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Ireland's biggest sporting embarrassment?

ColeTrain

What do you think is Ireland's most embarrassing moment on the sporting stage?

'Ireland's most successful Olympian' Michelle Smith and her doping gets my vote.

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Podge83

Choochtown wrote: »

I'll have to throw in another vote for Roy "I don't do friendlies unless it's my own in which case RTE can televise it live" Keane.

The man who walked out on his country on the eve of the World Cup finals complaining of poor preparation actually chose to be a pundit for an English TV channel covering the Champions League final the night before Ireland played Turkey in a Senior International match in Dublin and he was assistant manager of the team!!!!

You couldn't make it up.

And by the way what was it Roy said about pundits?

He didn't walk out................ He was sent home :eek:

Choochtown

Breffnigolfer wrote: »

1. If it was ok with Martin O'Neill, it's ok with me.
2. So what? It was a nothing, meaningless, "friendly, a full 24 hours later.

You'll obviously pick whatever suits to knock the man but you must admit that O'Neill, FAI, the players, Delaney, to a man, have done nothing but lavish praise on Keane and the contribution he has made to the job so far? Or, do you have a different view? Just to knock him?

A bigger crime for management would be to bring the squad to a chipper and fill them with fried food the night before an important qualifying match. Imagine if that happened? And imagine if it happened and the team lost heavily?

Of course it wasn't ok with O'Neill. Neither was Keane hijacking the media to promote his book instead of concentrating on the team for the last 2 matches.

O'Neill has something that Keane will never have; dignity and decorum. Hence he will spout the line that it's ok. With O'Neill the team comes first as it should.

By the way in International football there is no such thing as a meaningless friendly.

It is totally inexcusable and unacceptable for an assistant manager of a national team to go abroad to sit in a TV studio for an easy payday the night before a senior international

[Deleted User]

The 2007 Irish rugby "golden generation" almost getting beaten by amateurs from Georgia and then getting soundly thumped by Argentina, a team who back then didn't have an organised annual international competition to play in.

Axel Lamp

Has anyone mentioned Catherina McKiernan ****ting the pants in some race on TV? If not: Catherina McKiernan ****ting the pants in some race on TV. If yes: John Delaney again

NotASheeple

Has to be the FAI.

Breffnigolfer

Choochtown wrote: »

Of course it wasn't ok with O'Neill. .................

So now you're accusing Martin O'Neill of being a liar.

Fair play to you, you've shown your true colours.

Baggy Trousers

ColeTrain wrote: »

What do you think is Ireland's most embarrassing moment on the sporting stage?

'Ireland's most successful Olympian' Michelle Smith and her doping gets my vote.

Michelle Smith for me too. I defended her honour until I read an excellent article where they outlined her time improvements and other factors which were utterly convincing.

Big Ears

Deleted User wrote: »

The 2007 Irish rugby "golden generation" almost getting beaten by amateurs from Georgia and then getting soundly thumped by Argentina, a team who back then didn't have an organised annual international competition to play in.

Ya that Argentinian team was crap tbf, beating France by 24 points on their way to 3rd place in the tournament, rubbish team.
The result against Georgia was embarrassing, but pretty much their whole squad played in France. Most of the forward play professionally (in the top division), and most of the backs playing semi-professionally.

So while it was an abomination of a campaign, it's not quite as bad as if Argentina were the rubbish team you make them sound, or if Georgia were actually amateurs.

[Deleted User]

Breffnigolfer wrote: »

Well, give there are only 10 teams able to play competitively it's hardly surprising they have to do something to try to make it interesting.

You do realise that is generally how the top football teams view it. Sure there are upsets but, realistically, there are only a dozen or so nations that can win the WC

washman3

Muahahaha wrote: »

As Australian mate of mine has been to both Croker and Lansdowne since they were renovated. He later remarked "You guys seem like world leaders when it comes to building three quarters of a stadium". He's right too. The funny thing is that when Croke Park was built the Irish media and GAA were falling over themselves to tell us how it is "one of the finest stadiums in the world". Maybe it would have been if they'd finished it :rolleyes:

