Thursday, August 30, 2007
This sporting life?
In the US, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty last week to federal charges relating to the operation of a dogfighting ring over a month after being indicted. - he faces a possible 6 year sentence. Here the BBC claim to have evidence, to be broadcast tonight, that Tyrone GAA player, and all-Ireland medal winner, Gerard Cavlan, “is a senior figure in a dog fighting operation known as The Bulldog Sanctuary Kennels.” When previously charged with possession of a dangerous dog, to which he pleaded guilty, Cavlan’s lawyer had told the court, “Mr Cavlan has no involvement in relation to any other activities that would be illegal.” According to the latest report “The USPCA will be following up on Spotlight’s findings.”.. [not just the USPCA I’d hope - Ed] Adds Additional BBC report here Update The Panorama undercover reporter’s account is here and, for the time being, the Panorama programme can be viewed here [RealPlayer file]
Pete Baker @ 09:41 AM
Deplorable things happen in woodkerne areas.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 11:56 AMThe BBC’s exposure of Gerard Cavlan, Tyrone County (aka “The Farmers’ Boys”) prompts some preliminary Questions:
1 To PSNI/CPS – Will you now initiate proceedings against Gerard Cavlan for perjury and/or perverting the course of justice in light of the evidence given at his trial (April 2006) for possession of a dangerous dog?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6584465.stm
2 To: Micky Harte, Tyrone Manager:
– What do you know about Cavlan’s dog fighting activities?
– When did you know?
– Are any other Players in the Tyrone Squad involved in dog fighting?
– In light of the irrefutable evidence of Cavlan’s involvement in organised dog fighting shown in the BBC Spotlight Programme, will Tyrone GAA be taking any action against Cavlan?Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 12:46 PMwhat happened to my post?
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 12:50 PMWhere are the animal rights extremists?
They could sort out a few people...packages in the post and all.
Maybe they find hassling middle aged scientists more challenging....
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 12:56 PMBertie,
It would be difficult to sustain a prejury conviction given that he copped a plea to the offence he was charged with.
All the other flannel was mitigation which I hope magistrates take with a large pinch of salt anyway.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 12:57 PMI mean perjury.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 12:58 PMbertie
think the only thing that the GAA have to worry about is if he has brought the organisation into disrepute an discipline him accordingly
asking who else was aware of his crimes (if anyone else was) seems like, as it is known in legal circles, a fishing expedition
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 01:04 PMIn a week of sportsmen behaving badly its been revealed that Australian former rugby league star Andrew Johns has been arrested in London for possession of ecstasy.
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyleague/story/0,,2158467,00.html
Recently retired, Johns is one of the biggest names in Australian sport - captain of his country and widely recognised as the greatest player of the modern game. Since his arrest was made public, he has admitted to periodically using recreational drugs throughout his career.
The circumstances surrounding his arrest are bizarre. ‘Joey’ Johns had been in the UK to coach the Harlequins rugby union team and had spent the day drinking at the Church (famous Aussie backpacker haunt in London). An ‘unknown person’ (his claim) had given him an ecstasy tablet at the Church. He had then cadged a ride on the tube without a ticket, but had the misfortune of travelling without paying while in possession of drugs on the same weekend as the Notting Hill Carnival, when of course there is a much greater police presence throughout London’s transport network. He got busted at King’s Cross during a routine police operation, was arrested and cautioned. Since his arrest was made public, Johns has come clean that he has been regularly using ecstasy for 10 years, mostly in the off-season but also between matches. He had been drug-tested 2 or 3 times a season but never caught despite ‘some close-calls’.
I’m not sure what is the strangest part in all this. The fact that arguably the best exponent of the oval ball in union or league was a pill-head throughout his career, the fact that he chooses to spend his time in London at a dive like the Church, or that he chooses to ride the tube without getting a ticket! To put it in context, it would be the equivalent of Brian O’Driscoll getting arrested for drugs outside some backpacker hostel in Sydney.
There’s even an Irish angle, as Johns’ family first heard about his arrest when phoned by Brian Carney, Ireland’s World Cup winger and former team-mate of Johns at New South Wales rugby league team Newcastle Knights.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 01:14 PMDeplorable things happen in woodkerne areas.
Posted by Ziznivy on Aug 30, 2007 @ 12:56 PM
Deplorable things happen elsewhere also, 5 of the 15 dog fighting gangs were from Belfast, none of us ‘woodkerns’ there, now is there (apart from the Holylands obviously)?
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 01:39 PMDon’’t knock dog fighting. At least it’s a sport shared and enjoyed by both sides of the community.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 02:08 PMLock this cruel person up and throw away the key
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 02:53 PM“none of us ‘woodkerns’ there, now is there (apart from the Holylands obviously)?”
The latest trend sweeping the Holylands appears to be to hospitalise oneself. Apparently the more hospitalisations one achieves, the more credibility one acquires with one’s fellow kerne.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 03:24 PMThese animals are mad, vicious and a threat to society and should either be put down or kept permanently in cages to protect the public.
I refer of course to the human animals who keep, breed and fight these dogs.
But Gram is right, it is an inter community activity and it was shoddy of you , Pete, to set up the straw dog of one man’s membership of the GAA to highlight your post.
