Biggest Sh*t Stirrers

[Dinny Breen]

Parkinson is excellent. His hurling and football podcasts are great apart from Damien Hayes who is as bad an analyst as he was great a player and is full of bluster.

If you were given a Neil Francis article and a Ross O Carroll Kelly article, without the writers' names on them, you might be hard pressed to guess which was which. I don't like him but he's the only bit of rugby content I might read in the papers.

I think McKenna is genuinely brilliant though. Some of his work around the rugby world cup bid, Dublin's financial advantages and preferential treatment within the GAA, his rebuttal of the notion that rugby is no longer very elitist and Mo Farah's incredible list of links to doping were excellent, to name just a few off the top of my head. His does engage in a fair bit of trolling on Twitter but given that he winds up po-faced, self righteous types,  fair play to him on that too.

Mackenna hasn't a clue about rugby or it's structures, he hadn't even a clue about Joey Carberry who was from his home town, a town which he constantly puts down like the arsehole he is. If he was such a good writer he wouldn't be scraping a living in Brazil. His a master troll to his credit but when your abusing on Twitter like he does your losing. 

[Asal Mor]

He was the sole dissenting voice in the Irish media during the Rugby World Cup bid and did great work exposing it for the sham, built on false claims and figures, that it was. How much he knows about the game of rugby or Joey Carbery is completely irrelevant to that.

[bennydorano]

I've never seen a more precious Journo than McKenna, any criticism he gets generates some hysteric reactions. He's Kimmage lite, clearly wants to be a Doping exposer but doesn't have the background knowledge of someone who really knows their onions.

[bennydorano]

He was the sole dissenting voice in the Irish media during the Rugby World Cup bid and did great work exposing it for the sham, built on false claims and figures, that it was. How much he knows about the game of rugby or Joey Carbery is completely irrelevant to that.

I didn't follow the process but that he adopted that approach wouldn't surprise me, as it would create a bit of a kerfuffle and raise his profile. Of course, maybe he just believed it.

[Asal Mor]

I've never seen a more precious Journo than McKenna, any criticism he gets generates some hysteric reactions. He's Kimmage lite, clearly wants to be a Doping exposer but doesn't have the background knowledge of someone who really knows their onions.

He's touched on doping but it's not an obsession with him at all. If you said he's obsessed with wumming and trolling I'd say fair enough.

To be fair to Kimmage, the Matt Hampson book was incredibly moving and uplifting. He's a unique interviewer too.

[Asal Mor]

He was the sole dissenting voice in the Irish media during the Rugby World Cup bid and did great work exposing it for the sham, built on false claims and figures, that it was. How much he knows about the game of rugby or Joey Carbery is completely irrelevant to that.

I didn't follow the process but that he adopted that approach wouldn't surprise me, as it would create a bit of a kerfuffle and raise his profile. Of course, maybe he just believed it.

This is an example of his work on the World Cup bid. No question he believed it would have been an economic disaster. I'd imagine that living in Brazil gives him a great insight into the social and economic costs of giant sporting events to the ordinary man.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.independent.ie/sport/rugby/world-cup/ewan-mackenna-why-irelands-rugby-world-cup-bid-failure-should-be-celebrated-36283611.html

[johnnycool]

Neil Francis is actually a superb writer when the mood takes him, which is frequently.

His anecdotes are certainly a lot better than Joe Brolly's, and I imagine they're a lot closer to being true.

He was actually a handy rubby player in his day but seemed to go missing when needed the most or when a few fists were flying.
England always marked his card early.

[Dinny Breen]

He was the sole dissenting voice in the Irish media during the Rugby World Cup bid and did great work exposing it for the sham, built on false claims and figures, that it was. How much he knows about the game of rugby or Joey Carbery is completely irrelevant to that.

Writing about hosting international events and writing about rugby are two separate entities. Anyone with half a brain knows hosting events is an economic deficit, he wasn't writing anything new. He writes in a very aggressive manner that stirs emotion, so when people agree with it, they are quite emotive. He would do a great job as a speech writer for Trump.

He reminds me of the character Tom Yates in House of Cards.     

[Asal Mor]

He was the sole dissenting voice in the Irish media during the Rugby World Cup bid and did great work exposing it for the sham, built on false claims and figures, that it was. How much he knows about the game of rugby or Joey Carbery is completely irrelevant to that.

Writing about hosting international events and writing about rugby are two separate entities. Anyone with half a brain knows hosting events is an economic deficit, he wasn't writing anything new. He writes in a very aggressive manner that stirs emotion, so when people agree with it, they are quite emotive. He would do a great job as a speech writer for Trump.

He reminds me of the character Tom Yates in House of Cards.   

Maybe you can name a few other journalists who were critically examining the claims and numbers being thrown out by our World Cup bid team because the only dissenting voice I was hearing anywhere in the media at the time was McKenna's. If everyone knows that hosting sporting events is an economic loser, why were the bid team able to spout pie in the sky figures about profit with the media, aside from Mckenna, universally cheerleading the bid?

[sid waddell]

Neil Francis is actually a superb writer when the mood takes him, which is frequently.

His anecdotes are certainly a lot better than Joe Brolly's, and I imagine they're a lot closer to being true.

He was actually a handy rubby player in his day but seemed to go missing when needed the most or when a few fists were flying.
England always marked his card early.

That's not entirely inaccurate but in his defence his career coincided with Ireland being dreadful. He had a great match in the win at Twickenham in 1994, and also in the near miss against Australia in 1991.

[Dinny Breen]

He was the sole dissenting voice in the Irish media during the Rugby World Cup bid and did great work exposing it for the sham, built on false claims and figures, that it was. How much he knows about the game of rugby or Joey Carbery is completely irrelevant to that.

Writing about hosting international events and writing about rugby are two separate entities. Anyone with half a brain knows hosting events is an economic deficit, he wasn't writing anything new. He writes in a very aggressive manner that stirs emotion, so when people agree with it, they are quite emotive. He would do a great job as a speech writer for Trump.

He reminds me of the character Tom Yates in House of Cards.   

Maybe you can name a few other journalists who were critically examining the claims and numbers being thrown out by our World Cup bid team because the only dissenting voice I was hearing anywhere in the media at the time was McKenna's. If everyone knows that hosting sporting events is an economic loser, why were the bid team able to spout pie in the sky figures about profit with the media, aside from Mckenna, universally cheerleading the bid?

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/features/sporting-events-pay-for-themselves-in-happiness-not-money-218440.html

That's from 2013. It's nothing new.

There are other intangible benefits to hosting tournaments or even participating, I still remember the buzz around Italia 90 and it felt like a catalyst for change.

Are the media only allowed be negative and not present the positives of hosting a tournament?  I am all for balance, something MacKenna never presents.

[bennydorano]

Ewan having a go at BBCNI's Gaa coverage.

http://www.punditarena.com/features/emackenna/mackenna-on-monday-white-collar-sectarianism-second-citizen/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[Oraisteach]

Is Fearon gone? What's the story?

[under the bar]

Is Fearon gone? What's the story?

Like Armagh GAA he's largely faded away and irrelevant these days

[armaghniac]

Is Fearon gone? What's the story?

He suffered the fate of the Armagh 10 for punching below the belt.