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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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gormdubhgorm

deadybai wrote: »

Conor Mcgregor is the biggest embarrassment in recent times.

Heard some people calling him Irelands greatest sports person. He is no where near the likes of Henry Shefflin, Brian O'Driscoll or Katie Taylor. What has he won? No class what so ever. Love to see him get his arse kicked so we never hear of him again. Look of the 3 I have mentioned above. All genuinely nice people off the pitch/ring. Mcgregor is an arrogant pr!ck and I cringe every time he holds the Irish tri-colour. Its even more embarrassing given that the UFC is predominately followed in the States, a country that wouldnt have heard of many of our sport stars in the past.

100% he thinks he is Mohammed Ali and comes out with this put on pseudo-american accent with stupid sayings as well. In saying that though his demographic seem to lap it up.

The really sad thing is that to some people Conor Mcgregor is more famous then Andy Lee!

NoMore MrNiceGuy

Dempsey wrote: »

Because earning less than a million isn't worth talking about :rolleyes:

Serious money has to mean something, players and managers in England will make millions. Don't think the GAA is making anybody rich.

[Deleted User]

Magico Gonzalez wrote: »

Of course they were properly finished! The work was finished according to the spec and according to the legal framework they had to work within.

Both fulfil the criteria of very good modern stadia, except for the inane "sure lookit, one side is smaller than the other" criteria.

I'd say your eyes need the benefit of perspective.

In relation to the wishes of the IRFU, designer and others the stadium at Lansdowne road is incomplete. It was envisioned without the dip and token seating and as a full stadium. As far as I know it has been designed that, once the NIMBY's have died off the stands can actually be raised to complete the final section

Dempsey

NoMore MrNiceGuy wrote: »

Serious money has to mean something, players and managers in England will make millions. Don't think the GAA is making anybody rich.

That comparison is something I didnt make

You're right though, you dont know much about GAA.

Billy86

deadybai wrote: »

Conor Mcgregor is the biggest embarrassment in recent times.

Heard some people calling him Irelands greatest sports person. He is no where near the likes of Henry Shefflin, Brian O'Driscoll or Katie Taylor. What has he won? No class what so ever. Love to see him get his arse kicked so we never hear of him again. Look of the 3 I have mentioned above. All genuinely nice people off the pitch/ring. Mcgregor is an arrogant pr!ck and I cringe every time he holds the Irish tri-colour. Its even more embarrassing given that the UFC is predominately followed in the States, a country that wouldnt have heard of many of our sport stars in the past.

Now THAT is top class begrudgery. The US having never heard of any of the other names listed could not possibly be anymore irrelevant, and like him or loathe him, the guy has become one of the biggest draws in the entire UFC at an incredible rate, with three first round finished in four fights (including a knockout of the night in his first performance, and two performances of the night in the other two fights), and winning the other fight despite having a f***ing torn ACL ligament for over half the fight.

I'm not a massive UFC fan, but when you've got a guy who the owner of the whole company is all over like a pig on sh*t non stop and is calling a bigger draw than the two biggest PPV sellers in their history, who is possibly the most exciting and unpredictable to watch in the entire sport in the way that Ronaldinho was in football a decade ago, that sells out over 8,000 tickets in under 3 minutes in a country that previously didn't really have the slightest interest in the sport on any noteworthy scale, and who gets by far the biggest reaction of the night off fans in only his second UFC fight which wasn't even billed as one of the six fights on the 'main card', the only thing embarrassing to Ireland is Irish people begrudgingly trying to label him an embarrassment to be honest.

Also should add he had a big role in three other Irish UFC fighters getting a chance in the event he sold out in Dublin, all three of whom won their debuts and all three of whom I believe have now got higher profile fights in the UFC scheduled for next month as a result.

[Deleted User]

On top of it all it could be pure showmanship and a really smart marketing of his brand

gormdubhgorm

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:

In fairness it far more embarrassing for Australia to have a "half finished" flag :cool:

Billy86

Deleted User wrote: »

On top of it all it could be pure showmanship and a really smart marketing of his brand

That would definitely be part of it. Also from the little I know about it (I watch the odd bit but a friend has been big into UFC for a good 10 years, and I spent a while in Australia where it's a bit bigger since the fights are on Sunday afternoon instead of 5am or so Saturday night due to the time differences), a lot of his "cocky @rsehole" act is to get under the skin of his opponents since it puts them off their game and make them fight more emotionally than clinically (it's all he talked about in the lead in to his most recent fight), and having watched his four UFC fights I think it's fair to say that in an improvisational and heated fight there are very, very few in his division that could keep up.

who the fug

Henlars67 wrote: »

Cascarino was entitled to an Irish passport, and therefore to play for Ireland.

