Ireland's biggest sporting embarrassment?

Big Ears

Muahahaha wrote: »

I couldn't believe it last week when the Limerick boxer Andy Lee won the World Middleweight belt. I'd literally never heard of him and the first time I'd ever seen him was on the RTE News AFTER he had won the belt. Really poor from our national broadcaster that this chap is a world champion in his sport but most people had never even heard from him as media coverage on boxing seems to be rare when it does occur.

Well actually Andy used to be pretty well known in Ireland and spent some time in the nation's sporting limelight. He was our only boxing representative at the 2004 Olympics, and during the Bernard Dunne years (and for a while after), he was the main fighter other than Bernard to headline shows on RTE.
He headlined 5 RTE shows, aswell as being on 2 (televised fights) Dunne undercards. He frequently mixed up spells of fighting in Europe with spells of fighting in the US, but once RTE gave up on boxing he pretty much exclusively focused on fighting in the US, where he also had a failed World title attempt vs Julio Cesar Chavez jnr. That fight was massive in the US, but of course got little attention here.

foxy farmer wrote: »

I'd say the last time a boxing match was televised in this country was the night that Bernard Dunne was hammered by the Thai boxer in the O2. Another sad day.

The last time RTE showed a boxing fight was Willie Casey losing in a round to Guillermo Rigondeaux for the interim WBA Super-Bantamweight World title, back in March 2011. RTE had refused to show the fight, citing cost as a reason, so the promoter paid for all of RTE's production costs and they showed it at the last minute with virtually no advertisement.
This is the only boxing card RTE gained the rights for since Ryle Nugent's tenure as RTE head of sport began.

There was actually 4 other pro boxing cards since he took over, between September 2010 and November 2010, but these were all under a previous arrangement RTE had with Brian Peters (before Nugent took over). So 4 pro shows on RTE in 10 weeks in 2010.......0 shows on RTE in the last 3 years, 9 months.

DeanAustin

Muahahaha wrote: »

I'm not one bit a fan of John Delaney but I don't know why he is getting rubbished on this thread for the 33rd team thing. He said it in private to FIFA and it was never intended for broadcast except Sepp Blatter opened his big trap and broadcast it to make Irish people look like idiots.

Now if Delaney's lobbying behind the scenes had of actually resulted in FIFA somehow allowing a 33rd team play due to the extraordinary nature of the Henry handball then Ireland would have been going to the World Cup after all and everyone would be saying fair play to John Delaney for coming up with the idea.

As to how you would slot a 33rd team into a 32 team tournament I haven't the foggiest but had FIFA said fairs fair and Ireland should be there and they somehow made it happen then Delaney would have been doing his job, the FAI probably lost out on huge revenues by not going to the World Cup so he was only ever acting in the best interests of Irish football. The fact Sepp Blatter came out and broadcast a private solution wasn't Delaneys fault in fairness.

He's still a twat though, no doubt about that.

Ah come on...it was never in a million years going to happen.

Logistically, it was never going to work.

But more importantly than that, it should never have been considered. Bad calls happen in sport, you just have to deal with them. There have been awful calls throughout history. Think Maradona against England, think Brazil in 78, think Schumacher in 82 as just three off the top of my head. At no point did any of the countries on the wrong end of a decision look for a solution as daft as what Delaney and the FAI proposed. We looked like a naive, idiotic bunch of sore losers.

People are also forgetting that the handball didn't necessarily deny us a place at the World Cup. It just potentially denied us a penalty shoot out to get there.

Whether Delaney meant it to be made public is also beside the point. He's paid a good salary to represent football in this country on the international stage. He showed a complete lack of understanding of the game and made us look utterly stupid in front of the rest of the football world.

kippy

Big Ears wrote: »

Well actually Andy used to be pretty well known in Ireland and spent some time in the nation's sporting limelight. He was our only boxing representative at the 2004 Olympics, and during the Bernard Dunne years (and for a while after), he was the main fighter other than Bernard to headline shows on RTE.
He headlined 5 RTE shows, aswell as being on 2 (televised fights) Dunne undercards. He frequently mixed up spells of fighting in Europe with spells of fighting in the US, but once RTE gave up on boxing he pretty much exclusively focused on fighting in the US, where he also had a failed World title attempt vs Julio Cesar Chavez jnr. That fight was massive in the US, but of course got little attention here.




The last time RTE showed a boxing fight was Willie Casey losing in a round to Guillermo Rigondeaux for the interim WBA Super-Bantamweight World title, back in March 2011. RTE had refused to show the fight, citing cost as a reason, so the promoter paid for all of RTE's production costs and they showed it at the last minute with virtually no advertisement.
This is the only boxing card RTE gained the rights for since Ryle Nugent's tenure as RTE head of sport began.

