Ireland's biggest sporting embarrassment?

Dirty Dingus McGee

Aidric wrote: »

A sweaty Marty Morrissey chasing Cindy Crawford for an interview at the Beijing Olympics was particularly creepy.

Is there any other type of Marty Morrisey?

Baggy Trousers

bobwilliams wrote: »

No.no. And No, 5 mins in the mans company and you would change your opinion of him, chaps a legend

Agree with that. Roddy is a legend.

Aidric

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Is there any other type of Marty Morrisey?

Depends on the season but a humid Beijing was asking for trouble. He must get through a share of white shirts.

lucernarian

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Yes the whole association should be written off because of a few gobsh1tes from Louth who couldn't control themselves.

I worded the last sentence badly. But instead of sarcasm, hightlight all the other points I made?? I basically said they disgraced themselves for all the reasons in my post, not just because of the fans. The fans were only the worst part of that day. Maybe all those who thanked you should look over what I said again.

It was the whole sorry state of affairs on that day. Everything, not just the poor behaviour of a few fans, from that day showed some of the worst aspects of GAA football. Incompetent refereeing, shameless tactical fouls, the complete lack of leadership from headquarters in doing *anything* kinds of mistakes from happening again in particular. Burying their heads in the sand. The attitude of some so-called fans in Drogheda that night. Plenty of people quick to join all manner of facebook groups but nothing comes of it and when push comes to shove they all still pay the GAA plenty of money at the turnstiles.

A bigger man would see beyond what you conveniently bolded and looked at it as a whole post:mad:


Edit:

CrabRevolution wrote: »

What could they have done? Nullifying the result would have opened a massive can of worms and set a terrible precedent. It'd be a return to the 1890s for the GAA, where every match was replayed several times because iteams demanded replays for every possible reason.

What did FIFA do about Henry cheating? Did they punish him or France? No, they deflected the subject by focusing on John Delany's ridiculous request. Does that count as FIFA head in the sand stuff, or does that only apply to the GAA?

Hawkeye would count as something they've done since about poor refereeing.

Hawkeye does nothing for any fouls committed by attacking players in the run up to the goal, as you well know. So that has no bearing whatsoever on the shambles of that day whatever about what would have happened during the Leinster SFC semi final of 1998 (I have a long memory )

All that adds up to is a few red herrings. I don't give a damn about FIFA in this instance as the thread is about Ireland and tbh the increased use of goal line referees by UEFA is at least some kind of step in the right direction so even if I was talking about the failings of *international organisations* rather than the FAI or GAA then I would see some improvement. But it's funny how you've left out the changes to the rules of association football and the trials within UEFA of actually using more assistant referees to uphold that sport's rules. That makes a massive difference in my book. Never mind that the referee was told by umpires about the foul and could have done something about it before awarding the goal, something that didn't happen with Thierry Henry's little moment.

And your talk of nullifying matches is a straw man. I never mentioned nullifying? I wanted to see some kind of rule change or new technology or better referee training to be brought about to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Dirty Dingus McGee

lucernarian wrote: »

I worded the last sentence badly. But instead of sarcasm, hightlight all the other points I made?? I basically said they disgraced themselves for all the reasons in my post, not just because of the fans. The fans were only the worst part of that day. Maybe all those who thanked you should look over what I said again.

It was the whole sorry state of affairs on that day. Everything, not just the poor behaviour of a few fans, from that day showed some of the worst aspects of GAA football. Incompetent refereeing, shameless tactical fouls, the complete lack of leadership from headquarters in doing *anything* kinds of mistakes from happening again in particular. Burying their heads in the sand. The attitude of some so-called fans in Drogheda that night. Plenty of people quick to join all manner of facebook groups but nothing comes of it and when push comes to shove they all still pay the GAA plenty of money at the turnstiles.

A bigger man would see beyond what you conveniently bolded and looked at it as a whole post:mad:

I didn't really want to address the other parts of your post as I've probably done it buckets of times already on various other discussions in the past.

