Tesco bag-packers sent home for wearing GAA kits

monkey9

Tesco has admitted that it asked charity bag-packers at its store in Antrim to remove GAA jerseys following complaints from the public.

Children as young as nine were collecting money for a GAA club on Sunday when they were asked to go home and change out of their club jerseys.

Tesco says the decision was taken following vociferous complaints from the public, including one from a local Ulster Unionist councillor.

The retailer normally asks bag-packers from sports clubs to wear their jerseys so the public will now who they represent and will have a choice whether to donate or not.

These Ulster Unionist seem like great craic!!

Robbo

Seems reasonable to me.

All that cheap polyester rubbing up against plastic bags could easily start a fire from the static which may not be as hilarious as the mental image I have now of a little ginger kid running with his St Oliver Cromwell's Ballynahinch GAA club shirt ablaze...

conorlechance

FFS. small time stuff or what.

Rented Mule

Absolutely ridiculous.

I would love to hear what the corporate office of tescos has to say about this.

Xavi6

Tesco has admitted that it asked charity bag-packers at its store in Antrim to remove GAA jerseys

Topless bag-packers?! Was it a wimmins team by any chance?

ejmaztec

It was the Balaclavas that did it...

Captain-America

They were nine.

Tech3

Xavi6 wrote: »

Topless bag-packers?! Was it a wimmins team by any chance?

ffs it was 9 year olds!

D-Boy

Absolutely ludicrous will they ever acknowledge they live in Ireland!!!!!!

AnonoBoy

So you're saying an Ulster Unionist councillor asked some 9 year olds to take their tops off for him?

The f*ck lads? The f*ck?

Xavi6

tech2 wrote: »

ffs it was 9 year olds!

It says 'as young as nine'.

Mr.Lizard

Any excuse to get rid of them is good enough for me.

I would have given the f***er directions to the nearest airport and told the tesco staff who asked me to leave to kiss my hole.

Evil_Clown

***NEWS FLASH***

Angry Dallas fans get bag packers wearing 'I shot JR' t-shirts removed from local supermarket

dlambirl

I hate bag packers full stop - they havent a clue how to pack anything and put things like firelighters and bleach in with bread and fruit!!

Quazzie

tech2 wrote: »

ffs it was 9 year olds!

Sssssh You'll wake Snyper!

Caoimhín

Quazzie wrote: »

Sssssh You'll wake Snyper!

Haha, maybe it was Snyper disguised as an Ulster Unionist Orangie.

Bowler hat, check, little Hitleresque tash, check, Orange sash, check, asking kids to take their clothes off, check.

Jigsaw

All joking aside, this is my local Tesco and I utterly pissed off. Now I've stated many times before on Boards that I am indeed a Protestant but am a fair minded person who wants to live in a modern and tolerant society. It fills me with rage to think of that big fat, red faced Adrian Watson of UUP bellowing out at staff about how he is outraged by children from a local sports club fundraising, yet in a couple of months time he'll have absolutely no problem walking along main streets and road wearing a bowler hat and a sash and marching to tunes celebrating the killing of Catholics 319 years ago. I'm seriously not going to leave this alone. I'm going to f*cking pursue this at the Council. This won't do.

Mr Benevolent

its store in Antrim

D-Boy wrote: »

Absolutely ludicrous will they ever acknowledge they live in Ireland!!!!!!

They live in Northern Ireland. They're not Irish, they're UK citizens.

Acacia

Wow, how fcuking petty is that. Seriously sad. I'd say the same if it was a nationalist councilor complaining about Unionist kids.

I mean, they're only nine year olds. They'll never get rid of the sectarian crap up there , if this is the kind of intolerance nine year olds have to put up with. They'll grow up thinking this kind of bigotry is the norm.

Fratton Fred

why the **** do you guys want unification with these guys?? surely the best thing you can do is leave them a is and put a bloody big wall up at the border.:D

what was the GAA club by the way and why would this cause offence other than just plain old fashioned intransigence?

The Real B-man

So what next Complaining about people wearing English Football Team Jerseys in The Republic these unionists are sad sad people!

Fratton Fred

The Real B-man wrote: »

So what next Complaining about people wearing English Football Jerseys in The Republic these unionists are sad sad people!