In his book he wrote that he wasn't, presumably to sell copies of it.

Also to be fair he worked his bollicks up front for us, unlike he who always wanted to play for (insert club) as a schoolboy

who the fug

Billy86 wrote: »

We were deadful in the late 80s and 90s as has been mentioned, but to be fair meanwhile in football we have competed in 34 WC/EC qualifying campaigns over the span of 55 years and finished have top... never.

Ahem if that ball hadn't been dropped and a tackle made, semi final in 91, the games in Rome are classics and don't mention Namibia

Billy86

who the fug wrote: »

Also to be fair he worked his bollicks up front for us, unlike he who always wanted to play for (insert club) as a schoolboy

Are you referring to the guy with the third most international goals in the history of European football here, or somebody else I'm forgetting?

Billy86

who the fug wrote: »

Ahem if that ball hadn't been dropped and a tackle made, semi final in 91, the games in Rome are classics and don't mention Namibia

Yeah that's true we give the Aussies a great game there and were a massive letdown in 2007, but in truth we got to that quarter finals by beating Zimbabwe and Japan while losing to Scotland, and were annually just trying to keep off the bottom of the five nations table in the years around it. It was certainly something to be proud of in terms of the day itself, but it was a great performance in isolation surrounded by years of mediocrity (if not worse).

And thanks for that, I had completely forgotten we lost to Namibia in July '91!

byrneg28

deadybai wrote: »

Conor Mcgregor is the biggest embarrassment in recent times.

Heard some people calling him Irelands greatest sports person. He is no where near the likes of Henry Shefflin, Brian O'Driscoll or Katie Taylor. What has he won? No class what so ever. Love to see him get his arse kicked so we never hear of him again. Look of the 3 I have mentioned above. All genuinely nice people off the pitch/ring. Mcgregor is an arrogant pr!ck and I cringe every time he holds the Irish tri-colour. Its even more embarrassing given that the UFC is predominately followed in the States, a country that wouldnt have heard of many of our sport stars in the past.

Watch that video more passion for Ireland than Brian O'Driscoll had when he let the English team step in front of us at Landsdowne.

What has he won?

Two CWFC championships at the same time held, in two different weight divisions. Also holds the second quickest knock-out of all time in MMA fighting. Maybe, do some research before.. he has only entered the UFC franchise and has 4-0 record, he is one/two fights away from being the lightweight champion (which is really really really quick rise) and if he fights vs.Aldo it'll most likely be the highest grossing gate in the history of MMA.

I get it he's arrogant but it's his arrogance that sells in the industry. It's a short career he might get 3/4 years out of it if he's lucky, so I don't give a damn if he's trying to make as much cash as possible being an asswipe.

Muhammad Ali was cocky? Technically he wasn't the best boxer of all time, but he used to talk so much thrash it used to wittle down the opponent emotionally. Also his arrogance and cockiness, intimidates other fighters regularly to the point of breaking them down mentally to the point where they just want to prove a point and beat McGregor. McGregor always says he does not let emotion get the best of him, he is very technical, while he is being arrogant, the emotion gets the better of his opponents.

The fact of the matter his, he loves his country, he constantly criticises other European fighters who move to learn their trade in America. He still regularly trains in SBG Ireland, he never left his coach.. He is loyal unlike the likes of other Irish atheltes.

It's embarrassing because he fights in the top fighting division in the world which attracts the best fighters from Europe, South America and the United States? That's like saying Roy Keane is an embarrassment because he decided to win the Champions League with Man United and not an FAI Cup with Cobh Ramblers.

Please do just a little bit of research before calling this lad the biggest embarrassment to Irish sport and if he gets to fight in Croke Park one day.. stick to your word and don't buy a ticket !

who the fug

Billy86 wrote: »

Are you referring to the guy with the third most international goals in the history of European football here, or somebody else I'm forgetting?

Yeah, the statistic who will never be a legend

who the fug

Billy86 wrote: »

Yeah that's true we give the Aussies a great game there and were a massive letdown in 2007, but in truth we got to that quarter finals by beating Zimbabwe and Japan while losing to Scotland, and were annually just trying to keep off the bottom of the five nations table in the years around it. It was certainly something to be proud of in terms of the day itself, but it was a great performance in isolation surrounded by years of mediocrity (if not worse).

And thanks for that, I had completely forgotten we lost to Namibia in July '91!

Not once but twice I think in 1991.

