Try this again also: Shame not all the players...
QPR Official Site - ONE MORE ROUND - WITH JOHN HARBIN
Posted on: Fri 10 Apr 2009
Following positive feedback from our supporters last weekend, we have chosen to replicate John Harbin's 'Fitness First' matchday programme column versus Crystal Palace on
www.qpr.co.uk today.
Fitness First...with John Harbin
So there's six games to go and we're seven points adrift of the play-offs. It's impossible, isn't it? No. It's not. Nothing is impossible.
There's a saying that I have taken to every Club I have been to - including Rugby League - which really comes into play when the odds are stacked against you, like they are now. It's simple, but it's effective.
One more round.
It's based on the poem on this page, which is about James Corbett the boxer. It means that no matter what your situation - be it in sport or life - there's always one more round to fight.
I've used the saying for the past 20 years. I actually received a text this morning from Zesh Rehman, who is doing very well on loan at Bradford. It said 'One more round.'
An hour later, I got a phonecall from Jake Cole who's with Barnet right now, and putting in some impressive displays. The first thing he said to me was 'One more round, John.'
It's a saying that you associate with never being beaten. It doesn't just apply to sport, it goes further than that.
When I was at Oldham Athletic with Iain Dowie there was a player there called Earnie Cooksey. Now Earnie was never the most gifted footballer, or the most athletic. But I'll tell you something, that lad topped the chart every day when it came to attitude. He was a real livewire, and his enthusiasm was infectious.
In my first month here at QPR I had to take a day off to go to Earnie's funeral. He died of Cancer, aged 29.
His partner Louise was pregnant when Earnie died, and the other day I received an e-mail from her, informing me that she had a beautiful daughter, Isabella. Louise also said that the saying 'One more round' kept Earnie going, even in his final hours.
'You will never know how much it helped him,' she wrote.
So it's more about life than it is about football. But today, it's when we should be saying 'One more round' to each other. We've got my old team Crystal Palace this afternoon and we've got to keep believing that this season isn't over.
But once this season does come to an end in May, I'm going to meet little Isabella for the first time. And you don't need me to tell you what I'll be whispering in her ear when I leave.
FIGHT ONE MORE ROUND.
When your feet are so tired,
That you have to shuffle,
Back to the centre of the ring,
FIGHT ONE MORE ROUND
When your arms are so tired,
That you can hardly lift,
Your hands to come on guard,
FIGHT ONE MORE ROUND
When your nose is bleeding,
And your eyes are black,
And you are so tired that,
You wish your opponent,
Would crack you one on,
The jaw and put you out,
FIGHT ONE MORE ROUND
Remembering that the man who always
FIGHT ONE MORE ROUND
Is never whipped.
*You can read more of John's exclusive thoughts in our award-winning matchday programme Hoops - available in and around the ground on matchdays for just £3.
www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~1616097,00.html