Personally I would boycot any charity worker wearing a man united jersey, but that's reasonable surely :P

Jigsaw

Fratton Fred wrote: »

why the **** do you guys want unification with these guys?? surely the best thing you can do is leave them a is and put a bloody big wall up at the border.:D

what was the GAA club by the way and why would this cause offence other than just plain old fashioned intransigence?

It was just plain old fashioned intransigence. It is local club in the centre of Antrim and seems to a very well run club which exists through a common interest in Gaelic sports. There was no reason for the councillor to object other than that the GAA is predominately associated with Roman Catholics and he doesn't like Roman Catholics. Every time I see a story like this it just makes me want to move back to England again.

Hobart

Xavi6 wrote: »

Topless bag-packers?! Was it a wimmins team by any chance?

Muppet tbph.

toiletduck

Intolerance in Northern Ireland? I for one am shocked.

mayordenis

Jigsaw wrote: »

It was just plain old fashioned intransigence. It is local club in the centre of Antrim and seems to a very well run club which exists through a common interest in Gaelic sports. There was no reason for the councillor to object other than that the GAA is predominately associated with Roman Catholics and he doesn't like Roman Catholics. Every time I see a story like this it just makes me want to move back to England again.

No.
You're a sensible person, we need sensible people, stay with us please.

Dudess

That seems rather horribly sectarian all right. Even people with Conor Cruise O'Brien type mindsets would surely agree...

D-Boy wrote: »

Absolutely ludicrous will they ever acknowledge they live in Ireland!!!!!!

They don't live in Ireland just because you believe they do.
<SNIP>

The Real B-man wrote: »

So what next Complaining about people wearing English Football Team Jerseys in The Republic

Indeed

ejmaztec

They should get some GAA bowler hats by way of a compromise. They could use these to collect the money in.

Dubh Geannain

Alot of anger here

When I read the story I found myself just simply shaking my head and feeling sorry for the small minded bigot.

This same chap probably has people knocking on his door asking for advice with recently lost jobs etc. And he finds the time to pursue such petulent battles. Poor little fella

Can't believe I'm saying this but I'd sooner have Harney and her Wagon in charge of the HSE than some eegit who would probably apply a similar dress code to hospitals.

chughes

Jigsaw wrote: »

All joking aside, this is my local Tesco and I utterly pissed off. Now I've stated many times before on Boards that I am indeed a Protestant but am a fair minded person who wants to live in a modern and tolerant society. It fills me with rage to think of that big fat, red faced Adrian Watson of UUP bellowing out at staff about how he is outraged by children from a local sports club fundraising, yet in a couple of months time he'll have absolutely no problem walking along main streets and road wearing a bowler hat and a sash and marching to tunes celebrating the killing of Catholics 319 years ago. I'm seriously not going to leave this alone. I'm going to f*cking pursue this at the Council. This won't do.

Fair play to you Jigsaw. Sane, rational thinking like that is badly needed in Northern Ireland to counteract loyalist/nationalist extremism.

Frogdog

Here's more of the story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8024732.stm

monkey9

Jigsaw wrote: »

All joking aside, this is my local.

Which Tesco is it??

Fratton Fred

if we get enough people to read that BBC article it will end up on the front page of the site.

I can assure you, 99% of people in England, Wlaes and Scotland will read that, shake their heads and say "What the ****.."

Broader exposure is what it needs.

Borneo Fnctn

Unionist dickheads. You'd swear they were being forced to make a donation. This is bigotry and there is no two ways about it.

Jip

The Real B-man wrote: »

So what next Complaining about people wearing English Football Team Jerseys in The Republic

I certainly do anyway. Why do people thing they look stylish in soccer jerseys, especially fat chicks and chaps that waer other sportwear and obviously have never exercised since p.e. at school ?

monkey9 wrote: »

Which Tesco is it??

Have a read of the article.

Dudess

Thread title is misleading tbh. They weren't actually sent home.

pow wow

I'd say I'm surprised but I'm not. :rolleyes:

javaboy

Hobart wrote: »

Muppet tbph.

Banned.

Jigsaw

monkey9 wrote: »

Which Tesco is it??

