Iceland, with its tiny population of less than Cork, is like a more enlightened, more courageous version of ourselves.
As Eamon Dunphy never tires of reminding us, they did what the more bolshie among us wished to do, and told the bondholders to go and hump off when they came looking for money. This was enough to convince Eamo that these were solid people, people of gumption, people to admire.
They beat the tar out of England, playing industrious and intelligent attacking football. Barney Ronay wrote in the Guardian that Iceland are 'the per capita kings, a place where nothing is wasted, only reproduced'.
And on top of all that, they look after their small domestic league, rewarding it when times are good. The Icelandic FA received €14m for progressing to the Euro 2016 quarter-finals.
In a characteristically enlightened move, they are allocating 25% for their local league, distributing nearly €3.5 million among their 47 league clubs.
Different teams were allocated different amounts depending on league position. The smallest amount a club received was €19,000. Three clubs received €137.872.
Those League of Ireland clubs who were quiescent or diplomatic enough to say thank you when the FAI scribbled a cheque for 5k and told them to get working on their strategic plan may now be looking longingly at their Icelandic cousins.
It's not as if the Icelandic league operates on a higher plane than the Irish league, far from it.
Dundalk, recent beneficiaries to the tune of €5,000 grant from the FAI (and rather more through their own efforts in the Champions League) beat Icelandic champions FH (given €133,471 by their own FA) on away goals in the 2nd qualifying round of this year's Champions League.
Interestingly, the last time an Irish club got this close to the Champions League, they also beat an Iceland team in their first tie, when Shelbourne beat KR Reykjavik in 2004.
Club names in Icelandic. Some the above got translated to English pic.twitter.com/izSPL4RgzX
— Sligo Rovers Forum (@BitOForum) August 22, 2016
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