Tesco bag-packers sent home for wearing GAA kits

Frogdog · 29-04-2009 03:27PM

Here's more of the story:

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

monkey9 · 29-04-2009 03:32PM

Jigsaw wrote: »

All joking aside, this is my local.

Which Tesco is it??

Fratton Fred · 29-04-2009 03:33PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:34PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:34PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:37PM

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

pow wow · 29-04-2009 03:40PM

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

:rolleyes:

javaboy · 29-04-2009 03:41PM

Hobart wrote: »

Muppet tbph.

Banned.

Jigsaw · 29-04-2009 03:42PM

monkey9 wrote: »

Which Tesco is it??

It's the one in Antrim town.

me-skywalker · 29-04-2009 03:42PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:43PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:43PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:45PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:46PM

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@ · 29-04-2009 03:46PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:46PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:47PM

How the heck are GAA jerseys 'offensive'?

Dudess · 29-04-2009 03:47PM

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@ · 29-04-2009 03:48PM

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 · 29-04-2009 03:50PM

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 ?

maxxie · 29-04-2009 03:51PM

biggots! brave picking on little children arent they!

Borneo Fnctn · 29-04-2009 03:55PM

If certain Unionists felt entitled to have a march on O' Connell Street, then these kids have every right to pack bags in Tesco. Certain Unionists should realize this. Free speech is worthless if it is only afforded to what you yourself hold dear.

Galvasean · 29-04-2009 03:55PM

Jip wrote: »

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.

But as someone stated earlir, it's just a case of people trying to be offended.
There is nothing offensive about a kid wearing a GAA jersey.

Jip · 29-04-2009 03:56PM

But it is to someone in that environment, maybe not to me and you and most other sane people.

mike65 · 29-04-2009 03:57PM

Clearly any child wearing a GAA jersey now will be throwing bombs not balls in five years time. YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO VIGILGANT!

Jigsaw · 29-04-2009 03:59PM

me-skywalker wrote: »

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!

What I think I'll do is write a letter to the councillor in question and condemn his behaviour and absolutely cut him down on all his points of view, which will be fairly easy as he is a big, slack jawed cretin and I am fairly intelligent. I think I will then follow this up with a succession of Freedom of Information requests coupled with threats to report them to the Equality Commission if they do not reply satisfactorily within the relevant timescale to p1ss them off rightly.

This was a ridiculous approach to take by the UUP at a time when we're trying to establish a bit of concord in this part of the world. In the eyes of thick people in Antrim and beyond now, the persecution of someone associated with GAA has been legitimised.

Acacia · 29-04-2009 04:00PM

Jip wrote: »

But it is to someone in that environment, maybe not to me and you and most other sane people.

I see what you're saying, but it is absolutely ridiculous to get offended over it. It's not like the kids were wearing the jersey to cause any offence. They were just trying to be offended.

If they want some credibility from people outside the whole situation for their party (not that everybody in the UUP supported this) , they should cop on and stop being self-righteous twats , tbh.

This story has really irked me for some reason. I suppose it's hard to believe that there are people that intolerant out there.

29-04-2009 04:00PM

Lets be honest here. tesco sent these kids to get changed for one reason...money!!
There are a small percentage of bigots on both side of the border (as some of those who posted here have proven) and if these people got to the checkouts and seen kids in GAA tops they would walk out and/or cause a distrurbance. And probably not shop there again.
Yes 99.9% of us are normal and would see it for what is is, kids raising money for their club regardless of who/what they are but we're dealing with alot of history here.

WindSock · 29-04-2009 04:01PM

In the past some unionist politicians, including Northern Ireland's sports minister Gregory Campbell, have criticised it for not doing enough to improve community relations.

Dur N fkn durrr pricks. There's no winning then is there?

I am going to write a complaint to Tesco.

thelordofcheese · 29-04-2009 04:01PM

markoD wrote: »

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.

I feel the manager of said tescos should done the sensible thing and turned to Stephen Fry for his wisdom.

"So you're offended. So fucking what?"

Tesco bag-packers sent home for wearing GAA kits

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