There was actually 4 other pro boxing cards since he took over, between September 2010 and November 2010, but these were all under a previous arrangement RTE had with Brian Peters (before Nugent took over). So 4 pro shows on RTE in 10 weeks in 2010.......0 shows on RTE in the last 3 years, 9 months.

On the boxing thing,
It is a shame more high level Irish boxing isn't shown but isn't that a reflection of:
1. The higher costs of showing a boxing match on TV (coupled with the often complex rights packages that BN seem to hold)
2. The lack of funding in general RTE have to spend on such events - live sport has dropped off a fair bit in recent years, even a highlights package of the Premierleague has been dropped.

Granted, that shouldnt stop RTE supporting the "lower/younger" levels of Irish boxing.
TBH, this is probably a thread in itself.

Pherekydes

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Rory McIllroy for Olympics etc.

The fact that golf is in the Rio Olympics is not Ireland's sporting embarrassment; it's the IOC's.

kippy

Pherekydes wrote: »

The fact that golf is in the Rio Olympics is not Ireland's sporting embarrassment; it's the IOC's.

Again, it's all about the $$$$ I'd suggest.

lukesmom

murpho999 wrote: »

That mad priest Neil Horan who ran on to the Marathon course in Athens 2004 and cost the leader a gold medal.

I was embarrassed that he was Irish.

Is he Niall horans father? Cos he runs in one direction too....:)

bucketybuck

Muahahaha wrote: »

Now if Delaney's lobbying behind the scenes had of actually resulted in FIFA somehow allowing a 33rd team play due to the extraordinary nature of the Henry handball then Ireland would have been going to the World Cup after all and everyone would be saying fair play to John Delaney for coming up with the idea.

Thats grand, except for the small problem that there was never, ever going to be a 33rd team added to the world cup and it was utterly ridiculous to even suggest it, in private or not. No wonder Blatter repeated it to the media, he probably lost all respect for Delaney the minute he heard it.

And the Henry handball was not extraordinary in nature.

DeanAustin

bucketybuck wrote: »

Thats grand, except for the small problem that there was never, ever going to be a 33rd team added to the world cup and it was utterly ridiculous to even suggest it, in private or not. No wonder Blatter repeated it to the media, he probably lost all respect for Delaney the minute he heard it.

And the Henry handball was not extraordinary in nature.

It takes extraordinary stupidity to make Blatter look clever but Delaney managed it.

I'd say FIFA p1ssed themselves when the suggestion was put to them.

cython

ROAAAR wrote:

Actually you're wrong it was in the aviva before being done up. You're right about it not being in croker though good man, I just slipped out the wrong name there I was aware of that. I'd be a bit of a sporting expert in the area if you know what I mean 

Which in fact means the poster is correct, seeing as the Aviva before being done up/rebuilt was known as Lansdowne Road.....

nxbyveromdwjpg

Katie Taylor turning out to be a jesus freak was pretty bad

ollie1

Stephen Ireland and the whole dead granny thing and his jeep that had the pink alloys/pink seats on it so embarrassing.

SEPT 23 1989

nm wrote: »

Katie Taylor turning out to be a jesus freak was pretty bad

why?

rabwaygal

nm wrote: »

Katie Taylor turning out to be a jesus freak was pretty bad

In fairness thats a crazy thing to say.

chrysagon

ollie1 wrote: »

Stephen Ireland and the whole dead granny thing and his jeep that had the pink alloys/pink seats on it so embarrassing.

he just embarrassed himself, and proved what a low IQ he really has !

Podge83

Whether Delaney's, 33rd team comment was to straight Sepp in private or not he may as well have got a tin of paint, broke into the Soccer City Stadium, wrote it across the pitch and signed it in blood. This was an act of incredible stupidity, brought the nation into disrepute (never mind bringing the game into disrepute) and is hard to be beaten as an embarrassing moment in Ireland's sporting history, which isn't actually that bad given the size of our country.

The only thing that could be more embarrassing is that he's still in the job, parading around the world with a fancy piece on his arm..... Actually, when you think about it he probably would fit right in on FIFA's top table.

Hoop66

Bertser wrote: »

We won, but the manner of the 2-1 victory in San Marino in 2007 was extremely bad. Another Staunton masterclass.

Jesus yeah. My father in law gets tickets to most Ireland games and that was the first one he took me to.

He spent most of the game with his head in his hands, apologising for how **** it was.

ROAAAR

cython wrote: »

Which in fact means the poster is correct, seeing as the Aviva before being done up/rebuilt was known as Lansdowne Road.....

I was very drunk reading all of this last night.

grazeaway

Every time that rubbish Ireland's call is rolled out for the rugby matches.

I remember watching the 07 World Cup and all the countries came out behind their flag except Ireland who play under the flag of the irfu. It's as if they are ashamed to be irish.

Like a lot of people in the pub to see them narrowly beat Georgia I was gutted for the Georgians at least they had some real pride in thier country.

chrysagon

Have to admit, i never liked Ireland call...

juniord

when the cork footballers left croke park to catch a train, the ref started extra time without them in a league final

iDave

grazeaway wrote: »

Every time that rubbish Ireland's call is rolled out for the rugby matches.

