Sean O'Rourke Today Show

neris wrote: »

this is all getting very dodgy now. yer mans totally contradicting Billy Walsh now

I wonder what happened over the weekend?

It's funny. RTE have given more airtime to this controversy in the last week than they have given to actual boxing matches in the last 5 years.

Kenny B wrote: »

Mulvey can quote from Billy's contract but Others can't cos Billy is now in the US, bullcrap.

As for Des 'boot polish hair' Cahill acting like a whinging beeotch, Christ.

Thought Des would burst a blood vessel when Joe Chrystal related the anecdote of Billy coming into his office to tell him that he had asked the Americans for 'crazy' money and they had agreed to it - Billy then asked Joe 'what can you do for me?' Des's intervention was classic!!!

These are the comments that Kieran Mulvey was reported to have made earlier this week. And I think everybody was a little surprised at how direct and accusatory his remarks were, particularly given his background.

"I got so upset at that meeting that towards the end I had to ask the directors present: ‘Do you want to keep Billy Walsh?’ I got an answer saying ‘yes they did’. It was the most unconvincing yes I’ve heard in my professional career."

"Imagine Joe Scmidt being told he had to contact Phillip Brown every time he selected a team or he could talk to the media. This in unconscionable and it’s unacceptable."

"How is it that we've got to this stage? How is it that on 24 hours before Billy Walsh departs for the United States to take up an appointment that will put him in direct challenge with Ireland that all they say is a one paragraph ‘thank you very much and goodbye’. I've never seen such crocodile tears in my life.”

"In my five years as chairman of the Irish Sporting Council, it would be my view that what we’ve been trying to manage over the last five years is a dysfunctional arrangement. I’m putting it mildly when I say that. Gross disrespect has been show to us and the minister around this matter and it can’t be allowed to go on."

But in the interview today, it was as if he'd never made the remarks at all. He said absolutely nothing and didnt try to address or substantiate any of the points that he made above. He even backed away from the Joe Schmidt analogy when it was put to him.

Putting Mulvey to one side, it seems to me like there is something missing. The original narrative was that the IABA had agreed a deal with Billy Walsh, which they said they would put to their board, but NEVER did. The IABA say that they offered Billy Walsh a deal and he never got back to them. The inference being that Billy Walsh had agreed to the deal but changed his mind some time after the Marian Finucane interview on Saturday.

BarryD wrote: »

Not sure I would take anything at face value from that interview - the hostility towards Billy Walsh was apparent for all to hear and the IABA rep probably said more than he intended to.

Joe Chrystal from the IABA seemed to have been genuinely perplexed at what happened between the Saturday when Billy Walsh spoke to Marian Finucane and a few days later when he announced he was resigning. Thought he was quite convincing on Newstalk's Pat Kenny and
Seán O'Rourke this morning.

It seems to me that all these statements from every quarter, especially from his friend George Lawlor? from Wexford, that 'it is not about the money', are cases of 'he doth protest too much'!!

BarryD wrote: »

But that's because he's a professional negotiator, has the inside track and knows where the balance of power lies in this dispute. Those phrases you quote above would have been chosen carefully and thought out.

But that's my point Barry. He made no reference to ANY of the criticisms that he had of the IABA in the interview today. He was like a man who realised he had gone too far and was backing away from his remarks.

tbh, the politically correct waffle that he came out today would have been exactly what I would have expected him to say when he was asked about it previously.

It seems to me that Billy Walsh's version was put before the public before the IABA said anything, and that a number of commentators (plus players like John Treacy and Kieran Mulvey) took positions in support of him. To be fair to Seán O'Rourke, he took care not to show any bias, either earlier this week or today.

It now looks to me as if the IABA might have a case, and I'm waiting to see how things play out.

Joe Christle is not an accomplished media performer, but we should look past the performance to the substance of the story.

This juror is still out.

BarryD wrote: »

Neither John Treacy or Kieran Mulvey can be described as 'players'. They are senior people in a state body that dispenses public money to sports organisations & bodies of all sorts. They are answerable to politicans and public opinion. They seem to have made it clear that they wanted Billy Walsh to be retained and were prepared to fund his salary. In those circumstances, it's astonishing that the IABA contrived to lose his services - when you hear phrases like 'reservations about corporate governance' and so on being carefully offered up - you'd have to be concerned.

The sense in which I used the word players was that they are parties in the scenario, not outsiders: they have a role to play.

I was surprised by their public pronouncements earlier in the week - not at all in keeping with the traditions of public service. Even their political master, Michael Ring, a man not known for being reserved, seems to have been more circumspect.

I wouldn't rule out good old fashioned incompetence in the Billy Walsh saga - certainly sounds like "someone" dropped the ball

Paul Williams "maybe I'm too close to the Guards ...." yea, right Paul

Why is it condoned by society that it's part of "the culture" to give your kids the worst possible start in life. The Traveller kids really get the worst deal.

That union guy on about the fishing industry should sort his anger management issues. What an aggresive, rude & intolerent "contributor". Some wild numbers been thrown around about illegal exploited crewmen