Sport
#Euro2020: Philosophy Fooball Solidarnosc Ireland tee shirts…
Another offering from our old mates at Philosphy Football (who previously brought you this, oh yes, and this little controversial number). So if you are dedicated FAI or bust supporter, or an any green will do man/woman/boy/child… Whether you are on your way to Poland where they’ve got to go down a storm with the [...] more »
Normality and rugby
In the review of the up-and-coming Heineken Cup final, I made the observation that the sports media have been unused to writing about Ulster given the lack of success in recent times. Player profiles by sports journalists seem to fall into 3 topics; the faith of the players, the foreign players, and the faith of [...] more »
Leinster would probably win 9 times out of 10, but…
The first ever all-Irish Heineken Cup final kicks off at 5pm, Saturday 19 May in front of a capacity 81,000 Twickenham crowd: Leinster v Ulster. Ulster? Well, yes, Ulster. The absence of Munster at the most significant game ever between two Irish provinces has left some journalists struggling for content, unaccustomed as they are writing [...] more »
#Euro2020: Professor McWilliams open letter from Northern Ireland to the Faroe Islands…
Having made a expression of interest in hosting Euro 2020, the FAI, SFA and WFA are not actually committed to bid and presumably won’t until they work out: 1, whether even together they can afford it; 2, whether they have even a pup’s chance of getting before spending a penny on any prospective campaign. Having [...] more »
Man City’s real triumph may be the undoing of Premiership’s featherbedding of past champions…
Well, they did it. I was in P4 when the team I (“Foolishly?” – Ed) chose to support in Primary School last won the championship of English football. Yesterday I watched them win again just round the corner from where I saw them gain promotion against Gillingham in 1999, when “typical City” similarly left their [...] more »
Scotland – choose your narrative.
Gerry Hassan just gets better: Rupert Murdoch, the Referendum and Rangers FC: Self-government has to be a democratising process and project, or it will produce a change in name only which won’t affect the lives and experiences of Scottish people. That entails nourishing a culture which is both honest and humble, respecting different viewpoints and challenging [...] more »
Premiership: Not all teams are actually ‘participating’ in the same competition
Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News has a great piece on how gross forms of inequality drive out competition and depress open markets. Of course City, if they close out this season, have bought the Premier League. But then again, which Premier League winner hasn’t? The problem that United fans have got is that, [...] more »
Could Rangers make a virtue of their moral and financial crisis?
Yep, £170 million. That’s a shocking figure to rack up. It hardly helps the club’s case for decent handling that the last owner of the club takes such a cavalier attitude to the club’s predicament. His remarks came in response to the latest directive from the SFA that they cannot sign any new players for [...] more »
“Such arrangements are commonplace in cross-border rail operations across Europe.”
As the BBC reports, Belfast-based freelance journalist Michael Fisher has taken exception to the terms and conditions of an Iarnród Éireann competition “to win an amazing trip for two with a difference to see Ireland’s three group games in Euro 2012 this June”. Well, one condition in particular – “Applicants must be 18 years of age or [...] more »
ICC World Twenty20 Final to expand to 16 teams
Not that Ireland’s cricketers struggled to qualify for this year’s final tournament in Sri Lanka, but the path to the 2014 World Twenty20 finals in Bangladesh has been eased by the ICC Board’s confirmation that “from 2014 onwards, the number of teams participating in the ICC World T20 from 12 to 16 men’s teams.” From the [...] more »
Billabong XXL 2012 Big Wave Awards
Here are some scary fun videos… As the Irish Times reports, two of the five nominations for the Billabong XXL 2012 Biggest Wave award were surfed at Mullaghmore Head, County Sligo, on March 8th. The category carries a $15,000 prize. Here are the nominees. As the Irish Times adds The other nominees in the category are [...] more »
Garry Lyons on Jim Stynes (and International Rules)
Sad occasion in Melbourne today in the ecumenical funeral of Dublin born Aussie Rules hero… Very moving for the most part, and in parts, not least this tribute from his old teammate Garry Lyons which includes a great story on an International Rules game a few years back in Croke Park… There was never any [...] more »
ICC World Twenty20 2012 Qualifier Final
Both Ireland and Afghanistan have qualified for Sri Lanka, and Ireland have already played one match today, but hopefully the final will be a close game. Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat. Live text ball-by-ball commentary here. Adds Or, thanks to John below, watch it live here. Afghanistan 152 for 7 from 20 overs. Update Afghanistan made 152 [...] more »
ICC World Twenty20 2012 Qualifier Tournament
After defeating the Netherlands by seven wickets in Dubai, Ireland’s cricketers are just one win away from a final showdown with Afghanistan in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament. Getting to the final would also secure a place in the World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka in September. To get there, though, they need to beat Namibia, who [...] more »
RUC Athletics Association: it hasn’t gone away you know
Following on from Mick’s piece about the Royal Ulster Constabulary Athletics Association. The BBC are reporting that the motion to change the name of the association has been dropped. From the BBC: The move has been welcomed by unionist politicians. DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt called on ACC Kerr to resign as chairman of the association. [...] more »
“This is [partitionist] provocation in the extreme…”
The sensitive souls at the Armagh GAA County Board have, apparently, issued a statement of complaint in the aftermath of Sunday’s defeat to Laois – when their captain was sent-off for allegedly kicking a Laois player during the half-time interval. The RTÉ report notes A statement from the Armagh County Board has claimed that its players [...] more »
Shamrocks have a great St Patricks Day.
There are few enough red-letter days for Ulster hurling to let one pass-by unremarked. For those blissfully unaware of the travails of hurling in the north, no Ulster county has ever won a senior, Under-21 or minor All-Ireland or National League title. Nor has Ulster ever won the [inter-provincial] Railway Cup in hurling. The only [...] more »
Rangers FC in crisis: A genuine Ulster Scots saga…
If the Ulster Scots Agency has any spare money they might think about giving it to Rangers Football club and quickly. Recently the players took a 75% pay cut till the end of the season. The Administrators said it was that or the lights went out. The future for the club is bleak. Rangers could [...] more »
Rith 2012: Get on yer ‘brógaí reatha’!
This morning will see the arrival of ‘Rith 2012’ in Belfast, organisers are confident that hundreds will turn out to support the event. ‘Rith’, the Gaelic for ‘run’ is a ten day event in which thousands of Irish speakers and supporters of the language will run from Gaoth Dobhair in Donegal to Inis Mór, the [...] more »
Six Nations – Another boring weekend.
OK – in the prediction contest we have two joint leaders, Johnny Boy and Reader. Neither have gone for Tommy Bowe as top try scorer so it’s still very open. Today it’s Wales v Italy and Ireland v Scotland. Tomorrow England travel to Paris. In the Western Mail Michael Owen hails the best Welsh team [...] more »
Advertise
-
Books
-
Total Politics: Top 20 NI Blogs…
Fair play to Iain, he managed to get over 2,200 people voting in his poll for the top Northern Irish blogs this year… We (just, I imagine) retained our top spot, with Splintered coming straight in at number 2, no doubt his pet subject du jour will have garnered him a lot of fans… I’ve [...] read our review »
-
Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review » -
“It was a trivial problem that… occurs every year”
Just your average family gathering at Christmas, with a bit of an argument about the seating cleaning arrangements… Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics over a turf war in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning the [...] read our review »
-