I remember watching the 07 World Cup and all the countries came out behind their flag except Ireland who play under the flag of the irfu. It's as if they are ashamed to be irish.

Like a lot of people in the pub to see them narrowly beat Georgia I was gutted for the Georgians at least they had some real pride in thier country.

As much as I dislike Irelands Call there are cultural sensitivities. At the 11 World Cup the Ireland team came out behind the Tricolour and Ulster flag. Irish solution to an Irish problem.
As for Georgia and pride in their country. Aren't the South Ossetians trying to break away and be Russian?

grazeaway

nm wrote: »

Katie Taylor turning out to be a jesus freak was pretty bad

Hardly, the girls faith should have nothing to do with it. If she was cathloic and did a rosary before each bout would you be worried.

Met her once and what struck me was just how shy she was. Very different to many of the men's boxers who are all mouth. Hope she wins gold in rio again the pressure the poor girl must have been under in London must have been huge.

grazeaway

iDave wrote: »

As much as I dislike Irelands Call there are cultural sensitivities. At the 11 World Cup the Ireland team came out behind the Tricolour and Ulster flag. Irish solution to an Irish problem.
As for Georgia and pride in their country. Aren't the South Ossetians trying to break away and be Russian?

I think they have succeeded too.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Rory McIlroy and Brian O'Driscolls personal lives being sprawled all over the papers.I'm pretty sure if they wanted to both of them could keep their private lives private but for some unknown reason they seem intent on letting the whole world in on their lives.

The desperation surrounding McIlroy declaring for Ireland in the Olympics.As golf is not a proper Olympic sport and that it was fairly obvious that McIlroy declared for Ireland for PR reasons but we'll still over celebrate if he happened to win a completely meaningless gold.The suggestion by the head of the Irish Olympic Committee he should be the flag bearer over proper Olympic athletes was fairly embarrassing.

the way the FAI and media see no shame in trying to get people who have no interest in playing soccer for Ireland to play for the irish soccer team and the fact that a large amount of people in this country don't see anything wrong with it is quite embarassing. It's disrespectful to the expats who genuinely want to play or Ireland as their first choice and care about the country and disrespectful to soccer players born and raised here who are never are denied a chance by these shameless plastic paddys who don't really give a fcuk about this country.

Richart Strauss playing rugby for Ireland

Egginacup

padd b1975 wrote: »

It was the hammer.

1984.

Not only did he flatten the cage once, delaying the whole schedule of events, he managed to do it a second time.

Our hero's name was Declan Hegarty.

:pac:
Arsehole. That was the Atlanta Olympics wasn't it? I don't remember seeing the eejit.

Watching any episode of Barry McGuigan's short-lived chat show was painfully embarrassing too.

iDave

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Rory McIlroy and Brian O'Driscolls personal lives being sprawled all over the papers.I'm pretty sure if they wanted to both of them could keep their private lives private but for some unknown reason they seem intent on letting the whole world in on their lives.

The desperation surrounding McIlroy declaring for Ireland in the Olympics.As golf is not a proper Olympic sport and that it was fairly obvious that McIlroy declared for Ireland for PR reasons but we'll still over celebrate if he happened to win a completely meaningless gold.The suggestion by the head of the Irish Olympic Committee he should be the flag bearer over proper Olympic athletes was fairly embarrassing.

the way the FAI and media see no shame in trying to get people who have no interest in playing soccer for Ireland to play for the irish soccer team and the fact that a large amount of people in this country don't see anything wrong with it is quite embarassing. It's disrespectful to the expats who genuinely want to play or Ireland as their first choice and care about the country and disrespectful to soccer players born and raised here who are never are denied a chance by these shameless plastic paddys who don't really give a fcuk about this country.

Richart Strauss playing rugby for Ireland

Nothing wrong with Richardt Strauss. Its within the rules of the game. Nathan Hines doesn't exactly have a Scottish accent does he?
And the English are quite happy to have a paddy captain their cricket team. We are FAR from the only country doing this.

Dirty Dingus McGee

The fact that Martin Breheny is the country's leading GAA writer.For a land of supposedly great writers it's amazing how poor the standard of GAA writing is.

Hoop66

Does it matter? I don't know a single GAA fan that can read.

iDave

The standard of teammates Niall McNamee has had to deal with

chrysagon

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The fact that Martin Breheny is the country's leading GAA writer.For a land of supposedly great writers it's amazing how poor the standard of GAA writing is.

Have to agree, these journalists so wise, colm keys included, telling managers through the media, what they should be doing, tactics wise!!

The same journalists only ever ran to the fridge, yet an expert at everything, maybe they should step up to the plate, coach a team and show the GAA WORLD how much of a FAKE they really are!!