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 
Yeah, I don’t think I would go back in July. To be honest, we both very much like to ‘get up, get out and enjoy the place before it gets too hot’. Plus a nice long siesta in the afternoon.
I think what also helped was that it was a very dry heat, it wasn’t really humid. If it’s really humid, that really knocks me out.
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Since 2013 Wales have had a chance v SA and beaten them more often than not
Since 2014, actually. Only in Wales and that weird match in Washington, mind. Never in SA or World Cups (have Wales won). And the majority of matches in the last decade have been in Wales. There’s only been one close match in SA in the modern era and that was in 2014, the last time Wales toured here – 31-30 to the Boks. Outside of that, the next closest match was at Newlands in 2002, when the Boks won 19-8. It was, according to the Beeb, a ‘cold, blustery and wet’ afternoon. So more like Cardiff then anyway.
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All true enough though the three World Cup games have all been extremely close. Not sure why Wales have been to South Africa quite so rarely – only four matches (two two-test tours) since we got fully competitive again round about 2005. Should really have won that last one but for Steve Walsh’s showing off and a certain amount of panic, never mind.
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The win in 2018 topped off a great year (maybe the best ever) – GS, series win Oz – but ultimately it was the peak of Schmidt’s team rather than the base camp for greater achievements. Maybe, the win in Chicago should have been the template.
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That’s just the nature of the touring schedules, Deebee. Always has been that we play more games at home against you than away. I’d reckon the same”s true for all home unions against SH teams.
The Durban 2014 test’s been the only blow out in those games. The RWC games we definitely had very good chances to win despite having injuries all over the field.
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Sevilla – probably one of those places you visit in Spring (or like TomP) Autumn – not the summer.
It’s on my bucket list with Granada and Cordoba….
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Scotland have also only played SA four times there in the same period though over three trips. Ireland have only been once.
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England three tours for eight tests in total.
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Lazy bastards the lot of you. Should be forced to tour the SH every year like we’re forced to tour the NH – from country to country to country. Would be nice to see the NH sides playing the All Blacks in Auckland, followed by the Boks at Ellis Park, Australia in Queensland and finally Argentina at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza. Seems only fair.
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If you’re not careful all our teams will club together and come down there and entertain you.
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Without spending an hour on Google, my recollection of Scotland playing abroad is that we got kicked off the top table tours because of our ranking, hence we were spared touring New Zealand when they were at their strongest, possibly the strongest team in the history of any sport.
That’s also why we have a good record of going to Samoa and Fiji compared to others
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@Ticht – Why couldn’t some bright spark have had that idea in the 90s?
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Then again we’d only have ended up losing even more to Samoa and Canada and so on than we did.
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@CMW, Scotland always seemed to be in Argentina over the summer
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Trisk
There are lots of lovely old cities in Spain – all thanks to terraine, domestic violence, climate, continental piullaging and Moorish invasion!
I have visited some and never been disappointed.
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It’s punez (stink bug) season in the south of France – they are prolific and awful.
They hatch/mate/stink in the autumn in the lovely seasonal weather – so every time we open a window or door that faces east/west or south we have to hoover up the blighters.
It is said that these really stinky ones (there are lots of different versions) invaded Europe as eggs mixed in with soya grain/seeds. They do not seem to have any natural local predators.
Beware USA trade deals!
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My experience of Spain is limited to the Basque Country (lots of it), Barcelona (a couple of trips), and stopover visits through Madrid. It’s a magical country, loved every minute of it. Would love to be able to visit Spain again and see more of it. And Portugal.
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C’MON NAMIBIA!!!!!!!!!! A first T20 World Cup spot beckons! Ireland – this is your QF!
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Estadio Malvinas Argentinas
It would be especially good for England to play there.
Love the Spanish people. And their food. And their wine.
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“My experience of Spain is limited to…”
For some reason I thought the next words were going to be “Hatch/mate/stink”.
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Ireland off to a steady start, 9/0 after two overs.
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@thauma
32 members of the Welsh Guards died in the Falklands War. And the Scots Guards took part in the Battle of Mount Tumbledown.
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25 off the next two overs as Ireland put the hammer down. I really don’t feel like working today.
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Lazy bastards the lot of you
Deebs, I’m just waiting for the call from Eddie. Then I’ll be there I promise. Pushing your wimpy props off the park.
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Stirling has one too many heaves and is caught at deep mid-wicket for a quick-fire 38 off 24 balls. Ireland 62/1 off 7.2 overs – Namibia needed that wicket and need a couple more in quick succession you feel.
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I missed what period we’re discussing…. we did tours in 2004, 2016 (if you’d asked me I wouldn’t have put it so long ago)
But we do seem to play SA at Lansdowne fairly regularly…. 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017…. the 4 year (and counting) hiatus seems odd looking at that cycle
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O’Brien gone! Flicked off the pads to the man in the deep and Ireland’s openers are both back in the dugout! 67/2 after 8.4 overs and Namibia have picked up too very good scalps. Both caught in the deep trying to find the rope, rather than caught behind off a thin edge or bowled through the gate, but they won’t mind that. Two new batsmen, a more spread field and they’ll fancy getting a couple of cheap overs in to slow the run rate after it was ballooning out of control just 10 minutes ago.
