out on the 2002 World Cup and said that he should have put his personal issues with McCarthy to one side for the sake of the country, saying "To play in the World Cup. It would have been nice to play, A lot of people were disappointed, particularly my family." Popular culture The incident was so divisive that it was called a "civil war" for Ireland. The Irish Times later wrote that "[m]ost people have ... a story of a split between families, between friends, between work colleagues." In 2005, a musical comedy play parodying the incident and its key players, I, Keano, opened in Dublin. The play, written by Arthur Mathews, Michael Nugent, and Paul Woodfull, represented the incident as a mock-epic melodrama about a Roman legion preparing for war. Keane attended a performance of the show, which ran in Dublin until May 2008. In an echo of the incident, three main cast members, including Mario Rosenstock, who portrayed "Keano" (the play's version of Roy Keane), left the show early in its first run, leading to media articles about life imitating art imitating life. References External links Article and Analysis of the incident Association football controversies Republic of Ireland at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Saipan 2002 controversies 2002 in the Northern Mariana Islands May 2002 events in Oceania