family here …,” Ireland media manager Barry Chambers gives up to say, “So if you count family of players, the strength is 40 to 50 and in case you add those who follow us closely, it’s about 100.” The families pay for their own tickets but since players have a room to themselves at ICC events, the wives and partners save on hotel expenses.

Niall says it helps to have your loved ones around during a long tournament. “They help you deal with ups and downs,” he says. Doherty, Irish cricket president, stresses how group activities bond teams. “Irish people like to engage others whether through a sing-song, going for a walk, playing a board game, quizzing, playing TT, it keeps the mind off the job in hand. They don’t become too engrossed in it and at the same time it keeps them together.”

It’s not that the jumbo Irish squad had been bored in Australia and New Zealand. They have honoured mayor’s invitations, enjoyed Maori nose-rubbing receptions, dressed up for official evenings at the ambassador’s house and also partied after all three wins. The boys have an ongoing golf competition but the idea of the quiz was novel and got total consensus.

“Kevin and his wife took it upon themselves and came up with this,” says Doherty. Chambers informs how the persistent couple got everyone to give some very personal facts about themselves that they would include in the trivia round.

So with Kevin as quizmaster and wife as scorer, the teams with funny names sat for an evening of fun. The eventual winners were the ‘Rattlin Bog’. “What?” you ask Chambers when he informs with a fun story that follows. “It’s an Irish song that Chase sings, so that’s what he called the team.” Doherty adds, “It’s a party piece, it goes on and on, it has fast words, it has to be sung quickly, if you are not Irish no chance of singing it.” Chambers was part of the team called ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ – that’s because the media manager wore Argentina’s rugby jersey for the quiz – and they finished second. To spite the runners-up you go back to the trivia round and more questions tumble out.

Some questions from the trivia round

Who played football against Barcelona at Paris?
Ed Joyce as u-14.

Who played a giant in school play?

The big-framed John Mooney.

And one last cheeky question:

Who’s playing the giant-killer at the World Cup and having all the fun?

Ireland