Tell your 'Aussie friend' to go take a look at most of the stadiums next time he's back in Oz.;)
I've seen them myself and most are unadulterated dumps.
Both Croker and Aviva are fine stadiums, and the 'unfinished ends' in question are because of planning restrictions rather than an unwillingness of both organisations to complete them.
The other option was to offload both sites to some developer and relocate to a green area way outside the city. That option would have been crazy. Take a look at Twickenham, fantastic stadium but the location is crap.
Also remind your 'Aussie friend' that for the Rugby WC in New Zealand one of the stadiums had a grass bank on one side similar to some county GAA grounds 30 years ago. I kid you not.!!
But I suspect this 'Aussie friend' doesn't exist anyway, just your excuse to have a rant and a cheap shot, particularly at the GAA.;)

Billy86

Deleted User wrote: »

The 2007 Irish rugby "golden generation" almost getting beaten by amateurs from Georgia and then getting soundly thumped by Argentina, a team who back then didn't have an organised annual international competition to play in.

Has to be up there in terms of competitions we were hopeful to do well in - so much talent squandered by a few holes, a lack of depth, and inept coaching (which only followed on with Kidney after an initial good run, regardless of how well he did with Munster). Finally we have a quality coach, just a shame it took so long, and I have a worrying feeling he may get poached not too far off from now.

Bridge93

washman3 wrote: »

Tell your 'Aussie friend' to go take a look at most of the stadiums next time he's back in Oz.;)
I've seen them myself and most are unadulterated dumps.
Both Croker and Aviva are fine stadiums, and the 'unfinished ends' in question are because of planning restrictions rather than an unwillingness of both organisations to complete them.
The other option was to offload both sites to some developer and relocate to a green area way outside the city. That option would have been crazy. Take a look at Twickenham, fantastic stadium but the location is crap.
Also remind your 'Aussie friend' that for the Rugby WC in New Zealand one of the stadiums had a grass bank on one side similar to some county GAA grounds 30 years ago. I kid you not.!!
But I suspect this 'Aussie friend' doesn't exist anyway, just your excuse to have a rant and a cheap shot, particularly at the GAA.;)

How are the major Australian grounds 'unadulterated dumps'? Genuine question as they are some of the most impressive i have seen anywhere in the world and a cut above anything we have here. I suggest you go and look again at the MCG or Stadium Australia, SCG, Adelaide Oval.

This Aussie is being a bit harsh when discussing Croker or Aviva but it seems more like a bit of a joke or gentle ribbing as is the Australian way. There's no need to get all offended and have a go at a nation whos infrastructure ****s all over ours. He's merely poking fun as I have myself on the massive empty spaces at the Aviva and Croke Park to a lesser extent

SpaceSasqwatch

ColeTrain wrote: »

What do you think is Ireland's most embarrassing moment on the sporting stage?

'Ireland's most successful Olympian' Michelle Smith and her doping gets my vote.

Seen the title of the thread and was gonna say Michelle Smith

Redmen Rafalution

Some of the things that first came to mind:

Keane and McCarthy. Embarrassing for all concerned that they couldn't work together in the WC.

Anything to do with John Delaney.

Whenever someone comes out with a comment along the lines of hurling being either the toughest or most skilful sport in the world.

osarusan

In my case at least, I was referring to the 1999 rugby world cup against Argentina, not the 2007 one.

Bridge93

osarusan wrote: »

In my case at least, I was referring to the 1999 rugby world cup against Argentina, not the 2007 one.

I guess we could just say a Irish Rugby World Cup appearances in general! Seem to embarrass ourselves far too regularly.

osarusan

Bridge93 wrote: »

I guess we could just say a Irish Rugby World Cup appearances in general! Seem to embarrass ourselves far too regularly.

don't think we really embarassed ourselves in 2007 - we were just beaten by a very good team (who beat france twice and finished 3rd in the tournament) led by Juan Martin Hernandez having one of the great performances I can ever remember on a rugby pitch.

Killinator

R1_Pete wrote: »

The lack of coverage and support given to Eugene Laverty is both an embarrassment and missed opportunity imho.. A man competing truly on the world stage week after week.

Next season he will be flying the tricolour in the Moto GP no less and it will probably get less column inches than this year..

