This post has very little to do with rugby (there is some connection), but I lost the plot after reading about David Frost’s ‘speech’ on Tuesday, in which he repudiated the world-beating, superfantabulistic deal that he and Spaffer Johnson negotiated and signed with the EU less than a year ago.
These morons have no understanding at all of Northern Ireland, and nor do they care to understand. They seem to be only listening to the DUP, who are in serious decline, and whose worldview is anathema to most of the population – a population who you will remember voted against Brexit.
Why do people vote for them, you ask? It’s not because they like them or agree with their politics or religious fetishes, but because they are (were!) afraid of ‘Them-uns’ getting in instead.
It’s true that the Republic of Ireland was rather priest-ridden in my youth, but those days are long gone after the Magdalene Laundries scandal and other events; meanwhile, you will still find signs on the roadsides in NI proclaiming things like FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, and other lovely, inspirational messages, while abortion remains next to impossible and same-sex marriage has only recently been forcibly imposed by Westminster. Many people in NI who might previously have supported unionism are reconsidering on the basis of these changes and non-changes.
The Belfast / Good Friday Agreement has effected an amazing alteration in the physical and political landscape. Gone are the metal detectors and the tanks of my youth; in their place is a vibrant (yes, an overused word, but it fits here) downtown Belfast, with plenty of two-way cross-border traffic, a great food / café / arts culture, and a general air of tolerance and co-operation. People in East Belfast are learning Irish and playing GAA sports.
Northern Ireland has seen some empty supermarket shelves, but primarily in those retailers who are English-based. Other businesses have adjusted, and are buying in from the Republic and the wider EU. There haven’t been any petrol shortages.
(As for ‘sausage wars’, no honest Irishperson buys the clearly inferior English sausages. Irish sausages are gorgeous, and almost certainly have a lower sawdust percentage [citation needed].)
So along comes David Frost, with the DUP cooing in his ear, to assert that the Northern Ireland Protocol – which, remember, he negotiated and signed and proclaimed to be the greatest deal ever – is not fit for purpose, mostly because it exposes that NI, which remains in the Single Market, is prospering much better than the rest of the UK. And he wants to scrap the whole thing, putting the entire peace process into question.
So in other words, the DUP would prefer to have the Northern Irish people suffer the same privations as those on the island of Britain, because that would make them more British.
It seems that most Northern Irish, of whatever persuasion, don’t agree. They seem to prefer the all-island approach that is clearly advantageous.
And here’s where rugby comes in. Rugby has been an all-island sport since partition, and has seen a massive benefit from that: not just in trophies and matches won, but as a unifying factor. (Football has been divided, with little success for either country.) Ulster has its nine counties, with Tommy Bowe, for example, from County Monaghan. We have punched above our weight for such a tiny country in which rugby isn’t even the second or third sport. We have, in good GFA tradition, fudged the ceremonials by doing two anthems. It might not be ideal, it may irritate others (sorry!), but it’s the best we can do for now, and it works.
The likes of Frost and Johnson are careless of this carefully-built cooperation, and willing to destroy it all on the altar of their own egos. They are willing to send us back to bombs and threats and check-points and feel-ups and knee-cappings and murders. They are willing to divide an island – yet again – that their predecessors have ravaged and pillaged and planted and starved. They are the greatest argument for a united Ireland in my lifetime, and I expect now to live to see it happen.
Onna telly this week
Friday 15th October
| Ulster v Lions | 19:35 | BBC2 NI / RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 1 |
| Dragons v Stormers | 19:35 | BBC2 Wales / Premier Sports 2 |
| Sale v Harlequins | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 16th October
| Zebre v Glasgow | 13:00 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Brive v La Rochelle | 14:00 | FreeSports |
| Wasps v Exeter | 15:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Treviso v Ospreys | 15:00 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Montpellier v Clermont | 16:00 | FreeSports |
| Leinster v Scarlets | 17:15 | S4C / TG4 / Premier Sports 2 |
| Edinburgh v Bulls | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Munster v Connacht | 19:35 | RTÉ2 / Premier Sports 2 |
| Cardiff v Sharks | 19:35 | S4C / Premier Sports 1 |
| Toulon v Racing 92 | 20:00 | FreeSports |
Sunday 17th October
| Bath v Saracens | 15:00 | BT Sport 1 | ||
| Lyon v Toulouse | 20:00 | FreeSports |
Ovally Balls 
Ah, right! I remember the Haskell diaries right enough, but the connection to 50 Shades had evaporated. It’s hell getting old.
