Don’t make the mistake of thinking Saipan is a film about the brutal second world war battle on this small Pacific island. It is, in fact, the tale of a ridiculous and heartbreaking football bust-up that almost tore a country apart.

On one side was Irishman Roy Keane, one of the greatest footballers of his generation. Captain of the Ireland team, he was a man with a volcanic temper and an insatiable will to win. On the other was mild-mannered manager Mick McCarthy, a Yorkshireman of Irish descent who had made his name as a brave, no-nonsense defender during his time as captain of Ireland.

The row that exploded on Saipan before the 2002 World Cup had even started was a slow-motion tragicomedy, lurching from one excruciating episode to the next. It began with a spat between Keane and McCarthy over training facilities. It escalated to a national crisis thanks to an ill-timed media interview – then developed into a full-blown international furore after one of the most brutal personal attacks ever seen in sport.

Now the story is being told in a new film starring Steve Coogan as McCarthy and rising star Éanna Hardwicke as Keane.

The row had – and possibly still has – the power to divide people into team McCarthy or team Keane. At the time, battles raged in pubs, on radio phone-ins and in countless newspaper articles.

The level of antagonism the row ignited underlined that this was about more than just football. The “battle of Saipan”........

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