When things go well it is important to celebrate.
Not to over-do it of course. We are English. We should not do over-exuberance. Not once the hangover has kicked in, anyway.
But I would like to be a little exuberant, while alcohol-free. I want to praise Yannick Bolasie, our very own unlikely hat-trick hero.
And at the same time, I want to try to understand his fantastic progress.
In the Premier League of the 2010’s, there are many impressive African stars, and that is a credit to a league that has a global view when it comes to signing players.
While Yaya Toure was identified early by Belgian club Beveren and brought to Europe to further his footballing education, Yannick Bolasie’s travels were far less romantic and more typical of the players Palace have brought through in the last forty years.
Palace have one of the proudest traditions of multi-cultural football in the league, from Mark Lindsay through the legendary Vince Hilaire, to Wright and Bright, Andy Gray, Dean Gordon, Julian Gray and more recently Victor Moses and Wilfried Zaha.
The Premier League has a commendable record for bringing some of the greatest international starts, from every continent to the league.
In recent years we have seen not just the Toure brothers, but before that there was JayJay Okocha at Bolton, Lucas Rabede at Leeds, epic pantomime villain El-Hadj Diouf and (briefly) the great George Weah at Man City. Oh and even more briefly Weah’s cousin who played very very briefly at Southampton – remember him as you take in Graeme Souness’s wise words on Sky.
Yannick Bolasie does not fit into any normal category of player.
While he is now the star of the DR Congo side, he did not emerge from African football.
He was raised in the United Kingdom, and his footballing CV reads Hillingdon Borough (near Heathrow airport I am told), Rushden & Diamonds (Rushden is near Northampton, Diamonds may not be a place), Dagenham & Redbridge and Floriana in Malta (true, unless someone has sabotaged his Wikipedia page), before heading to Plymouth and then Bristol City, who I believe gave him away for a pittance.
Few players come from that non-league background these days, and it is a huge credit to Bolasie that he has applied his awesome natural skill to being such a high achiever, initially in the Championship after Dougie signed him in August 2012, and now in the Premier League.
So many players of ‘that’ type – the flair player, the wing wizard, have failed, it is wonderful to see Bolasie succeed.
It is also wonderful to see a player who so visibly enjoys playing, and is so positive in his interactions with fans.
And he has definitely got many fans and followers these days, many arriving off the back of clips of his unique talents.
But his success cannot just be defined by that wonderful trickery by the corner flag at White Hart Lane before Christmas. There does have to be ‘end product’, and even before Saturday’s hat-trick, Yala has been showing that so well recently.
That spell after half-time on Saturday was so odd. On one hand, Sunderland seemed to turn into a drunken pub team half asleep on a Sunday morning, unable to cope with balls hoofed upfield.
And yet in all four goals, either Bolasie or Glenn Murray received the ball while on the run and perfectly positioned to punish weak opposition.
It was also Yala who destroyed the poor kid playing right back for Queens Park Rangers the other week, making the goals for Wilfried Zaha and James McArthur. I forget the name of the right back. More importantly, so has Chris Ramsay.
It may be through the accident of injury to Marouane Chamakh and Frazier Campbell, or perhaps the genius design of Alan Pardew, but the great recent run of form harks back to the autumn of 2012. That was the period when Wilf and Yala ran the Championship ragged and Murray scored for fun.
It is wonderful that he has succeeded while remaining popular among his colleagues and the fans.
It is wonderful that we can be as happy with life as he is.
Whatever the ‘undisclosed sum’ we paid for him, we have had the returns many times over.
Saturday was his day and long overdue, for all the right reasons.
