Bald Student
29/03/2004, 4:13 AM
From Yesterday's Sunday Indo:
"McAleese denies FAI snub in GAA's favour
PRESIDENT McAleese has denied she has consistently snubbed soccer since she took office, although she has attended just one international game compared with 14 GAA matches in the past two years.
However, Mrs McAleese admited she has a "special affinity" for Gaelic games ahead of other sports.
Scrutiny of her public engagements has led to criticism that her ethos of "building bridges" does not extend to soccer.
Mrs McAleese has not attended any soccer matches in the last two years despite fulfilling 16 sporting engagements last year and 15 in 2002.
A spokeswoman insisted that she was "fairly certain" the President attended at least one soccer match during that time.
The last soccer match the President attended officially was the World Cup play-off with Iran in November 2001.
Last year, she attended seven Gaelic matches or functions, four Special Olympics events, two rugby internationals and one each of showjumping, greyhound racing and swimming.
In 2002, President McAleese attended seven Gaelic games events, four rugby internationals and one each of cross-country, rowing, show jumping and horseracing.
Like Roy Keane, the President does not 'do' friendlies, with the exception of high-profile rugby internationals against Australia and New Zealand. She is invited to all soccer internationals by the FAI.
Cork City manager Pat Dolan told the Sunday Independent: "I'd like to ask her, why does she go to more GAA games than soccer? Is it bigotry that stops her going to matches? Does she actually support in some way those who say if you go to soccer you should be banned?
"There are different ways to be Irish now and this way, the soccer way, is not better or worse, it's just different."
A spokeswoman for the President said: "We have looked at this ourselves. For lots of those soccer internationals, the President was overseas on official engagements and simply was not in a position to attend.
"The President actually likes soccer but it is true that she has a special affinity with Gaelic games," the spokeswoman added.
She also pointed out that the dates for important GAA fixtures are known more than 12 months in advance and the same applies to the rugbyinternationals.
"Sometimes for soccer internationals there is far shorter notice - perhaps just three months. Usually the President's diary is full many months in advance," she added.
Mrs McAleese's husband Martin played Gaelic football with the Sigerson Cup, winning Queen's University in the 1970s.
Even at that time, Mrs McAleese's passion for Gaelic games was clear. When her future husband was fouled during a match against UCD, she mounted a one-woman pitch invasion to vociferously remonstrate with the referee.
Pat Dolan's views are coloured by an experience he had in 2002 when he was invited to Aras an Uachtarain. "We queued up to meet the President," he said. "Different people were introduced and she had great old chats with the GAA and rugby people, so I was wondering: 'What is she going to say to me?'
"When she shook my hand she didn't say anything. That was my experience.
"She has shown she is more of a President for a constituency that has a more narrow view of sport than those who have a different view but love it just as much." "
The more I hear Pat Dolan, the more I think that he likes the sound of his own voice.
"McAleese denies FAI snub in GAA's favour
PRESIDENT McAleese has denied she has consistently snubbed soccer since she took office, although she has attended just one international game compared with 14 GAA matches in the past two years.
However, Mrs McAleese admited she has a "special affinity" for Gaelic games ahead of other sports.
Scrutiny of her public engagements has led to criticism that her ethos of "building bridges" does not extend to soccer.
Mrs McAleese has not attended any soccer matches in the last two years despite fulfilling 16 sporting engagements last year and 15 in 2002.
A spokeswoman insisted that she was "fairly certain" the President attended at least one soccer match during that time.
The last soccer match the President attended officially was the World Cup play-off with Iran in November 2001.
Last year, she attended seven Gaelic matches or functions, four Special Olympics events, two rugby internationals and one each of showjumping, greyhound racing and swimming.
In 2002, President McAleese attended seven Gaelic games events, four rugby internationals and one each of cross-country, rowing, show jumping and horseracing.
Like Roy Keane, the President does not 'do' friendlies, with the exception of high-profile rugby internationals against Australia and New Zealand. She is invited to all soccer internationals by the FAI.
Cork City manager Pat Dolan told the Sunday Independent: "I'd like to ask her, why does she go to more GAA games than soccer? Is it bigotry that stops her going to matches? Does she actually support in some way those who say if you go to soccer you should be banned?
"There are different ways to be Irish now and this way, the soccer way, is not better or worse, it's just different."
A spokeswoman for the President said: "We have looked at this ourselves. For lots of those soccer internationals, the President was overseas on official engagements and simply was not in a position to attend.
"The President actually likes soccer but it is true that she has a special affinity with Gaelic games," the spokeswoman added.
She also pointed out that the dates for important GAA fixtures are known more than 12 months in advance and the same applies to the rugbyinternationals.
"Sometimes for soccer internationals there is far shorter notice - perhaps just three months. Usually the President's diary is full many months in advance," she added.
Mrs McAleese's husband Martin played Gaelic football with the Sigerson Cup, winning Queen's University in the 1970s.
Even at that time, Mrs McAleese's passion for Gaelic games was clear. When her future husband was fouled during a match against UCD, she mounted a one-woman pitch invasion to vociferously remonstrate with the referee.
Pat Dolan's views are coloured by an experience he had in 2002 when he was invited to Aras an Uachtarain. "We queued up to meet the President," he said. "Different people were introduced and she had great old chats with the GAA and rugby people, so I was wondering: 'What is she going to say to me?'
"When she shook my hand she didn't say anything. That was my experience.
"She has shown she is more of a President for a constituency that has a more narrow view of sport than those who have a different view but love it just as much." "
The more I hear Pat Dolan, the more I think that he likes the sound of his own voice.