Along these lines, for the past 3 years Murphy Prototypes have participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, arguably the most famous race in motorsports, a race where just finishing is celebrated as a victory , and have competed in the European Endurance series which is built around it. They proudly fly the Irish flag but don't even get a mention in the mainstream sports media......ever.

JC01

Breffnigolfer wrote: »

I would contend the likes of you are an embarrassment. The way you cannot see what actually happened in Eaipan, or do not want to see what happened, is a joke. Facts were Keane was fighting for a more professional approach from the FAI and was let down. The management and other players were on a jolly, just happy to be there.

No more than yourself I don't know exactly what happened. What I do know and what has always stuck with me is a hero to thousands of young people, a man with literally the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, threw a tantrum and abandoned us.

Obviously it's a joke the mess the FAI made of the whole saga but Keane knew about that before he got on the plane in the first place. There was neither the time nor place to throw his toys out of the pram. The rest of the team stayed didnt they? And as painful as it was the memory of watching that Spain match is always something il be proud of as an Irishman.

I would like to think that in his shoes I would have conducted myself a lot better and beyond all else not abandoned my teammates (which is what it boiled down to) and because of that I feel it's him that's the disgrace and not me.

SpaceSasqwatch

JC01 wrote: »

No more than yourself I don't know exactly what happened. What I do know and what has always stuck with me is a hero to thousands of young people, a man with literally the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, threw a tantrum and abandoned us.

Obviously it's a joke the mess the FAI made of the whole saga but Keane knew about that before he got on the plane in the first place. There was neither the time nor place to throw his toys out of the pram. The rest of the team stayed didnt they? And as painful as it was the memory of watching that Spain match is always something il be proud of as an Irishman.

I would like to think that in his shoes I would have conducted myself a lot better and beyond all else not abandoned my teammates (which is what it boiled down to) and because of that I feel it's him that's the disgrace and not me.

In fairness Roy Keane trys to come across as a man with high standards but in reality hes an arsehole with a personality that would rub a buddha up the wrong way.

Muahahaha

washman3 wrote: »

Tell your 'Aussie friend' to go take a look at most of the stadiums next time he's back in Oz.;)
I've seen them myself and most are unadulterated dumps.
Both Croker and Aviva are fine stadiums, and the 'unfinished ends' in question are because of planning restrictions rather than an unwillingness of both organisations to complete them.
The other option was to offload both sites to some developer and relocate to a green area way outside the city. That option would have been crazy. Take a look at Twickenham, fantastic stadium but the location is crap.
Also remind your 'Aussie friend' that for the Rugby WC in New Zealand one of the stadiums had a grass bank on one side similar to some county GAA grounds 30 years ago. I kid you not.!!
But I suspect this 'Aussie friend' doesn't exist anyway, just your excuse to have a rant and a cheap shot, particularly at the GAA.;)

eh I lived in Australia for three years and I'm well familiar with Australian stadiums having worked in the Olympic Stadium in 2000 and consistently in the Sydney Cricket Ground and rugby stadium next door. Homebush was built by the Aussies around the same time Croke Park was and when it was complete it was a far superior stadium, in design, architecture, had a capacity of 115,000 and was complete on all sides. It was in a different league to Croke Park.

As for the planning problems with Lansdowne and Croke Park well AFAIR the GAA, FAI and IRFU all considered at some stage to move out of the city and sell their land to developers. In fact that was exactly what Bertie was push for the FAI/IRFU when he sponsored Stadium Ireland aka the Bertie Bowl at Abbotstown which is a greenfield site near the m50 and had a train line running through it. Before their renovation of Croker the GAA also considered moving but felt that there was too much historical value in Croke Park to move- that was their decision and it resulted in a stadium that looks to any outsider (Australian or otherwise) as if they ran out of money or roofing when the job was 75% complete. That's what many people see when they look at Croker so while your paranoia may think its people 'having a cheap shot at the GAA' the reality is people are only commenting on what they see before their own eyes. Thats what it is, a three quarter finished stadium, there;s no getting away from that irrespective of the reasons that lay behind it.