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94/2 off 14 overs. Balbirnie and Delaney have steadied the ship and now need to push on to get the score going. They’re struggling against some dogged slow bowling, and as I type that David Wiese is back with his medium-fast stuff and knocks back Delaney’s leg stump. 94/3 off 14.3 overs.
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@Trisk – The period was an arbitrary ‘from when Wales got competitive again’ so 2004 just missed the cut-off.
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Campher creams one to the leg side, but only gets two. Ireland are 101/3 with four overs to go. They’ll want40+ off these, but can they get them? Balbirnie goes for the Viv Richards slog off one knee, but he’s not Sir Viv and gets clattered in front. Then loses a review as well. 101/4, with young Harry Tector joining Campher at the crease.
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Tector clobbers Wiese to the rope and tries to cut the next one but only gets a fine edge – Ireland are teetering on the edge of disaster here at 110/6 after 17 overs. They’ve lost 3 wickets for 9 runs in the last two overs.
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Rock crumbles! 116/7 with just 8 deliveries left in their innings. They’ll finish short of where they wanted, but will that opening stand be enough against a Namibian batting lineup that hasn’t set the world afire either?
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125/8 after 20 overs, with a couple of comical overthrows off the last ball. Can Namibia hold their nerve and chase it down? No idea! Luckily for all of you, I’m leaving the office now so won’t be blathering on for an hour or two.
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I was reading the Zebre lineup for the match against Edinburgh, it’s in long format here https://www.zebrerugbyclub.it/leonard-krumov-rientra-per-la-sfida-del-lanfranchi-con-ledinburgh-rugby/
I liked this from the automatic translation
In view of the meeting with McInally and his teammates, the head coach of the federal franchise Michael Bradley opts for six changes in the starting XV where Leonard Krumov is seen again, returning after the slight muscular resentment in the calf.
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The big, huge, game this weekend is the derby, North Berwick at home to Dunbar in the Tennant East Region League Division 2 (Men’s)
North Berwick are currently lying 3rd on the log with four wins from six games giving a haul of 21 points.
Dunbar are in 5th with three BP wins from five games, 15 points.
These are usually hard fought games with North Berwick having the edge in recent times, especially on their Recreation Park ground.
We, sorry, Dunbar gave up a bit of home advantage when we left the appropriately named Winterfield for a new site in the middle of the town a few years ago.
Winterfield would often be the only playable pitch in Scotland when it got really cold, the wind wouldn’t let the frost get at the ground
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Namibia win! They’re through! Great moment for Namibian cricket! Ireland were probably 15 or 20 runs short batting first.
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Just reading back, I’m sure Thauma’s comment was in jest and not intended to offend. I picked Mendoza because the Boks have gone through hell there in the past and then found out the name of ground and that it was similarly representative of deep conflict.
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Not that anyone needs my endorsement or support. Just saying. Any rugby on this evening?
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Think I’ll watch Glasgow-Leinster a bit later. Mrs Deebee away for the weekend, so left to me own devices. Found a delightful Spanish recipe (following our conversation earlier) for chicken and fresh figs. Figs not in season though so pasta with a spicy chorizo sauce it’ll be instead. Left the office early so it’ll be red wine inspired when i do get round to it!
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Soz, have had a busy dayweek! No new rants to impart.
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Granada is well worth a trip, trisk. Sensational place. When we went we stayed in a pension. Turned out the receptionist was a classmate of my missus’s from their small town in south Bohemia so she and her Grandano(?) boyfriend showed us around. Pure but welcome chance. It was about 6 weeks before my Spanish GCSE so I was quizzing him on whether the traffic jams were bad in the city.
Walked around Seville today, plus over the river to Triana. Really good. Got up to 30 in the afternoon but we were smart at finding las ombras.
Tomorrow down to Cadiz for a couple of nights, back to Jerez for 3 nights – Jerez probably a base so we can go further afield.
The north coast Cantabria and Asturias is terrific as well. I like Oviedo and Llanes in particular. Salamanca, Segovia, Avila all of interest. Cuenca is sensational.
Only know Barcelona on the east coast. Madrid’s got a bad rep but as a visitor I adore it plus have had some wild nights with friends there.
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We stayed in Cantabria a few years ago when Cardiff were in the Losers’ Cup final in Bilbao. Was lovely. Only other bit of Spain I’ve been to was La Palma when my sister was living there.
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OT it was somewhere between hilarious and deep embarrassing. Happy it didn’t have an impact on the result though.
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‘Mon the Weedge!
(Leinster lead after 4 minutes)
Oh bugger.
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Blue meanies looking particularly mean.
Aided by some weak tackling
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Helluva score from Leinster there. Early on they’re looking too powerful for Glasgow.
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Glasgow getting back into it a bit, but the defence is superb. I like the Weege style, great ambition. Penalty in front and over 3-10 and Glasgow on the board!
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Checked the Leinster squad. Sub Jamie Osborne is the palest man I’ve ever seen.
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