Must every topic you comment upon attempt to reflect badly on an aspect of nationalist life and culture, of which, I might add, dog-fighting is not one. It is a sick pastime of individuals with a seriously disturbed pscyhe, and who are found among all sections of society, but notably rural peasants, inner urban lumpen-proletariat and playboy bourgeois and decadent aristocracy. The usual suspects for all practices revolting and reactionary in other words.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 06:08 PMI wasn’t going to respond to your accusation, Rory - it’s an all-too-familiar charge.. and all-too-familiarly lacking in substance - but if you re-read the original post hopefully you’ll see that mine isn’t the jaundiced eye here.
Note, in particular, the choice I made in highlighting the guilty plea to similar charges by Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick.
But perhaps that’s another example of attempting “to reflect badly on an aspect of nationalist life and culture”..
Or just highlighting the fact that some choose to hold such sportsmen up as role models by noting the facts.
btw, I don’t hold them up as role models.
And neither, any longer, does this journalist in the Washington Post.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 08:17 PMjust watched it on the bbc, pretty fucked up i must admit
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 09:07 PM“btw, I don’t hold them up as role models.
Why then is there the insinuation that others do, hold them up as role models, that is?
Do you imagine that every admirer of George Best’s footballing skills was motivated to descend into alchoholism or that admirers of OJ Simpson went on to murder their former wives. Or is that you believe that soccer or American football drives men to such excesses as you slyly suggest Gaelic football might lead men towards matching fighting dogs.
Are we to assume that your fixation with astronomy drives you to behave as a monocled, mad old queen? We don’t so assume nor is it meet of you, nor responsible, to employ innuendo in a similar vein.
Nor does wriggling become you.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 09:43 PM“Must every topic you comment upon attempt to reflect badly on an aspect of nationalist life and culture”
Come on - the fact hes a well known sportsman who should be setting an example does add to the story.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 09:54 PMAnd that comment, Rory, is one of the reasons why I wasn’t going to respond to your all-too-familiar and all-too-familiarly lacking in substance, accusations.
Here’s a post - for the A C Grayling reference - to re-read before responding.
Keeping to the actual topic would be a bonus..
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 09:56 PM“Well known sportsmen”, Slug, or even those hardly known at all have no obligation, any more than any other human being, to set themselves up as exemplars of human perfection.
It is the masters of society who would regard themselves as perfect and their slavish functionairres in politcal and journalistic life who, wishing themselves also to bask in the glory of such perfection, impose this impossible burden on sportsmen, popular entertainers and writers and the like and then have the opportunity to gloat when they fall from grace. This has the double effect, they hope, of deflecting attention from their, and their masters’, shortcomings while slyly adding claim to their, and their masters’, own perfection.
It is not for us to wallow in such sleaziness. We have better things to do.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 10:18 PMI feel replused at the dog fighting Panorama programme i have just watched. [edited moderator]
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 10:45 PMJust thought i had to comment on tonights Spotlight and Gerard “the role model” Cavlans involvment with cruel and barbaric sports. I agree its what he does in his own time but he has dragged the Tyrone jersey well and truley through the gutter AGAIN.....he denied it the last time and got the benefit of the doubt but that has changed tonight, and has now been, by his own admission deeply involved. What with the Darren Graham fiasco of a month ago, the GAA needed a boost, now it has got a kick in the teeth after trying to build bridges. [Play the ball - edited moderator] Tyrone county board, do the right thing!
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 10:51 PMHaving just seen the programme I have to say that Cavlan was obviously the (rather nasty and pathetic) hook to sell the story rather than one the fiendish masterminds that the investigation was about.
Aside: The presenter was too hysterical and I didn’t see the Farmer’s boys being confronted on film. I’m not surprised I might add.
She also talked about the Republic as if it was Somalia rather than down the road and for some strange reason the graphic used was of a borderless Europe, except for one of course; Northern Ireland.
And did you know that the All-Ireland is Gaelic football’s equivalent of the FA Cup?
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 10:52 PMGeorge - what are you on about?
He admitted setting up and running his own fighting kennels. He imported a dog from Finland for the purposes of breeding. He was hardly a bit player. If anyone is nasty and pathetic it’s him.
The Farmers Boys were confronted on film; Barriskill had a picture of a maimed child waved in his face at the end of the Spotlight.
And if you’re trying to explain the All Ireland to a general British audience the FA Cup seems to be a perfectly servicable comparison.
Posted by on Aug 30, 2007 @ 11:36 PMJone,
I actually called Cavlan nasty and pathetic in my post if you care to read it again but he was merely the hook. The programme is based on information confiscated during the original case against Cavlan that ended earlier this year.The only thing you can say against Cavlan from this programme is that he had fighting dogs, wanted to subvert the course of justice. There is no evidence he was involved in dog fighting. (A lot of circumstantial evidence I admit but nothing firm.)
As for your other points, firstly, the Farm Boys were not confronted on film, they were filmed secretly. Others like Dunkel and Gonzalez were confronted.
Secondly, this programme was only on BBC NI tonight, it wasn’t “nationwide”. Granted, it may have been made in the hope of a wider UK audience which would explain a few things.
Posted by on Aug 31, 2007 @ 12:01 AMBeing a messenger has always had certain risks.
Posted by on Aug 31, 2007 @ 12:17 AM
