QuoteNow you know why I don't but Irish broadsheets. Absolutely disgraceful.Muck raking "journalism" at its worst.
Below, for the record, is the anti-football nonsense published by the Irish Independent on Wednesday, and re-heated and re-hyped by Newstalk on Thursday.
It is a deliberately selective and alarmist piece in which the writer dwells on a series of incidents all of which have parallels in other sports or in leagues in other jurisdictions, about which the Independent provides largely uncritical and often glowing coverage.
Gerry isn't calling for the abolition of the English Premiership, despite the various episodes of handbags we have seen there. I suppose there is a gulf in the quality of the punch and pizza throwing. Our self-appointed moral guardian and his easily shocked, faux-naif chum also seem happy so far to see the continuance of the Wimbledon championships, in spite of the expletives heard there this week. Perhaps he and his sensitive Malahide friend prefer their rustic Anglo-Saxonisms voiced by effette English sporting failures than by some real-life Dubs at an EL game.
Nor does Gerry's analysis of the behaviour of sportsmen and fans stretch to those stalwarts of on and off-field argie-bargie, the GAA. Perhaps he sees something of the noble savage in GAA managers and players knocking seven shades of racially pure ****e out of each other.
Whatever about this clearly biased cant, the really sinister part is the talking up of those champions of Irish football, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier, closely followed by his call for the league to be reconstituted with clubs organized by the right sort of people -- presumably those who would like to have a Dublin Utd compete in England.
We are looking at the sneaky flying of a dangerous kite. Is the supporters' association planning any response?
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Cancer of violence killing off Eircom League
THE Eircom League is slowly dying from self-inflicted wounds and unless drastic measures are quickly taken then the patient is going to slowly and painfully pass away.
This season has been another disaster for the league, culminating in events at the weekend when we had tunnel brawls and pitch battles.
One parent, having enjoyed the midweek FAI Carlsberg Cup replay between Malahide United and Sligo Rovers at Gannon Park, decided to bring his kids to their first Eircom League game and chose to visit Tolka Park last Friday night.
Over the weekend he e-mailed the Eircom League to explain why he will never again be bringing his kids to watch Ireland's professional league. He had watched in horror as abusive banners were unfurled, bad language filled the air, coins and bottles were thrown onto the pitch and, to top it off, there was a pitch invasion at the end which resulted in an exchange of missiles between rival fans.
But he, like almost everybody else in Tolka Park last Friday night, missed the incident which generated the biggest headlines over the weekend when, about an hour before kick-off, the chief executive of Shelbourne, Ollie Byrne and Shamrock Rovers manager, Roddy Collins met in the tunnel area.
It was an explosive cocktail. Byrne is easier to wind up than a clockwork toy while Collins is a master at rubbing people up the wrong way.
Apparently, Byrne took exception to comments about his club which Collins had made in a pre-match radio interview and an exchange of blows followed which left the Rovers boss with a torn shirt and the Shels supremo with a sore head.
Then, on Saturday night, as the teams made their way off the pitch at Finn Park in Ballybofey the player manager of Waterford United, Alan Reynolds, lashed out at Finn Harps' 20-year-old striker Chris Breen as they shook hands and received a red card. At least Reynolds had the good sense to resign on Monday.
There is a cancer of violence, thuggery and bad behaviour currently eating into the Eircom League and unless ruthlessly stamped out it is going to drive away the few remaining followers. There are plenty of other things to enjoy on a summer's night than watching supporters of rival clubs bait each other for 90 minutes before engaging in battle at the full time whistle.
It doesn't set much of an example when chief-executives fight managers, or managers decide to lash out at opposing players. If you add in the verbal abuse that can be found on the pitch, in the dug-outs, on the terraces and even in the directors boxes then going to a football match nowadays can be a very unpleasant experience.
Nobody expects angels to inhabit professional sport but the time for tolerating despicable behaviour is long past and the clubs have got to realise that they are slowly killing the game by tolerating it.
The Eircom League exists on a financial tightrope and clubs depend for their income on gate receipts, commercial income, sponsorship and more recently prize-money. Every penny they earn is vital. Shelbourne, the most successful club at present having won four league titles out of the last six and reached the third qualifying round of the Champions League last season, cannot attract new investment that would enable them to move to the next level.
Could anyone blame Dermot Desmond, JP McManus or John Magnier for not wanting to invest the profits from their Manchester United shares into a club where the Chief Executive spoils his excellent work by allowing himself to be wound up into a frenzy by rivals.