There is no excuse for the behaviour of those fans or any fans who even attempt to go onto any GAA field. Its is dffficult to punish the fans who entered the field because people who might know who they are are not going to inform on them and also they probably weren't even GAA members so the GAA couldn't punish them.

The refereeing was poor but that happens in all sports and there is nothing much you can do about beforehand to prevent a referee who making a dreadfully bad decision.People make mistakes its a part of life but Sludden hasn't refereed at inter county level since and won't ever again referee at intercounty level so he has received a punishment for his error.Attempts are constantly being made to improve refereeing.

The GAA have made some efforts to address bad decision making by introducing hawk eye.

The issue around the quality of the umpires is difficult to address as it is a tough position to fill I would imagine as you need 4 at every single match a referee refs and although it would be possible to get better quality umpires for the championship it would be difficult to get enough people to do it for the league and then if these umpires do the league they expect to do the championship .If they don't get an oppurtunity to umpire in the championship then I doubt they would bother with umpiring in the league.Although I have a feeling steps will be made in the next couple of years to improve umpires.

The shameless tactical fouls you mentioned have been dealt with by the introduction of the black card.Tactical fouls happen in every single sport that exists so it isn't unique to Gaelic Football.

the_monkey

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The welcome home after the world cup with Joe Duffy onstage

Think it was the Phoenix Park.

was that when Boyzone "performed" ?

lucernarian

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

I didn't really want to address the other parts of your post as I've probably done it buckets of times already on various other discussions in the past.

There is no excuse for the behaviour of those fans or any fans who even attempt to go onto any GAA field. Its is dffficult to punish the fans who entered the field because people who might know who they are are not going to inform on them and also they probably weren't even GAA members so the GAA couldn't punish them.

The refereeing was poor but that happens in all sports and there is nothing much you can do about beforehand to prevent a referee who making a dreadfully bad decision.People make mistakes its a part of life but Sludden hasn't refereed at inter county level since and won't ever again referee at intercounty level so he has received a punishment for his error.Attempts are constantly being made to improve refereeing.

The GAA have made some efforts to address bad decision making by introducing hawk eye.

The issue around the quality of the umpires is difficult to address as it is a tough position to fill I would imagine as you need 4 at every single match a referee refs and although it would be possible to get better quality umpires for the championship it would be difficult to get enough people to do it for the league and then if these umpires do the league they expect to do the championship .If they don't get an oppurtunity to umpire in the championship then I doubt they would bother with umpiring in the league.Although I have a feeling steps will be made in the next couple of years to improve umpires.

The shameless tactical fouls you mentioned have been dealt with by the introduction of the black card.Tactical fouls happen in every single sport that exists so it isn't unique to Gaelic Football.

Removing Sludden from Intercounty football isn't much of a difference to the status quo when some gob****e from Tyrone or anywhere else can still come along and ignore the very obvious actions of his umpires.

Nor would Hawkeye ever make any difference to what happened in that match. Only video replays like what rugby union offers would really do that but there is much that could be done before such a step.

It's hard to hold an organisation or club to account for its fans but strangely other sporting confederations have found their voice here with things like racism. I'm thinking of the punishments inflicted upon some European soccer clubs for racist chanting by small numbers of fans.

Anyway thanks for the effort this time to make a serious post and I still think that day will count as one of Ireland's most disgraceful moments in sport.

Michelle Smith was an awful embarrassment, internationally

Cienciano

Aidric wrote: »

A sweaty Marty Morrissey chasing Cindy Crawford for an interview at the Beijing Olympics was particularly creepy.

Marty Morrissey

Grand Moff Tarkin

washman3 wrote: »

Didn't even know we have a basketball team..:o
How often do we play and against who..??
Do we also have a ladies team.?

Still banned from playing international basketball due to the fact we paid a load of college Irish Americans to come over and play during the Celtic Tiger era. When the money should have went to developing the game in the country. Of course there was years of mis management in the association before Bernard came on board. There are a few people who made plenty of money who are long gone.

efb

Surely the Irish (Swiss) head of cycling guy? Neck like a jockeys b`````ks

Realt Dearg Sec

Grand Moff Tarkin wrote: »

Still banned from playing international basketball due to the fact we paid a load of college Irish Americans to come over and play during the Celtic Tiger era. When the money should have went to developing the game in the country. Of course there was years of mis management in the association before Bernard came on board. There are a few people who made plenty of money who are long gone.

