Here it is.... Freedom for everybody or Freedom for nobody. The nuance of that is often lost on so many people... we have a poor record on censorship in Ireland (Section 32/McQuaid etc.) so if you want to say your piece expect to have to listen to everyone else's opinions as well... all that said, me thinks there may have been a stray can of ale or two involved but it's easier and more interesting to cry about "being kept down by The Man"
innit though??
Free speech is something that the government can't infringe upon (with some exceptions), not something you're guaranteed on private property at an organised sporting event. A protester isn't entitled to free speech in my house, his refusal to cease protesting would make him a trespasser.
You can't just get annoyed when speech you agree with is silenced, which is something exceptionally common these days. If you're a champion of someone's right to have a "Repeal the Eight" banner on the basis of free speech then you must also champion the rights of a hypothetical man that would want to have brought a "Vote No" banner ahead of the marriage referendum last year. It's fine to have your views but lets not kid ourselves that this is about free speech as the title suggests.
The argument against political banners in football grounds is an obvious one; which ones do you allow? All of them? The ones the board thinks are fine? The fans? Nothing in life is as diverse as political opinion. So let's keep it out of football and watch the match together.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Well this made Irish Times today:
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...11000002670848
"the club’s chairman said the ban was handed out after the Galway Football Association, which owns the stadium, contacted him to say the banner contravened the terms of a tenancy agreement which proscribes the display of political messages.
The Galway FA was originally contacted on the matter by a group of female Galway United fans who regularly attend home games but took issue with the banner, said Mr Corbett.
“Galway FA asked us to act on it, so we acted on it in the previous week and asked Joe to take the sign down which he wouldn’t do."
So this is the club admitting that the ban was for the banner rather rather then boozing.
It is a stupid reason by the way as the same group, including the guy who got banned, regularly bring Palestinian, Basque, Starry Plough, Catalan, International Brigade Flags etc They also brought Refugee Welcome and Pro Gay Marriage flags and probably more in the past.
Last edited by snowball; 08/06/2016 at 4:42 PM.
What a wet liberal rag the paper of record has become.
They probably won't even get the score right in the next galway game.
Wait, do these women hate, themselves
Sounds like these lads are wasted in the stands of Terryland.It is a stupid reason by the way as the same group, including the guy who got banned, regularly bring Palestinian, Basque, Starry Plough, Catalan, International Brigade Flags etc They also brought Refugee Welcome and Pro Gay Marriage flags and probably more in the past.
Should go to Syria to fight ISIS.
No Pasaran!!
They asked him to take it down he didn't do it, the club was right to ban him if that's the case. It's far too sensitive an issue to be bringing into a LOI ground. People go to football to get away from that kind of stuff.
Banner looked crap too. Maybe that was the issue.
The ball is round and has many surprises.
There has been a creeping politicisation of LoI games in recent years, and I'm glad that a club has acted upon it. We've our fair share of morons in the Brandywell too, bringing national flags and anti-fascist/pro-LGBT, etc. banners along. They see this type of behaviour on the continent and think to get involved. Usually they'll grow out of it, but it's annoying to have to deal with.
In saying that, to act on one particular banner and ignore the others in the past is fairly hypocritical. Either don't all any political banners or allow them all. You shouldn't pick and choose which ones you like.
Have you ever won the treble?
Galway United were acting on a request made by the Galway FA.
This was a deliberate attack on the club by someone claiming to be a supporter who wanted to be seen as a victim, in order to draw attention to himself."Galway FA asked us to act on it, so we acted on it in the previous week and asked Joe to take the sign down which he wouldn’t do.
- Jonathan Corbett, Galway United Chairman
It is not the first time either.
He was approached by a steward at the previous home game (Connacht derby) and was asked to take down the flag. He didn't, but rather than remove him then, he was given a final warning. There is a suggestion the Benedictine monks' finest brew was produced at the Derry game, and as alcohol is prohibited at the ground, he was removed. He has started a petition to have his ban overturned, and in a social media rant, said he feels that by attending games, he is best placed to influence young people. That admission is all you really need to know - his interest is self-serving, not GUFC
So when someone shows an anti-immigration banner at a football match, people will proclaim it as an expression of "free speech"?
I don't think so.
One of the lads actually had an Israel flag before that he brought to games specifically to wave around and annoy hipster types.
I remember about a dozen of the kids in the Lego stand in tolka tumbling down it screaming "fascist" at him from fifty yards away.
Must get him to dig it out for the trips to Terryland next season. #loiBANTER
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