It's the one in Antrim town.

me-skywalker

Jigsaw wrote: »

All joking aside, this is my local Tesco and I utterly pissed off. Now I've stated many times before on Boards that I am indeed a Protestant but am a fair minded person who wants to live in a modern and tolerant society. It fills me with rage to think of that big fat, red faced Adrian Watson of UUP bellowing out at staff about how he is outraged by children from a local sports club fundraising, yet in a couple of months time he'll have absolutely no problem walking along main streets and road wearing a bowler hat and a sash and marching to tunes celebrating the killing of Catholics 319 years ago. I'm seriously not going to leave this alone. I'm going to f*cking pursue this at the Council. This won't do.

Will you make them play a game Jigsaw?
Will you make them pay the ultimate price?

I personaly think you should go with the keys in eyes trick!

D-Boy

Dudess wrote: »

That seems rather horribly sectarian all right. Even people with Conor Cruise O'Brien type mindsets would surely agree...

They don't live in Ireland just because you believe they do.
<SNIP>

Indeed

Ireland = Geographic island comprising 32 counties.
Republic Of Ireland is a state,ir 'Free State'
Ireland is the island

AnonoBoy

Dudess wrote: »

Thread title is misleading tbh. They weren't actually sent home.

A couple of kids when they arrived were asked to go home and change before they started packing bags.

Acacia

From the BBC article-

Drew Ritchie from the Ulster Unionist party said Tesco needs to review its policy to assure charity collections do not cause offence.

Well, boo-fcuking-hoo. Of course it's going to cause offence if you're trying your hardest to be offended.

markoD

Local Tesco management are clearly the ones at fault. There's no point complaining about bigots demanding that their bigoted desires be accommodated. It's like a dog barking: it's just what they do. The problem arose when local Tesco management deviated from their own stated policy in order to accommodate the prejudices of some bigoted shoppers. Thus, reinforcing the idea that it's reasonable to be "offended" by the very presence of one sporting club while happily accepting that of another.

Shame on the UUP and shame on Tesco.

m@cc@

Jigsaw wrote: »

All joking aside, this is my local Tesco and I utterly pissed off. Now I've stated many times before on Boards that I am indeed a Protestant but am a fair minded person who wants to live in a modern and tolerant society. It fills me with rage to think of that big fat, red faced Adrian Watson of UUP bellowing out at staff about how he is outraged by children from a local sports club fundraising, yet in a couple of months time he'll have absolutely no problem walking along main streets and road wearing a bowler hat and a sash and marching to tunes celebrating the killing of Catholics 319 years ago. I'm seriously not going to leave this alone. I'm going to f*cking pursue this at the Council. This won't do.

Well this is true and the worst thing is that people will read this and think that the UUP is a marker for the rest of the Protestant opinion. The GAA cause isn't helped in Belfast by the stuff that goes on in the Holylands where any anti-British or police behaviour is usually perpetrated by cretins in GAA shirts which is then publicised and then protestants obviously take this as associating the GAA with anti-Britishness when the truth is that those in Holylands offend all people with any sense of reality.

Fratton Fred

I don't see how Tesco can be blamed for this. If the manager feels that it could cause a disturbance then he/she is obliged to stop it. Making moral stands against a potentially violent crowd aren't exactly within a store manager's remit.

Galvasean

How the heck are GAA jerseys 'offensive'?

Dudess

AnonoBoy wrote: »

A couple of kids when they arrived were asked to go home and change before they started packing bags.

Yes but being sent somewhere to change isn't the same as being sent home as a punishment. The thread title reads as the latter.

D-Boy wrote: »

Ireland = Geographic island comprising 32 counties.
Republic Of Ireland is a state,ir 'Free State'
Ireland is the island

Northern Ireland is in the United Kingdom - I don't like it either but that's not enough reason to deny it.

m@cc@

D-Boy wrote: »

Ireland = Geographic island comprising 32 counties.
Republic Of Ireland is a state,ir 'Free State'
Ireland is the island

Please, don't rise to it. We all have our beliefs and everything, let's keep on topic.

Jip

Galvasean wrote: »

How the heck are GAA jerseys 'offensive'?

Where have you been the last few decades ? (Obviously not Northern Ireland). Everything to do with catholics, protestants, nationalists, unionists etc etc is offensive to someone.

This is a bit extreme though. I wonder if they ask any local pubs to switch off the t.v. if they're showing any GAA games ?