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A reminder: https://artofdomination.wordpress.com/category/the-haskell-diaries/
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Good lord, have we really been going at this over a decade?
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Yep! Scary, isn’t it?
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Still think the literary connection is more Adrian Mole than 50 Shades. But the Cat obviously knows what he’s talking about.
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‘literary’
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That was fun. That wee trip down memory lane could have been much longer too (about a couple of months…) Must admit there were a few names in the early blogs that I didn’t recognise as well as the many who have fallen by the wayside. Can’t even remember when I started – I didn’t comment on the Guardian, though I did lurk.
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Back from Spain to that ridiculous Haskell news. It’s not even stand-up from the sound of it. Anyway, he’ll be rubbish at it.
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Yeah, self-awareness is not really his strong point.
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I’d say self-doubt. For both of them.
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I hope he’s excellent. Maybe he could tour with Toby Young to get himself on his feet.
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Think I joined in 2012/13. Fuckaduck.
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Morning all! It’s Friday! Weekend is almost upon us!
Not sure when AOD started, but I was there from the beginning, when the Graun introduced it’s nesting policy. Been on the Graun since probably 2002 or so – my first major memories of sports interactions were the sublime OBOs from that time with Lawrence Booth leading the way. I bought a copy of Is It Cowardly to Pray for Rain?, the collection of comments and commentary from the 2005 Ashes series. Great stuff! Don’t think it’s ever reached those heights again and unfortunately it’s become a bit of a chum’s club on the cricket since.
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Deebs – ah yes, nesting! Quelle horreur. Commenting has never been the same since, even if you can now display comments in their proper order. Remember the browser add-on someone made to fix it?
I joined the Graun in 2007 after Google Answers got the heave-ho. That was an entertaining site.
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More rugby this weekend!
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Thauma, I’d forgotten about the browser add on!
Refit – that’s some serious leg power! Hope the idiots down here are showing the match too.
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Tasman 9-7 up at half time against Canterbury in awful conditions at the Orangetheory Stadium. Geeks should not be allowed to name companies. Sadly, there are about as many players, reserves and coaching staff as there are spectators for this one. When I logged on, my immediate thought was ‘COvid crowd control’, but I don’t think that applies there.
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7-17 after twelve minutes of the 2nd half. Missed it, so no idea who scored what.
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Refit – Expro would be pleased.
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People of Newcastle are in for a treat:
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Power failure, so missed a chunk more. Canterbury have stormed back to lead 24-20 with a few minutes to go.
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I’ll take a power failure over listening to 20 years of Will Young’s music thanks.
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Quite fun reading back that old version of AoD – only a couple of names I’d didn’t recall.
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Tasman with a 5m lineout, go for the driving maul, but Canterbury hold them up and win the scrum with less than a minute to go. An injury break, a few reset scrums, then a penalty to Canterbury and it’s over.
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In case you hadn’t seen Ox’s tweet about The Sportsground….
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Had a bit of a read back of the AOD link – there was some great repartee on the site. A bit disconcerting seeing my avatar as this one, given that the beloved Jake wasn’t even born back then!
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I was class of 2009 on the Graun, I joined btl in apoplexy at Euan Murray not being first choice tighthead on the Lions tour to South Africa, I had Victor Matfield as my witness for anyone who would listen.
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There was a Welsh poster btl called Horrid Helen, I remember her because she said that in the footage of the famous Gareth Edwards try for the BaBaas, she was standing very near the guy with the sheep on the terraces
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I remember Horrid Helen!
There was another woman called Françoise, I think, who I thought was Flair for the longest time.
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ticht, my dad was on the same terrace for that. Every time it was shown he mentioned the fact.
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Beadle’s Glaws to Face Slade’s Chiefs:-
15. Jason Woodward
14. Louis Rees-Zammit *
13. Chris Harris
12. Billy Twelvetrees
11. Santiago Carreras
10. Adam Hastings
9. Ben Meehan
1. Val Rapava-Ruskin
2. Jack Singleton
3. Fraser Balmain
4. Freddie Clarke *
5. Andrew Davidson
6. Ruan Ackermann
7. Lewis Ludlow (c) *
8. Ben Morgan
16. Santiago Socino
17. Harry Elrington
18. Kirill Gotovtsev
19. Freddie Thomas *
20. Jack Clement *
21. Charlie Chapman *
22. Lloyd Evans *
23. Kyle Moyle
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My dad was at the Rome Olympics in 1960 and saw a lot of the track events. Malcolm Spence finished 3rd in the Men’s 400m for South Africa – our last Olympics until 1992, from memory. He’d actually gone to see Herb Elliot, the great Aussie middle distance runner, and got a few other tickets at the same time. As with TomP’s dad, he mentioned this every time footage of that Olympics was shown!