Anyway I wouldn't call either Croker or Landsowne embarrassments, they are still both fine stadiums and I personally would prefer going to big games near a city center, theres more atmosphere about it. But at the same time there's no point covering up the fact that neither Croker or Landsowne look as good as they could have done, due to the planning issues. If you ask any of the Central Council in the GAA if they would have built on all four sides if the planners allowed them then the answer was a resounding yes because originally they submitted plans that showed a much higher Hill 16 than what ended up being actually built. So even by the GAA's own standards Croke Park is less than complete. I'm just pointing that out, there's no need to be an over-sensitive GAA head and accusing me of making stuff up because it hurts you. Grow up.

gormdubhgorm

Aphex wrote: »

World champion only because Hendry missed an easy pink. But yes, pretty embarrassing not to pot the black after all the effort. I was gutted for him btw.
Ronnie pots the black just for fun ffs :pac:

If you remember ken got to back to back world finals and won the 97 title 18–12!!

He was unlucky to lose to williams in the 03 final....

You sound loopy but not snooker loopy!

Say Your Number

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, after we barely beat the farmers and postmen of San Marino in 2007, the after match press conference when everyone scurried away and left it up to Bobby Robson, who had minimal involvement in the whole thing to answer about what went wrong, what made it worse is that Robson was a frail old man dying of cancer at the time.

iDave

Every time Jerry Kiernan opens his mouth

[Deleted User]

Billy86 wrote: »

Has to be up there in terms of competitions we were hopeful to do well in - so much talent squandered by a few holes, a lack of depth, and inept coaching (which only followed on with Kidney after an initial good run, regardless of how well he did with Munster). Finally we have a quality coach, just a shame it took so long, and I have a worrying feeling he may get poached not too far off from now.

A few holes and lack of depth means that we did not have enough players, afterall. Where is the embarrasment?

Our biggest embarrassment is how Irish sport 'fans'* attack anything that we are good at.
We only ever seem to win or have good results because other teams/countries are weak. We can not just accept that we are amongst the best at something.

*Vocal minority

valoren

For me it was the vilification of journalist David Walsh on the Late Late Show when discussing drugs in Cycling.
The smoking gun was the appearance of Stephen Roche's name on the file of EPO guru Prof. Conconni.

A disgusting agenda driven RTE humiliated him with Roche present with a partisan and deluded audience.

Watch the interview on youtube and cringe. Thankfully, he was fully vindicated.

*Lance never tested positive.
*Roche never tested positive.

jmayo

NoMore MrNiceGuy wrote: »

You shouldn't feed the anti-rugby trolls. The irish rugby team is not an embarrassment.

The Irish rugby team have put in some embarassing performances a few times in the past.
I think the most embarassing stat is how many grand slams have been achieved, followed by the fact that they have NEVER EVER beaten the All Blacks.

It took a Connacht man in the 60s to start revolutionisoing the way the team was prepared.
The old way things were done would make the FAI looked competent.

Nowadays the IRFU makes the FAI look like school boys on a pis*up.

SpaceSasqwatch wrote: »

In fairness Roy Keane trys to come across as a man with high standards but in reality hes an arsehole with a personality that would rub a buddha up the wrong way.

Very well put...

Keane was a miles better player than McCarthy, but he could learn a lot from him as a manager.

Someone mentioned our sucess at horse racing where we are world leaders.

And as someone else mentioned cian o'connor and his under the influence horse, it draws me to mention how badly we actually have done in show jumping over the years.
At one stage we had two of the best riders in the world and the nations team was in a shambles with recriminations flying everywhere.

AFAIK we were not even in the top tier in Europe, yet were providing horses for other teams who were.

byrneg28

Ireland vs San Marino when we won 2-1.

The way the players celebrated made me sick

NoMore MrNiceGuy

jmayo wrote: »

The Irish rugby team have put in some embarassing performances a few times in the past.
I think the most embarassing stat is how many grand slams have been achieved, followed by the fact that they have NEVER EVER beaten the All Blacks..

Championships rather than grand slams matter. And the All Blacks are the worlds best team. And some say the world's second best team in their reserves.

Neither of these are huge embarrassments -- the 6 nations has two traditional rugby countries with much larger populations, one country where rugby is the largest sport, and scotland and italy.

Historically you would expect us to be mid table. We've over achieved recently. In rugby in general.

Dirty Dingus McGee

iDave wrote: »

Every time Jerry Kiernan opens his mouth

Jerry Kiernans hair