As the top club in the Eircom League, Shelbourne set the standards in many areas but behaviour is not one of them as the punishments regularly handed out to Byrne, manager Pat Fenlon and assistant manager Eamonn Collins for various misdemeanours shows.
If the clubs want to become more professional, if they want the League to be run more professionally then they have got to start acting like professionals. Unprofessional behaviour should be no longer acceptable from anybody, irrespective of their position or their club.
At present the Eircom League and the FAI are on the verge of merging.
When that happens the time for pussy-footing should stop.
One radical solution would be to immediately disband the Eircom League and divide the country into 16 regions, four of which would be in Dublin.
Applications would be invited from people interested in running a professional football franchise in those areas and public hearings would be held in each region where the applicants would get an opportunity to present their case as well as receive a public grilling from members of the Club Licensing Committee.
Each successful applicant would enter into a strict contract that would be filled with all sorts of penalties for bringing the game into disrepute and the league would be run by professional administrators who would be fully empowered to make tough decisions.
For every step forward the Eircom League takes, it quickly moves two paces back by shooting itself in the foot. The time has come for radical surgery before the Eircom League ends up being as insignificant to the population as its counterpart is to the people of Wales.
Gerry McDermott
Bootroom
© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/
Now you know why I don't but Irish broadsheets. Absolutely disgraceful.
I've said it before we should know better when it comes to these w*nkers,they've been doing it for years.Originally Posted by sirhamish
Now you know why I don't but Irish broadsheets. Absolutely disgraceful.
Totally agree - at least Paul Lennon in the Star loves his EL. Gas isn't it when the tabloids tell the truth and the broadsheets crap all over footie.
The independent is a "broadsheet" in the loosest terms possible, the size of the paper. GMcD's article pretty much sums up what the paper has become.
The Irish Times is the only real paper in Ireland now, unfortunately.
I'd have to agree with ye all so far, what a load of rubbish! McDermotts article is nothing more than alarmist tripe about thuggery leading to the death of the EL. I agree, these incidents shouldn't be happening and they are wrong, but they happen throughout the world in all types of sport. Again, you only have to look at the Gaa as an example! It seems that nearly every other week there is a different story in the papers about players or referees being assaulted by officials, fans or other players. If Gerry McDermott feels the need to write a damning article about violence in sport he should at least make sure that it is an objective one, and covers the issue relating to all sports. It is the same old story about certain journalists having a go at the Eircom League which they percieve to be an easy target, presumably because of as he says himself its "few remaining followers"!
His plan to immediately disband the EL and hold public meetings to select 16 franchises nationwide (4 in Dublin) to play in a new restructured league is another beauty! What would happen to the traditions and fans of the current clubs if such a thing happened? Just imagine the likes of Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps perhaps having to amalgamate for example, it would never happen, where would the matches be played?? A crazy idea and a terrible article, showing a distinct lack of knowledge of the Eircom League and a bias against it.
The Irish Times? A paper that totally ignores the First Division and only grudgingly covers the EL Premier? You're having a laugh
Dead right Mayo Red. These hacks are very brave slagging off football - they haven't the guts to do it to GAA because the paper owners are depending on the finance that accrues from adverts from GAA sponsors etc. In eggball, many papers are owned by the likes of Tony OReilly and his cohorts and you can be damn sure that no hard criticism will fly there.
Soccer is an easy target because, worldwide, it's so big.
Notice how brave the liikes of Dunphy are on RTE - they wouldn't have the guts to say the same things on BBC or Sky because they know that footballers and fans would be watching and they'd be laughed at.
Irish Times - over priced, over rated and over here. Emmet Malone is not too bad but only one with any real interest in football - the sports editor has no interest in soccer and I have a copy of a letter he sent to the schools president a few years ago to prove it. It was not a private letter as such and if I can find it, I'll post it - it's in some box somewhere.The Irish Times? A paper that totally ignores the First Division and only grudgingly covers the EL Premier? You're having a laugh
With all the UK papers - eg Daily Mail/Ireland on Sunday - buying out Irish newspapers, could never understand why the likes of The Guardian never made an effort to buy into the Irish market. After all, its always been a very fair paper to Ireland compared to the other rubbish and has, in its history and staff, lots of Irish connections.
Before anyone jumps on me, I would of course prefer a new Irish paper OWNED and run by Irish people but with the way the international media is going, I mention the Guardian as the best option if "foreign" ownership has to be the case.