I can’t really pass on that to my lad, yet. “So where were you when the Boks won in 1995, dad?” “Er, pub crawling around Rockey St,* with the seat I’d ripped out the bus, son.”
“And in 2007?” “Well now, I was a lot more mature by then, so we went to a lovely pub in a wealthy part of Jo’burg and spent most of the night avoiding the fights between drunk rich boys.”
“Oh. And 2019?” “Watching on my own at your uncle’s place whilst him and his partner and mates argued about Ed Sheeran albums.”
*Rockey St back in the day was a bohemian street full of bars, clubs and restaurants that were always on the seedy side of acceptable. I learned plenty from them!
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What the asterisks for, SBT?
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To be honest, I think it kind of stinks that players should not be available for a game like New Zealand. A shame for the paying spectator, but also the players, for whom a cap against NZ must be one of the highest honours. I suppose on the plus side, there are a handful of guys playing for Wales who might not win many caps, so being on the end of a 50 point thrashing from the ABs might be the highlight of their career. Hope Zammo gets plenty more chances.
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Asterisks denote home grown players from Gloucester Academy, I think, Deebs.
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Ah, thanks!
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I remember Horrid Helen. She lived up to her name a couple of times.
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I read this as ‘Bitcoin’ initially:
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Re 50 shades, I read a quote from an alternative, 50 Sheds of Grey, a parody version. I don’t remember it verbatim but it went something like,
“Hurt me”, she said, leaning over the joiner’s bench and lifting her skirt a little, “Hurt me”
“Okay, you’ve got fat ankles and no fashion sense”
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I liked this quote from the Glasgow stats guy’s preview of tomorrow’s ScotTonga game
“it’s possibly fortunate that Auckland player Sione Tuipulotu, who was in the Tongan squad over the summer, has not travelled to Europe. This could have caused some significant confusion with the Sione Tuipulotu who will make his Test debut for Scotland on Saturday!”
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I’ve got some fear developing. This is exactly the kind of game where we end up coming unstuck.
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I think 64 was last SA Olympics – only because I’m pretty sure the ban started just before Mexico
First Olympics I recall and then only vaguely – David Hemery in 400m hurdles mainly, plus Hungary beating Bulgaria in the soccer final 4-1… one of the Bulgarians got sent off for hopping the ball off the ref’s head – sort of thing an 8 yo finds amusing
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Trisk, just checked and we were banned before the ’64 Olympics. It is staggering, even for someone like me who lived through apartheid, that our government tried to prevent our athletes taking part in mixed race events in South Africa – and outside the country! Staggering.
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@deebee – my bad.
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Not as bad as South Africa’s.
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The cancellation of the 1967 NZ tour was important. Craven cottoned on to it so Brian Williams, Sid Going and a couple of others got to go as “Honorary Whites” in 1970. The next year the French eventually selected Roger Bourgarel for their tour and he played both tests.
But the policy pre-dated apartheid. In the 1920s the SA government said no Maori on tour in 1928 and the NZRFU acquiesced so no George Nepia or Jimmy Mill. And in 1919 Ranji Wilson – Bajan dad, pre-war All Black – wasn’t selected for the NZ Army side tour of SA, although he’d played against them in Europe. There’s also the infamous SA report from the 1921 to NZ about how awful it was that white NZers were cheering on the Maori side v “members of their own race”.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19360902.2.146
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Exeter’s humbled heroes to face beastly Glos tonight:
Hogg, Nowell, Hendrickson, Devoto, Cordero
Skinner, Maunder
Hepburn, Yeandle, Williams
Lonsdale, Witty
Skinner, Armand, Capstick
Burrows, Moon, Josefa-Scott, Tshiunza, Tuima, H-Clyne, Simmonds, Whitten
Hill, Slade, LC-D and Simmonds on England duty
Gray, Kirsten, Vermeulen, O’Flaherty on sick list
Burrows and Tshiunza are both ex-Wales U20s and Tshiunza now in Wales senior squad.
Will be close but Exeter’s forwards are a bit below par.
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That’s been a helluva long time Jonny G’s been out. Shoulder wasn’t it?
Mind you it’s probably been the longest rest he’s had in years.
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New post soonish.
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