Saipan true story: The real events behind the infamous 2002 Roy Keane bust-up

Despite being the world's most popular sport, there have been relatively few great films about football – but new drama Saipan has been getting some great reviews since debuting at last year's Toronto Film Festival.

The film – which has now opened in UK cinemas – retells one of the most infamous incidents in Irish sport: the bitter feud between legendary captain Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy in the run up to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

The lead roles in the dramatisation are played be Éanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan respectively, with the film exploring the circumstances behind the falling out and the media storm that erupted when Keane left the squad, in addition to touching on interesting themes around Irish identity.

If you weren't following football back in 2002 and are hearing about the story for the first time – or perhaps if you just want to check how accurately the film portrays the events – read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Saipan.

Saipan true story: the real events behind the infamous 2002 Roy Keane bust-up

The story that plays out in Saipan will be extremely well known to most football fans – especially those hailing from Ireland, where it very much dominated the national news headlines in the build up to the 2002 World Cup.

As is shown in the film, Keane – the Republic of Ireland's captain and one of the finest central midfielders in world football at the time – had a public falling out with manager Mick McCarthy ahead of the tournament. This bust-up ultimately led to him leaving the squad and missing out on what would have been his only appearance at the World Cup.

It stemmed from Keane's perception that McCarthy's handling of the squad's preparation for the tournament was severely lacking and unprofessional. Among the captain's complaints was the conditions at the squad's training camp on the island of Saipan, missing equipment, poor diet amongst the squad and the managerial abilities of McCarthy.

Keane initially decided to leave the camp in 22nd May 2002, only to change his mind and stay, but his relationship with McCarthy continued to sour and the press in Ireland began to report on the spat, which further exacerbated the situation especially after The Irish Times published an interview with Keane that outlined some of his issues.

When McCarthy asked Keane about the article in a team meeting, things then came to a head and a vicious argument ensued which led to Keane reportedly telling McCarthy: "Mick, you're a liar … you're a f**king w**ker. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person."

He added: "You're a f**king w**ker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks."

Shortly afterwards, Keane was sent home from the camp which led to weeks of media coverage and a fierce debate as to who was in the right. Without their captain and star player, Ireland still performed very well at the World Cup – reaching the second round and only being eliminated by Spain in a penalty shoot-out.

How accurate is Saipan to true events?

While the film attempts to explore the true events and the media storm around them in a mostly truthful way, it appears that some of the things that are portrayed have been exaggerated and exacerbated – as tends to be the case when a real incident is given a cinematic makeover.

Pundit and former Everton star Kevin Kilbane – who was also a member of Ireland's 2002 squad – wrote a column in The Irish Times explaining that the film was "a fictional account of actual events largely from the perspective of an imaginary Roy Keane."

Despite enjoying the film, Kilbane pointed out several liberties that it had taken with the true story, arguing that the drinking culture within the Ireland squad as presented in the film "was long gone before we qualified for the 2002 World Cup" and that "the record needs to be set straight on a few falsehoods."

Among the scenes he said were fabricated were one which saw "Roy fuming from his balcony as we did the conga night after night," while he also took issue with the "complete nonsense" characterisation of McCarthy as "a bumbling manager who was easily cowed" – saying that he "deserves a better reflection."

Meanwhile, he added that "the showdown in the team meeting embellishes what actually happened" explaining that "It needs to be said as many times as possible that Roy did not call Mick an "English c**t."

He concluded the piece by writing: "My issue with the film is its inaccuracies. There are too many. It’s worth knowing what really happened before going to see this cartoonish version of Saipan."

Has Roy Keane commented on Saipan?

Given his generally outspoken nature, you might expect Keane to have had his say on the film – but so far the legendary midfielder and Sky Sports pundit has not commented, and it's not clear if he's planning on watching.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the release, co-director Lisa Barros D’Sa explained that "we haven’t spoken directly to Roy" about the film and that "we don’t know how it’s going to unfold." She added: "It’s really up to them to react however they want to react."

Meanwhile, her co-director Glenn Leyburn explained: "One of the great things about Roy is he’s very forthright with his opinions. We all love him for that. So we’ll see."

We'll certainly be keeping an eye out to see if Keane does comment on the film in the coming weeks and months...

Saipan is now showing in UK cinemas.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.