Well I wouldn't judge a paper by the quality of its Eircom League coverage!The Irish Times? A paper that totally ignores the First Division and only grudgingly covers the EL Premier? You're having a laugh
I thought the thread was about Irish newspapers and EL coverage???? with emphasis on McDermott's recent drudge.
If Ollie is so good at taking legal action .... how will he fair out now, when something should be done about it.
I swear to god, i am so sick of this muck raking and nothing is ever done about it ...... why is that ??? is the eL a soft touch or what ??
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
I think it's a weird combination of class snobbery and a twisted nationalism: that comes across quite clearly from McDermott and Mr Squeamish from Malahide.
Irish hacks are happy to write (or more likely lift copy) about Bolton and Aston Villa etc. because they don't have to live with their fans up close and personal. If you've ever witnessed Bolton fans in full cry, you'll know what I mean.
At home, they stick to rugby and golf, because they're 'posh', or, in mediaspeak, AB1 and more valuable to advertisers. And they accept that rugby is legitimised violence and just get on with that without comment.
They do GAA and succeed in ignoring its attendant routine thuggery because, by some trick of Irish logic, they see it as wholesome Irish thuggery and therefore not as dangerous as that associated with foreign games.
Paper never rejected ink, but in this case I'd say even the paper was stunned at the level of argument. Obviously a tos ser, and I have already forgotten him and his small mind. The Independent really is a dreadful excuse for a paper.
"It's impossible to make a man understand something when his livelihood depends on him not understanding" Upton Sinclair
That article is a fcuking disgrace.The EL is the breeding ground for future international players and that pr1ck of a journo should wake up and smell the sh1t he is shoveling.He fails to mention all the good the EL does for the local community.In Longford when we won the FAI a couple of years back our local based players went around all the schools with it and met with all the kids.These kids have met players who are their heroes instead of those drink driving,drug taking racists across the water.LTFC work so hard to keep the community involved and want the community to feel like it's their club too.An article like this only causes harm to the league which produced a national icon in Roy Keane.This **** of a journo has probably never been to an EL match in his life.
Maybe he's a rugby fan where players stamp on each others head and try to gouge their opponents eyes out.A nice sporting game where foul play and numerous fights are the norm.Of course you can't forget the drinking culture associated with rugby where drinks companies are the biggest sponsors plus the rip off price for tickets.But with Rugby being seen as an upper class sport no one will ever highlight the bad side of the game.
He may also be a GAA fan where thumping the life of your opponent is high on the agenda.What about the language that is roared from the sideline and the terraces at the players.I work security at connaught GAA matches and i have seen it all.The language,the verbal abuse,the drinking and so on.Along with the fact that if you go to a championship match with your wife and 4 kinds and would like to sit down.Get €150 out of your pocket to watch a top of the bill encounter between 2 mediocre sides.Don't forget the drinks company associated with this sport.
It's typical ar5ehole attitude in this country to knock the EL at every chance.
"At the age of twelve, my ambition was to become a gangster. To be a wiseguy was better than being President of the United States. To be a wiseguy was to own the world." - Henry Hill
Obviously the article is a complete joke. The worst piece of "journalism" since somebody told some "journo" at the herald about the internet.
His email address is sport7@unison.ie
Have emailed him but as with all cowardly journos the silence says it all.
KOH
The sad thing is that people who are the prospective customers of EL teams will read this and believe it because there is rarely a differing public point of view. It's this type of knob that we need to bring around to publicise our league in a good light, only then will be a success. Personally I can't see it happening soon.
"The Derry fans were fantastic in both matches. They sang their hearts out all the time and created an even better atmosphere than the Cup Final. They were brilliant. - David Graham, Gretna striker
Beauifully stated.
If/When Ireland qualify for Germany 2006 those tossers will jump on the bandwagon because they will be after the advertising and increased sales - sad thing is McDermott was pro LOI when he first started.
Is there an orientation course when hacks join the Indo which makes them anti football?
Off topic - your name was mentioned, kind of, in totty watch.
Why not?
If you read the bottom part of his article about regionalising the League and advertising franchises for prospective investors, the guy obviously hasnt a clue what he is talking about, as has been discussed several times before on foot.ie you cant just form a club from thin air where no local pride or support exists
his piece is mostly rehashed tripe, probably dished up at the last minute to fill a deadline, poorly researched.
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