irish sporting scandals...

yamo

was having a conversation in the pub the other night about the most talked about/biggest sporting scandals in Irish history. came up with the obvious ones - rule 42/tranquilised horses etc, and a few mad ones like barry mcguigans fight in 125 degree heat in vegas and the irish guy who was booted out of spain for managing barcelona - am curious to see if anyone knows of any good, older scandals/talking points from the past...

RE*AC*TOR

Michelle Smith / De Bruin

Ruu_Old

^^ Thats the only one I can think of right now too.

Mad Dog

SAIPAN anyone :cool:

Ruu_Old

Hehe, how could we forget Royston. Also wasn't Stephen Roche involved (or according to an Italian courtroom) involved in a doping scandal regarding his Tour De France win in 1987? I can't remember the exact details. Found article here.

Eoin

Wasn't there a runner from Cork (he was an accountant by trade) who was caught in the last couple of years for being doped up?

Does Shergar count? I like this quote from wikipedia:

Two years later, on February 8, 1983, he was kidnapped by masked gunmen from the Ballymany Stud,

- were they afraid the horse would provide a description of them?

Archeron

What about Shergars disappearance? Thats kind of sports related, and its certainly a huge scandal.

Sofaspud

What about that mental priest chap who was interfering in races and such?

Ruu_Old

Sofaspud wrote:

What about that mental priest chap who was interfering in races and such?

Yeah, Neil Horan. Apparently he was arrested during the WC this year as well.

il gatto

Ireland vs Mexico at the '94 World Cup. Fourth official wouldn't let John Aldridge on the pitch for ages. Ended up in a three way shouting match between Aldridge, Jack Charlton and the official. I think that was also the match where they wanted to drugs test Tommy Coyne, but as he'd sweated so much, he had nothing left to give, so to speak, so they got him to drink loads of water and he got water poisoning and was admitted to hospital.

Sean Kelly had that cycling in South Africa during the apartheid regime as a UK team and at least one drugs ban.

Anyway, for me the worst was in 2002. St Pats, Shels, Court threats, arbitrations, and the league title that went over and back across the Liffey after the season was over. Synopsis from wiki

Controversy dogged St Pats in the 2001/02 season due to player registration irregularities. The club had 9 points deducted due to fielding an ineligible player (Paul Marney) in their first 3 games of the season, but this decision was revoked upon arbitration, on March 22, 2002. They then had 15 points deducted for playing Charles Mbabazi Livingstone in the first 5 matches of the season in spite of not having registered him until September 12, 2001. St. Pats argued that they did not intentionally seek to gain advantage as the player was registered correctly the previous season, there was nothing underhand about it. Shelbourne F.C. would end up as champions, after the League imposed a 15 point penalty on the Saints. A FAI arbitration panel would reject the Saints appeal of the point deduction and to this day the Saints still contest that they are the rightful league champs.

Ruu_Old

il gatto wrote:

Ireland vs Mexico at the '94 World Cup. Fourth official wouldn't let John Aldridge on the pitch for ages. Ended up in a three way shouting match between Aldridge, Jack Charlton and the official. I think that was also the match where they wanted to drugs test Tommy Coyne, but as he'd sweated so much, he had nothing left to give, so to speak, so they got him to drink loads of water and he got water poisoning and was admitted to hospital.

Ah yes, what did they expect?:rolleyes: Irish players in 100-120F heat (alot of them for the first time).

Collie D

il gatto wrote:

Ireland vs Mexico at the '94 World Cup. Fourth official wouldn't let John Aldridge on the pitch for ages. Ended up in a three way shouting match between Aldridge, Jack Charlton and the official. I think that was also the match where they wanted to drugs test Tommy Coyne, but as he'd sweated so much, he had nothing left to give, so to speak, so they got him to drink loads of water and he got water poisoning and was admitted to hospital.

That was a classic, don't suppose anyone's got a clip to uplaod?

kevmy

What about the ones involving intercounty players and the manager/county board officals wife/girlfriend? Always entertaining with loads of extra side rumours added on with player being dropped, left behind after away games etc.

I know at least one of these is true but i won't/can't name names.

Rovi

Don't forget Cián O'Connor on his 'high' horse

.

Caco

Rovi wrote:

Don't forget Cián O'Connor on his 'high' horse

.

You just got there before me! ha

Ruu_Old

Rovi wrote:

Don't forget Cián O'Connor on his 'high' horse

.

I'll get your coat.

il gatto

Another one was the Roscommon football team a few years ago. Apparently they were drunk in a hotel playing pool when they came up with the bright idea of stripping. When naked, it seemed logical (well I suppose when you're drunk it might) to start using their lads as cues. And by lad, I don't mean their son:D Team was disbanded, as was the board. They were reinstated some time later. Classic:D

Ruu_Old

Collie D wrote:

That was a classic, don't suppose anyone's got a clip to uplaod?

I knew it was around somewhere, included in this clip. You'll also get to see the very, very scary expression on Terry Phelan's face when Ray Houghton scored V Italy.

il gatto

Bloody Dutch

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Michelle Smith / De Bruin

was her medal taken form her over that. i don't think it was...was it?

donspeekinglesh

No, it happened several years after the Olympics, so she kept all the medals.

gucci

what about the ref blowing up the clare versus offaly match 4 or 5 minutes early, think his name was jimmy cooney. calre won the inital "match" then lost the subsequent replay, cue conspiricy theories etc

il gatto

Same happened in Connaught final a few years back. Sligo were making a comeback and were within 1 or 2 points of Galway when the ref blew it up 2 or 3 minutes early, never mind playing injury time.

Collie D

Ruu wrote:

I'll get your coat.

Great stuff, thanks, Ruu, Oasis on the soundtrack as well, ah Razor's goal, if only I was og legal age at the time.


Anyone remember Kerry's "goal" in the first round of Munster Championship a few years ago?

Tha Gopher

Yis would love a book i perused thru once in Easons called Gubu (i think), its basically a collection of true Irish incidents that could "only happen in Ireland"

Rough quote from the book

"Of all the proud photographs that the FAI office displays of Irish squads, one that doesnt make the hall of fame is one of the Irish team playing in Germany in 1938 aginst the Germans, showing respect to the locals by displaying the Nazi salute"

Regarding protests aginst the Irish rugger team tour of white South Africa in the 70s, apparently there was big protest against it at Landsdowne. When an exiled black South African walked through the crowd to make his speech and apparently knocked one of the irish protestors out of the way, the irish anti apartheid man who was offended roared "Who the fcuk does this n1gger think he is?"

Only in Ireland

il gatto

Munster vs Leicester in the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff. Scrum in front of the posts in the last minute and a Leicester player tapped the ball out of Stringers hands into his own side of the scrum. There was only a point or two in it. It was never followed up by the I.R.F.U. and B.B.C. commentary laughed it off as "gamesmanship". B#st#rds :mad:

SantaHoe

I misread this threads title as "Irish sporting sandals" ... needless to say I'm now dissapointed.

daveirl

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daveirl

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