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 
Powerful by Leinster. Just look too strong and organised for Glasgow.
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Glasgow can’t find a way through the dub defence
Need a score here
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Good timing as ever
Still think leinster will have too much over the 80 though
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Rory (S) floats a lovely pass for Rory (H) to fly into the corner! Just a shame that Rory (S) plays for Wuss and Rory (H) plays for Saints.
30 minutes in Saints lead 33-10. And Big Duhan’s had 10 minutes in the bin.
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Jack Dempsey punches his way over! (Sorry) and Glasgow are back to 10-17 down, with a man advantage! Half time and Glasgow will take heart from that. They’ll need to snaffle a few more points whilst Conan (not that one) is off the field.
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BB – I’m a fan of Rories. Never met a Rory/Ruraidh I didn’t like.
Scarlets 14-7 up against Treviso.
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Ooh, Treviso have equalised.
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Leinster over again. Can’t see Glasgow coming back from here
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BP try.
Hard to see many weaknesses in this team when at full strength
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Worcester are rubbish. 52-10 down, and their try came from a charge down. Wonder if Duhan and Rory are regretting their decision yet? Especially watching the ‘New Exciting Embra!’
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Scarlets have just scored a very necessary try, but Treviso are running them quite close. 31-21, at 65 mins.
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Scarlets score a pen, and the result doesn’t look in much doubt any more.
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The money may help ease the sting BB, but it won’t help their long term prospects
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But the Scarlets fuck up a line-out in the Treviso 22, and a couple of phases later, there is a Treviso intercept try.
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Scarlets look to have done something similar, but the TMO is checking.
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Rory’s been OK in the scrums, but the loose pass didn’t help. Big Duhan’s barely been seen in attack and got a yellow for a tip tackle.
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On the other side, Rory H has been really good tonight (chargedown aside). If he isn’t in the AI squad, he should be.
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Wouldn’t like to call this one on the replay! Looks like a Scarlets knock-on leading to the theft of the ball, so it seems a Treviso pen and oppo to go for the corner. It is.
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Have I said how much I hate Leinster?
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Glasgow squeeze over at the end to make the scoreboard look a bit better
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Treviso knock on in the Scarlets’ 22.
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Glasgow gubbed in every department.
Leinster are one hell of a rugby team
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Some fuck-ups on both sides, but the ball’s down at Treviso’s end of the pitch. Treviso have the ball and are battling.
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Treviso get a pen in their own 22, and knock it into the Scarlets’ 22. Six points in it!
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Ahhh! Treviso knock it on. Clock’s gone red, but touch is missed!
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Foolishly decide to kick it away, gathered by Scarlets and kicked off the pitch.
Both sides have BP tries anyway.
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Ahem, that was quite an exciting last ten minutes or so.
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They are Ticht. But I still ‘hate’ them.
All messing about aside, they are what I want Glasgow to be. We were almost there in 2015 but couldn’t sustain it. Money talks – we don’t have it and Leinster do. But it’s also about what they’ve done with that money and the clout they have within the Irish game.
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Ach that seemed to be more gibberish than usual.
I blame the wine.
And the fact that I’ve not had enough….
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BB, Leinster have a brilliant conveyor belt of talent that just keeps rolling out international quality players.
Others will know far more about it than me, but it seems to start at the schools and carry on after, that is the key.
We have good quality schools rugby, but it gets a bit muddled after that, not least because of the inverse snobbery around fee paying schools and promoting the sport from them
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I know that we’re trying to get some sort of system in place, with the Academies and the Super 6, but that’s just the start of the process. Plus the Super 6 got buggered up by Covid and lockdowns. Mind you, I’m not sure what those sides do now that it’s finished (and we’re just into October).
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Trisk, if you ever make it to Spain, go to Valladolid. It’s a great city in itself but on top of that it has an amazingly little known museum of sculpture, possibly the richest in Europe.
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Thaum: “But the Scarlets fuck up a line-out in the Treviso 22”
Classic, never gets old.
Great ATL.
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:-)
Cheers, BRB!
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strewth!
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Here we go! Connacht v Ulster at the Aviva. Ulster have Hendo (C), McCloskey and Baloucoune back.
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Ulster get a kickable penalty but opt to go for the corner. Connacht stymie the attempted driving maul, Ulster go left and Connacht win a pen under the posts. However, there is a bit of handbags and the penalty gets reversed. 0-3 to Ulster.
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Thaum, why is this match not being played in Galway?
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Connacht made the choice 5 or 6 weeks ago when there were restrictions on how many fans could attend. They have since lifted the restrictions.
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TRY Connacht. Dammit.
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What an odd choice, even if there were three people and a dug watching you’d think they would prefer to be at home?
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Doesn’t seem to be fazing them too much! 7-3.
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Everyone should be screaming for Ulster, because if we get a BP win, we knock the Blue Meanies off the top of the table.
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I’ll support Ulster by screaming for Connacht.
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Hmph.
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Gilroy limping off injured. Lowry on.
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Deebee, Immelman was much better today, he made one brilliant carry up the middle of the park where he sat two Zebre players on their arses for a again of about 20 metres or more.
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Sneaky Connacht score again.
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oops!
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I just hope rugby is the winner
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