Football BaBe
When it comes to football, Roy Keane is a blockbuster and now one of the former Manchester United captain’s most infamous incidents is coming to the big screen, with Oscar-nominated Steve Coogan set to star.
‘Saipan’ focuses on the events that precipitated the controversial ‘Saipan Incident’, which saw Keane sensationally leave the Republic of Ireland camp on the eve of the 2002 World Cup, a development which sent shockwaves through the Irish football-loving public. It is not the first film to centre on Keane, with Dave Tynan’s 2014 short film ‘Rockmount‘ capturing a snapshot of the young midfielder, but it is set to be the biggest.
Here, BALLGM brings you everything you need to know, including cast, directors and more.
When it comes to football, Roy Keane is a blockbuster and now one of the former Manchester United captain’s most infamous incidents is coming to the big screen, with Oscar-nominated Steve Coogan set to star.
‘Saipan‘ focuses on the events that precipitated the controversial ‘Saipan Incident’, which saw Keane sensationally leave the Republic of Ireland camp on the eve of the 2002 World Cup a development which sent shockwaves through the Irish football-loving public. It is not the first film to centre on Keane, with Dave Tynan’s 2014 short film ‘Rockmount‘ capturing a snapshot of the young midfielder, but it is set to be the biggest.
Here, BALLGM brings you everything you need to know, including cast, directors and more.
‘Saipan’ will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, scheduled for September 4 to 14 2025, with a view to a September 19 release date.
It was was initially scheduled for a major theatrical release in the summer of 2025, with production beginning in the summer of 2024 and filming wrapping in autumn 2024.
Wildcard and Vertigo Releasing have acquired UK and Ireland rights for the film, while Bankside Films have boarded the film for worldwide sales.
The film was shot in Ireland and Saipan.
A trailer was released for the film on June 23, 2025. The teaser gives a glimpse of the tension between Keane and McCarthy, which came to a flashpoint ahead of the 2002 World Cup in the small Pacific island, as well as the chorus of commentary from within and without the camp.
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Actor
Character
Steve Coogan
Mick McCarthy
Eanna Hardwicke
Roy Keane
Jack Hickey
Niall Quinn
Harriet Cairns
Theresa Keane
Oliver Coopersmith
Jason McAteer
Micheal Woods
Journalist
Chris McCurry
Journalist
Una Carroll
Air hostess
Peter McDonald
Mick Byrne
Steve Coogan will play Mick McCarthy, who was manager of the Ireland team, in ‘Saipan’. The Oscar-nominated actor, renowned for his roles in Philomena I’m Alan Partridge and Joker: Folie a Deux, will feature as English-born Irish coach McCarthy opposite Eanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane.
Hardwicke, who, like Keane, hails from Cork, is a BAFTA-nominated actor for his role as Ben Field in The Sixth Commandment and has featured in TV shows such as Normal People and The Doll Factory as well as earning plaudits for the lead role in the film Lakelands.
Niall Quinn, one of the senior players in the Ireland squad at the time who would go on to employ Keane as Sunderland manager, will be played by Jack Hickey (Game of Thrones Penny Dreadful).
Harriet Cains, known for roles in Bridgerton and Marcella will play the role of Keane’s wife Theresa Keane. The Batman and The Penguin actor Peter McDonald, who played Irish football legend Johnny Giles in the 2009 film The Damned United will play popular kitman Mick Byrne.
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Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn are the directors of ‘Saipan’.
The pair, who have worked together on Ordinary Love (2019), starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, as well as the 2013 comedy-drama Good Vibrations will work with a script from Paul Fraser (Dead Man’s Shoes)
The directors told Variety: “We’re thrilled to be working with this extraordinary cast and creative team to tell the story of an infamous moment in Irish and football history that drew battle lines across a nation, cast its hopes, dreams and sense of identity into disarray, and briefly made a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific one of the most famous places on earth.”
The Saipan Incident is the name given to a public dispute that occurred in May 2002 between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy, who were then Ireland captain and manager, respectively.
The argument happened in the lead-up to the 2002 World Cup, when the Ireland team were preparing at a training camp in the Pacific island of Saipan. With tempers flaring and tensions within the camp, Keane was ultimately sent home and removed from the Ireland squad, meaning he did not compete at that World Cup.
Keane was highly critical of the Football Association of Ireland’s preparations, particularly with regard to the pitch, which he felt was causing injury to players.
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“A lot of people say, ‘it’s typical of Roy and Roy should really shut up’, but I can’t, especially if I’m captain of the team,” Keane told RTE in an interview at the time. “We travel halfway across the world and the training pitch is a disgrace… it’s like training in a car park, it’s bloody rock hard. We’ve had one or two injuries already and I expect a few more.”
After an explosive players’ meeting with the manager, Keane was removed from the squad, with McCarthy explaining: “I cannot and will not tolerate being spoken to with that level of abuse being thrown at me so I sent him home.”
While Ireland reached the last 16 of the competition, the Saipan Incident cast a shadow over the tournament for the Boys in Green and its reverberations still register today.
Saipan is an island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an archipelago situated in the Pacific Ocean. The Northern Mariana Islands are a Territory of the United States.
The island has a population of approximately 43,000 people and is 119 square kilometres in size. You can see the island on the map below.
