Sport
Shane gets the Lions roaring..
Tweet Here’s my team: 15 Halfpenny – he missed a kick in 2011 and a tackle in 2009….I’ve decided to let him marry my niece. 14, hmmm difficult – I think Kearney…or maybe Shane… 13, Davies – player of the tour so far, 12, O’Driscoll – if he’s fit 11, North – ditto 10, Sexton [...] more »
Ireland’s Call as you may never have heard it before….
Tweet Don’t you just hate American candour… We never ever get to hear Irish rugby players render Ireland’s Call in their own voices… Check this about here, but don’t say you weren’t warned… (most of the US players had the sense not to try, and those who did were largely drowned out by the crowd..) more »
England Football: “What’s so funny ’bout peace, love, understanding (er, and intelligent surrender)?”
Tweet Mark Perryman, who runs Philosophy Football has an interesting argument on a latter day tradition at England football matches. In advance of this week’s England v Republic of Ireland at Wembley he notes: For as long as I’ve been a travelling England fan (my first game was Moldova away in 1996), a decent proportion [...] more »
A Lions tour – predict the first test team please.
Tweet So it was just a bad dream for Rory Best - in the Lions squad…and I reckon a test starter. How about the other 14? Rules are simple. I need the names of the fifteen starters in the first test on June 22nd. 1 point for every correct name. Here’s my guess: 15 Halfpenny 14 [...] more »
ODI: Ireland v Pakistan
Tweet A four from the last ball of the game by Kevin O’Brien saw Ireland secure a draw in Thursday’s rain affected One-Day International against Pakistan [Duckworth-Lewis applied]. Ireland’s 275 for 5 included 103 runs from 107 balls by Paul “that kid is a freak” Stirling. Going into today’s second ODI in the two game series, Ireland were confident of an upset [...] more »
Matt Baggott on flag protests, Boston tapes, G8 summit, drones & social media
Tweet It’s all looking a bit fraught. We need a recovery plan. The words of the Chief Constable Matt Baggott describing the fortunes of his football club rather than the PSNI’s response to the flags crisis. Though the words must echo what went through the PSNI senior officers’ minds when the flags crisis didn’t abate [...] more »
The new old firm…
Tweet Right – Cardiff City in the Premiership…looking forward to the South Wales Derby. Seriously – fabulous for the city. more »
Explosions at Boston Marathon Finish Line
Tweet The BBC are reporting that there have been two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, three hours after the winners had passed the line. That’s around 5 hours after the race start. Currently the number of people injured is unkown. Live coverage from the BBC here. Adds Guardian live-blog here. Update According to [...] more »
The tricolour and its multiple meanings: Open thread
Tweet So as promised here’s the follow up to yesterday’s Irish flag thread. So normal rules apply now, you can debate with each other. I’ll open with three concise observations as a starter. There are probably more important themes, but these are just ones that leapt out at me: At the time of writing, the [...] more »
Ulster Rugby: Crowning good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea?
Tweet I’m grateful to FJH for alerting me to this year’s winners of the IFA Schools Cup (ERM, MAKE THAT a successful defence of the BELFAST SENIOR CUP). [check your sources boy!! - Ed] Let’s just say it would be a surprise to the class of 78 that the old St Patricks College won anything [...] more »
So what went wrong in the first half against Ireland?
Tweet Wonderful day…in Cardiff anyway ! more »
Giro d’Italia 2014 announcement expected tomorrow
Tweet It looks increasingly likely that confirmation of the rumoured plans to start the 2014 Giro d’Italia in Belfast, before heading to Dublin, will be made tomorrow. As Cycling Weekly reports The Giro d’Italia organiser RCS Sport has a lot on its plate this week, announcing the 2014 start from Belfast tomorrow and dealing with 19 WorldTour teams. [...] more »
Attwood announces a new Windsor Park…
Tweet At £25m, it’s one of the more modest projects, but no doubt none the less welcome for that.. Perhaps the weekend’s evidence of some rapprochement between rival supporters under unreasonable and external sectarian pressure, may herald a better future for NI soccer generally [no sniggering at the back!]. more »
Malcolm Brodie the magnificent
Tweet To a younger generation the spate of tributes to Malcolm Brodie, for a lifetime the sports editor of the Belfast Telegraph, may be a bit of a puzzle. “One of the greats,” a legend “ and so on may not be descriptions that you would easily associate with someone who gloried in the minutiae of [...] more »
On McIlroy: “Let me rephrase that . . . Can I . . . actually I’ll just repeat the question”
Tweet I’ve little time for the circular arguments that still go on around Rory McIlroy’s sense of his own nationality. For some people, it seems, he is allowed any nationality he wants as long as it is one shade of green or another. But the boy has spoken on the subject. Dion Fanning puts it [...] more »
Belfast start for 2014 Giro d’Italia? – “Discussions are ongoing”
Tweet It could be some time before we get an answer to that question – official confirmation that cycling’s 2013 Giro would start in Naples only came in June last year. But there’s been a flurry of activity following a L’Equipe report last night that sources were confirming that Belfast would host the start of the 2014 Giro d’Italia. [...] more »
What was your sporting moment of 2012?
Tweet Mine? It was one of two. Donegal winning the Ulster championship, or winning the All Ireland. Oh yes, there was the look on Sir Alex Ferguson’s face when Man City took the Premiership off Man U at the very last minute. It was made all the better because I was the only Blue in [...] more »
“For the avoidance of doubt…”
Tweet The unsurprising, for many reasons, winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 may have been this year’s Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, a well-deserved third place went to Olympic and US Open tennis champion, Andy Murray. But the Guardian’s Paul Owens has spotted something strange about the BBC’s Panel awarding ‘Team of the Year’ to the [...] more »
Jim McGuinness on leadership: what it is and how to do it…
Tweet Whilst I am at it, congratualtions to Celtic for making it through to the last 16. I’m no fan of the club, but I am a big fan of their latest recruit, Glenties man, Jim McGuinness. This is the best I could do with his interview on Saturday night. Well worth watching all the [...] more »
Celtic and/or Donegal: Jim McGuinness’s unenviable dilemma?
Tweet “Don’t do it Jim” is all I can hear in the back of my ancestral Donegal head. But it would be hard blame Jim McGuinness for taking a pretty cool package from Neil Lennon’s Celtic Football Club. It’s not as though he’s unqualified: McGuinness, who has a masters in sports psychology, has struck up [...] more »
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Books
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Round up of Tuesday’s Political Studies Association conference
Tweet If you want to get a flavour of the proceedings at the Political Studies Association conference on its opening day, then the Storify collation below will bring you some of the images, tweets and sounds of the day. Particular highlights included: the Opening Plenary with David Blunkett, Peter Riddell and Matthew Flinders; and the [...] read our review »
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Ringtone and the drum: Africa’s underclass’s clash with technology
Tweet My old friend from River Path has a book out today (his first, hooray!). I’d be lying if I told I’d read the whole thing right through, yet (I’m waiting for a free copy, rather than reams of white paper!!). But I have been talking with Mark on and off about the project for [...] read our review »
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What is history for again?
Tweet A growing row over Michael Gove’s proposed new history curriculum for England may well spark a bout of Brit bashing in Slugger and other places. Anything that seems to encourage the “great man theory ”( History p 165 et seq)” of British history will be dumped on, but not only on this side of the [...] read our review »
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