Billy86

who the fug wrote: »

Yeah, the statistic who will never be a legend

Yeah, if he ran around more and "got stuck in" he'd be a proper legend..........

who the fug

Billy86 wrote: »

Yeah, if he ran around more and "got stuck in" he'd be a proper legend..........

To be fair he the perfect corporate player , comes in says all the right things gets his bonus and ****s off before his ****e starts to stink

Paul McGrath will always put more on the gate than him

Dempsey

Never a legend? Perfect Corporate player? Jesus wept

Billy86

who the fug wrote: »

To be fair he the perfect corporate player , comes in says all the right things gets his bonus and ****s off before his ****e starts to stink

Paul McGrath will always put more on the gate than him

You've yet to give a single reason beyond "he runs more" as to why any Irish forward could even dream of being ahead of Robbie Keane in terms of Irish players. McGrath, Brady, Roy Keane and a few others that might be listed are completely irrelevant to that.

valoren

McGregor fan boys rattled.

Billy86

valoren wrote: »

McGregor fan boys rattled.

Like I said I don't even watch much UFC at all and can easily see why people wouldn't like his personality. But labeling him as "an embarrassment" let alone "Ireland's biggest sporting embarrassment" is so wildly out of place that it says a lot more about the person posting it than it does about McGregor himself.

Henlars67

McGregor isn't an embarrassment, but he isn't a sportsman either.

Hitting somebody while they're on the ground isn't sport

Billy86

Henlars67 wrote: »

McGregor isn't an embarrassment, but he isn't a sportsman either.

Hitting somebody while they're on the ground isn't sport

Surely that would rule out all our boxers as well, which is a sport we are pretty good at compared to others. By definition though, both are very much sports.

deadybai

Mcgregor is top class at building up fights and he has done a fantastic job at exposing the sport to the Irish public.

But it's the way people talk about him you swear he was actually was Muhammad Ali. He has won sweet f all as of yet. I see Rte are making a 6 part documentary about him. Seriously? That's really embarrassing. When he wins a ufc title and beats a few people that are actually at the top of his weight then you can call him great.

Fair play to him if he wins a ufc title he can go around thinking he is the sh1t then and I wouldn't mind. I wonder if he loses his next fight will he still think he's great

Billy86

deadybai wrote: »

Mcgregor is top class at building up fights and he has done a fantastic job at exposing the sport to the Irish public.

But it's the way people talk about him you swear he was actually was Muhammad Ali. He has won sweet f all as of yet. I see Rte are making a 6 part documentary about him. Seriously? That's really embarrassing. When he wins a ufc title and beats a few people that are actually at the top of his weight then you can call him great.

Fair play to him if he wins a ufc title he can go around thinking he is the sh1t then and I wouldn't mind. I wonder if he loses his next fight will he still think he's great

I hadn't heard about the six part documentary series? That certainly is a bit OTT and embarrassing alright (though if it's a reality TV show about how he prepares for an upcoming fight, that's a different matter). Same with comparisons to Ali and the likes at present, maybe a bit like someone said a few pages back regarding Katie Taylor. I can get that I suppose, just not people calling McGregor himself an embarrassment.

Henlars67

Billy86 wrote: »

Surely that would rule out all our boxers as well, which is a sport we are pretty good at compared to others. By definition though, both are very much sports.

Since when was hitting somebody while they're down allowed in boxing?

Billy86

Henlars67 wrote: »

Since when was hitting somebody while they're down allowed in boxing?

It's just as easy to turn around and say that hitting someone at all being the aim means neither "are sports" - but it doesn't make it at all true. It just makes them a sport that they don''t personally like. At the end of the day though both are, definitively, sports.

sport
spɔːt/Submit
noun
1.
an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
"team sports such as soccer and rugby"
synonyms: (competitive) game(s), physical recreation, physical activity, physical exercise; pastime
"he takes part in a variety of sports"

EICVD

Only beating Gibraltar 7-0, goals so bad you won't see them in your local park on a Sunday morning & not scoring a single goal in the last half hour against a bunch of amateurs whose legs were gone.....

CrabRevolution

EICVD wrote: »

Only beating Gibraltar 7-0, goals so bad you won't see them in your local park on a Sunday morning & not scoring a single goal in the last half hour against a bunch of amateurs whose legs were gone.....

I think this post shows the point in the thread where we've really started scraping the bottom of the barrel of things to be embarrassed about. Either that or you're taking the piss.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Some of the 'Olympians' we've sent to games over the years. So many dreadful performances to look back on across a wide range of disciplines.