Australian commentator Russell Barwick causes a stir...

.ak

Australian commentator Russell Barwick causes a stir when he said 'Ireland a joke for not joining Team GB', however he apparently was referring to his lack of understanding regarding the fact Ireland play as a single country in rugby and playing as part of the British & Irish lions.

You can read more about it here from the independent.ie

What's your thoughts on it? There seems to be a common trend of thought that when someone does something like this it's regarded as a 'clever publicity stunt'. Is Russell being cute here, or something else?

razorblunt

The guy is an idiot, I would think the & would have been an indication as to why Irish players play in the British & Irish Lions.

Probably shouldn't waste anymore time on him.

Actually speaking of wasting time, when does journalism constitute taking quotes from Twitter from regular Joe Soaps. Jokeshop.

ArmaniJeanss

I always find myself 20 times more embarassed by the precious reaction than I am annoyed by the original comments.

Fishooks12

Is it a condition of employment for Ozzie and Kiwi sports journos to take a few heavy falls on the head before starting or something?

phog

Relevance to the Rugby Forum???????????

Teferi

phog wrote: »

Relevance to the Rugby Forum???????????

The comments about the Irish rugby team and the British and Irish Lions.

tolosenc

The best bit about this is the way he said something to the effect of "they kiss and make up for the 6 Nations".

lol wut?!

Teferi

tolosenc wrote: »

The best bit about this is the way he said something to the effect of "they kiss and make up for the 6 Nations".

lol wut?!

That's probably to do with the Irish rugby team representing the two countries on the island of Ireland. Still, it's rubbish.

CatFromHue

He said: "I understand the history of Irish politics. Well. . . I don't understand the history of Irish politics."

It showed!

Remember though Ireland is a pretty far away place from Oz/Nz and the Nz (can't comment on the Aussies) news tends to be very local.

There's probably loads we up here don't know about them so I don't have too much of problem with what he said. I'm sure he understands much more about Irish politics now after the Twitterati got on to him!

MyBrokenKnees

From the country that still has the Queen as their Monarch and on their money and the union jack on their Flag..Hmm wonders who really wants to be part of GB.

Tox56

CatFromHue wrote: »

He said: "I understand the history of Irish politics. Well. . . I don't understand the history of Irish politics."

It showed!

Remember though Ireland is a pretty far away place from Oz/Nz and the Nz (can't comment on the Aussies) news tends to be very local.

There's probably loads we up here don't know about them so I don't have too much of problem with what he said. I'm sure he understands much more about Irish politics now after the Twitterati got on to him!

Maybe, but if I was going to make claims and accusations like those, I would do a little research beforehand.

CatFromHue

Tox56 wrote: »

Maybe, but if I was going to make claims and accusations like those, I would do a little research beforehand.

Bill O Herlihy the other night was having a go at the Kenyan women's steeplechasers (I think it was them) asking why they were doing so bad in comparison to the men's team. Why weren't they anywhere as good as the Kenyan men's team in the Olympics...............the women's team only entered the steeplechase in the Olympics for the first time in 2008!

People say silly things about stuff they don't know all the time. It's no biggie to be honest.

Afterwards he said: "Ok a million apologies to those I offended. . . My initial question was 'Why does Ireland compete together in rugby but not at Olympics?'

To an outsider it could seem very very strange that NI and ROI play under the one team if they're separate countries.

phog

Teferi wrote: »

The comments about the Irish rugby team and the British and Irish Lions.

Tenuous at best.

thomond2006

Nothing wrong with outing him for some uneducated remarks, that'll learn him. Although no doubt a lot of the comments will be OTT and precious...

Still, for newspapers to report it is just filling empty column inches.

CatFromHue

Dublin Derek David tweeted: “Hello, please inform Russell Barwick that Katie Taylor is on her way to punch some sense into him.”

Thomas Quinn said: “Russell Barwick...coward! Ran away from Twitter after realising he was talking a load of s**t and could not back it up.”

Tara Murphy tweeted: “Yeah, Russell Barwick you better hide. What a muppet, saying that Ireland should be part of Team GB. IDIOT!”

Chris Byrne said: “Disappointed Russell Barwick left Twitter. Wuda liked to send some abuse his way!”

And Orla Ellis said: “Russell Barwick owes the Irish people an apology.”

---

I found the response more offensive than the original remark to be honest. Tabloid trash!

Teferi

phog wrote: »

Tenuous at best.

Central to the idea of where his comments came from.

Tox56

CatFromHue wrote: »

Bill O Herlihy the other night was having a go at the Kenyan women's steeplechasers (I think it was them) asking why they were doing so bad in comparison to the men's team. Why weren't they anywhere as good as the Kenyan men's team in the Olympics...............the women's team only entered the steeplechase in the Olympics for the first time in 2008!

People say silly things about stuff they don't know all the time. It's no biggie to be honest.

Afterwards he said: "Ok a million apologies to those I offended. . . My initial question was 'Why does Ireland compete together in rugby but not at Olympics?'

To an outsider it could seem very very strange that NI and ROI play under the one team if they're separate countries.

I'm not particularly offended by it, but I just think he should think before he speaks

The_Dave

Why do the West Indies not compete as individual countries in cricket...sport is full of these (I don't what word or words to use)

.ak

The_Dave wrote: »

Why do the West Indies not compete as individual countries in cricket...sport is full of these (I don't what word or words to use)

Things I believe is the correct term.

Klunk_NZ

By that logic its a joke Aus/NZ don't merge.

lads politics doesn't travel, we're on the other side of the planet. What know any of yee of the political differences between Tonga and Fiji?

Obviously he spoke without any research etc, but he's clearly a George Hook type figure, "speak first, think later", and was allowed dig a hole by the co-presenter.

On a national outrage level, it's about a 1/10 for me.

PhatPiggins

Deleted User wrote: »

lads politics doesn't travel, we're on the other side of the planet. What know any of yee of the political differences between Tonga and Fiji?

Obviously he spoke without any research etc, but he's clearly a George Hook type figure, "speak first, think later", and was allowed dig a hole by the co-presenter.

On a national outrage level, it's about a 1/10 for me.

George Hook doesn't dig a hole. He is the hole.

scrumqueen

I think he was just doing it on purpose to get attention and jack up the hits on his site.

Solair

Yeah, and Australian rugby players should just tog out for the All Blacks. It's ridiculous the way they go around pretending to be non-Kiwis.