Jesus I never hard anything about us being banned from international basketball. Surely that's a bigger national embarrassment than a few gob****es getting into a gaa field? That's an Olympic sport, and we're banned from it? ****ing hell.

Optimalprimerib

lucernarian wrote: »

Its not a national issue as such but I've never been to a paid admission GAA match since the Leinster SFC final of 2010. And I went to league as well as championship intercounty matches in the years previous (at least when college or work weren't glaring issues).

That day was an embarrassment to the GAA for all sorts of reasons, the conduct of the players and fans on both sides to make a rivalry more important than life or death. Never mind referees actually using their eyes and not awarding a goal even the umpires didn't want to flag or giving the right, I.e. red card to a certain Louth player who took out a Meath player near the end of the match.

I can never shake the image of a bunch of knuckledraggers that I saw that day. GAA disgraced itself as a sport.

As a Meath man, this is the winner. I'm at a loss to what should have happened as we needed a point to draw the game but got the goal as illegally as it is possible.

If only Seamus Kenny popped the ball over the bar instead of going for goal...

Clearlier

efb wrote: »

Surely the Irish (Swiss) head of cycling guy? Neck like a jockeys b`````ks

Pat McQuaid. Good call. I was embarrassed that he was at the head of cycling when he was.

Grand Moff Tarkin

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Jesus I never hard anything about us being banned from international basketball. Surely that's a bigger national embarrassment than a few gob****es getting into a gaa field? That's an Olympic sport, and we're banned from it? ****ing hell.

Sorry basketball Ireland are not eligible for any sporting grants as the money which should have went to grassroots from the grants of the Celtic Tiger era was used to pay the Irish American college players who came over and played for the country.

That is an even bigger embarrassment.

The_Captain

It's sad how quick Irish people are at tearing down Michelle Smith.

She single handed won more gold medals in the Olympics than the rest of the country combined for the last 100 years.

Over in the UK, Phillip Hindes deliberately crashes his bike and admits cheating. Wins a gold medal, no investigation, national hero

Dwain Chambers is at the top level of athetics over there, no national embarrassment or shame about him at all

In the US, Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton were defended to the hilt until they came out and finally admitted doping.

I always feel we're so quick to hang Michelle Smith because of the big media campaign against her in the US after her wins.

iDave

The_Captain wrote: »

It's sad how quick Irish people are at tearing down Michelle Smith.

She single handed won more gold medals in the Olympics than the rest of the country combined for the last 100 years.

Over in the UK, Phillip Hindes deliberately crashes his bike and admits cheating. Wins a gold medal, no investigation, national hero

Dwain Chambers is at the top level of athetics over there, no national embarrassment or shame about him at all

In the US, Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton were defended to the hilt until they came out and finally admitted doping.

I always feel we're so quick to hang Michelle Smith because of the big media campaign against her in the US after her wins.

Maradonna is a hero in his homeland even though he blatantly cheated and got done at a World Cup for being on cocaine. The eyes after the goal against Greece!!!

osarusan

The_Captain wrote: »

I always feel we're so quick to hang Michelle Smith because of the big media campaign against her in the US after her wins.

I think people are quick to hang her because of her whiskey-laced urine test, which they see as confirmation of her drug use.

When I say 'people' and 'they', I include myself in that, definitely.

I don't think it's embarrassing to not be proud of a cheat - the embarrassment lies with those who celebrate known cheats.

Clearlier

The_Captain wrote: »

It's sad how quick Irish people are at tearing down Michelle Smith.

She single handed won more gold medals in the Olympics than the rest of the country combined for the last 100 years.

Over in the UK, Phillip Hindes deliberately crashes his bike and admits cheating. Wins a gold medal, no investigation, national hero

Dwain Chambers is at the top level of athetics over there, no national embarrassment or shame about him at all

In the US, Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton were defended to the hilt until they came out and finally admitted doping.

I always feel we're so quick to hang Michelle Smith because of the big media campaign against her in the US after her wins.

It's sad how long it took for us to question Michelle Smith. There was just one journalist in Ireland seriously asking questions in the aftermath of the Olymipcs and it was only after she was caught tampering with her sample that opinion on her changed.

In contrast we can be proud of Kimmage and Walsh's contributions to the unmasking of doping in cycling. There were plenty of American's asking questions about Armstrong and it was in fact an American organisation (USADA) which finally forced him to admit to doping.

I live in the UK and am in a running club here. I can assure that there's plenty of embarrassment and shame about Chambers in the UK.

Chris Hoy is a national hero. Philip Hindes is virtually unknown.

Realt Dearg Sec

Grand Moff Tarkin wrote: »

Sorry basketball Ireland are not eligible for any sporting grants as the money which should have went to grassroots from the grants of the Celtic Tiger era was used to pay the Irish American college players who came over and played for the country.

That is an even bigger embarrassment.

Sounds like it's all part of one big ball of embarrassment.

Pherekydes

The_Captain wrote: »

It's sad how quick Irish people are at tearing down Michelle Smith.

She single handed won more gold medals in the Olympics than the rest of the country combined for the last 100 years.

Not true!

We've won at least six gold medals, in sports other than swimming, since 1928 (incl).

flutered

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Sounds like it's all part of one big ball of embarrassment.

to my knowlage the clubs had to pay the us guys out of their own pocket, the money they recieved was not great, as they used to get part time jobs to supplement their income,
the iba at one stage hired an aussie guy to improve the fitness of players, his first camp was in ucc, he arrived two hours late, he drove down from dublin by motorbike, dis not allow enough time, also he got lost somewhere on the way down, i was there that day, good enough for the embarresment fourm on its own

Magico Gonzalez

We should be proud of a cheater?

No thanks.

The_Captain

osarusan wrote: »

I think people are quick to hang her because of her whiskey-laced urine test, which they see as confirmation of her drug use.

When I say 'people' and 'they', I include myself in that, definitely.

I don't think it's embarrassing to not be proud of a cheat - the embarrassment lies with those who celebrate known cheats.

There's never been any proof that her gold medals were the result of cheating.
The sample tampering came later and had no implications on her Olympic performances.

Realt Dearg Sec

The_Captain wrote: »

There's never been any proof that her gold medals were the result of cheating.
The sample tampering came later and had no implications on her Olympic performances.

You believe she was clean then? A career journeywoman, on the downturn in her career, suddenly not only defies biology by improving her times when they should be declining, but is suddenly by a country mile better than all of her competitors, after having become romantically involved with a confirmed cheat, and is later found guilty of sample tampering herself.

I have a feeling you aren't the best person to have around when buying a used car.

osarusan

The_Captain wrote: »

There's never been any proof that her gold medals were the result of cheating.
The sample tampering came later and had no implications on her Olympic performances.

All this is correct. There is no proof.

But people will see implications in the sample tampering, and some people will connect it to her extraordinarily unlikely Olympic success.

I know I do.

Dog of Tears

The_Captain wrote: »

There's never been any proof that her gold medals were the result of cheating.
The sample tampering came later and had no implications on her Olympic performances.

You probably think Gerry Adams was never in the IRA.

buck65

The_Captain wrote: »

There's never been any proof that her gold medals were the result of cheating.
The sample tampering came later and had no implications on her Olympic performances.

Best joke you ever heard thread is thataway...

Baggy Trousers

The_Captain wrote: »

There's never been any proof that her gold medals were the result of cheating.
The sample tampering came later and had no implications on her Olympic performances.

She didn't get caught during the Olympics but she was most certainly doing drugs. Everybody connected with swimming knows this...even Michelle.

byrneg28

Baggy Trousers wrote: »

She didn't get caught during the Olympics but she was most certainly doing drugs. Everybody connected with swimming knows this...even Michelle.

It's like Gerry Adams still denying he was ever part of the IRA

Baggy Trousers

byrneg28 wrote: »

It's like Gerry Adams still denying he was ever part of the IRA

Not really no.