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Here's an interesting presentation on hurling in the Glens.

http://www.slideshare.net/martinmccarry/the-gaa-in-the-glens-of-antrim?src=embed

I won't see this one on TV due to club matches but I'd love to see Clare win their first u21 title.

There's been some really good matches in the u21s so far and i hope this one turns out the same - with Clare lifting the trophy at the final whistle.

I was chatting to a mate last night who works for the probation service. In the news yesterday they were reporting 2 Derry men in court on child porn charges and my mate insisted that there is a far higher rate of sex offending in Derry than anywhere else in Ireland. Why is this?

I had doubts about his claim but a quick search of the BBC news site throws up all these and many, many more.

Why would one town have a higher incidence of this type of offence than all of the others? No smart comments. This is very serious. My mate said he read a paper produced by social workers that claimed the incest had its roots in the days when women in Derry worked and the men were all at home unemployed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7584144.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7584052.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7529332.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7444206.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7477027.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7408356.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7235833.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4747444.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6756901.stm

I know there used to be a few legal eagles posting here so hopefully someone can offer some advice on employment law in the North.

A mates young fella (he's 20) was at home. Due to start work at 5.00pm when his boss phoned him on the mobile at lunch time. The lad answered the phone but told his boss that he couldn't speak right now. The boss asked him was he driving, he said "No I'm having a ----".

He went to work at 5.00. The boss came in at 6.30 and told him to get his stuff he was sacked. No other explanation. The young lad always had a good relationship with his boss and liked the job. He's devastated. He had been working there for 8 months with no bother.
It the boss within his rights?  Is there anything the lad can do? His Da wants him to go back and apologise and ask for his job back. Any advice welcome - before the weekend if possible.

Just heard on the radio that an official report is recommending that the Parades Commission will close and the local Council and Office of First Minister will take on the role. Sounds like madness to me!

Craigavon Council is one of the worst in the country - imagine them deciding on the Garvaghy Rd! Davy Jones the Orange spokesman is a cllr.

Have SF done a deal behind closed doors to get Policing devolved? Who knows but there's little would surprise me these days. Didn't Brendan McKenna resign from Sf last year? Maybe he smelt the coffee.

Hard to believe it's news.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7338682.stm

Usually at this time of year this board is buzzing. Club finals just over, National leagues at the interesting stage and clubs getting ready for the new season but it seems very quiet to me.
A lot of regular posters appear to be missing and there's not much activity at all. Is it actually slower around here or is all the activity taking place in the local GAA threads? Can anyone back up my perception with evidence of activity for this time last year?

Have regular posters left? Is surf control barring access from work for significant Numbers?
Any ideas what's going on?

[Squinter: Taking a sideways look at the week]

For those who don't know Squinter writes a column in the Andersontown News (as well as editing the paper). He tends to have his finger on the pulse in West Belfast. I wonder what his agenda is on this one?

Squinter: Taking a sideways look at the week

20 years on, Gerry must face the truth

"The cruellest lies are often told in silence." Adlai Stevenson wasn't far wrong when he said that. Not that Squinter can be accused of keeping quiet too often, but it is the case as we prepare to bury Bap McGreevy that there are some things that are said and some things that aren't, and one of the things that isn't being said – publicly at least – is that it's time for Gerry Adams to shoulder his share of the blame for the mess we're in and stop blaming everybody else.

Adams has been the West Belfast MP for 20 years. First elected in 1983, he has served continuously since then, save for a five-year break when Joe Hendron took back the seat for the SDLP in 1992.

If a week is a long time in politics, then 20 years is the Upper Paleolithic Age. It is in that same 20-year period that the slow, steady decline into chaos in certain parts of West Belfast began, and it was on his watch that it has gathered pace to become the runaway train that it is today.

First thing to be said is that there are many people and many agencies to blame for the state of the lower Falls, to take that as an example: the Chief Constable, the Housing Executive, the courts, the Prison Service, the Probation Board, Social Services, certain local parents – the list goes on. But while Adams can and does point the finger at some or even all of the above, Squinter has to say that he has never heard Adams accepting any responsibility for the fact that large parts of his constituency are no-go areas, but without the bellbottoms, the parkas and the armalites, of course.

It definitely wasn't Adlai Stevenson who said: "You don't drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there." Whoever said it had a point. Like every one of us, Bap McGreevy fell into the water when Harry Holland was slaughtered. It was hoped back then that the wave of community disgust and horror might be fashioned into a life raft which would carry us all on a tide of community solidarity and determination to a safer shore. Didn't happen. What happened was that Bap McGreevy was left to drown – in his own blood – while the rest of us continue to flail around hoping that we won't go under too.

Who's to blame for the failure to press home the Harry Holland momentum? Gerry Adams is to blame, that's who. He's not the only one to blame, of course. Squinter refers you back to the list above, and every one of us who complains and then pulls the curtains and turns up the TV when the sun sets is to blame in our own collective way. But Gerry Adams is the MP, has been for 20 years. He's supposed to know how to marshal and direct; he's supposed to give us the ideas and the leadership; he's supposed to make things better. When he asks for and gets our votes he accepts a host of very onerous responsibilities, and the most basic of those responsibilities is to make his constituency a good place for decent people to live and for parents to bring up their families. In that he has failed terribly.

Of course the police are falling down on the job, but how long is it possible to get away with that excuse? Bears crap in the woods, fat babies fart, the Pope wears a funny hat, the Trevors are jaw-droppingly useless. Tell us something we don't know. Gerry Adams knows a lot better than Squinter that while the PSNI might have a lot of intelligence about the people of West Belfast, they know them as well as they know the remotest tribe of Western New Guinea – and they care even less. Against that background, complaining about the PSNI not doing their job is like complaining about the cold weather we're supposed to be getting over the Easter weekend.
And every time Sinn Féin gets together at another fist-clenching Stormont meeting (the 2008 equivalent of Long Kesh political lectures), we're told that economic deprivation underpins the myriad social problems that are convulsing the West Belfast community. They hope nobody will think to ask whose job it has been for the past 20 years to get investment and jobs and to generate community confidence and optimism.

It wasn't as if Adams didn't have the clout and the contacts. A former aide of Tony Blair has been making frankly embarrassing revelations in a new book about how close Adams and Blair were. Adams was the Oprah Winfrey of Irish-America. And what did we get? InBev gone and Visteon going. A huge investment conference that holds its nose as it swishes past West Belfast ferrying ministers and Invest NI suits to Hillsborough and Cultra. Adams might have got away with pointing to the lack of investment in his constituency in 1983 and saying: "Nothing to do with me, mate." 20 years on and you'd buy a house in Ross Street quicker than you'd buy that.
20 years. Two decades. Four parliamentary terms. Four US Presidents. Two Popes. 11 Secretaries of State. Five UN Secretary-Generals. Five Taoisigh. Five Prime Ministers. In Ross Street the wind of change blows in empty Budweiser boxes and despair; it blows out good people and hope.

As a friend bitterly told Squinter over a St Paddy's Day pint, Ourselves Alone are not the proud and risen republican people surging shoulder-to-shoulder towards a new Ireland, but the abandoned pensioners of the lower Falls who now fear the night a million times more than they ever feared the Brits or the loyalists. And don't tell Squinter they're not right to be afraid. When the bad guys can kill a well-known and popular ex-prisoner who was a fit and strong body-builder, then quite frankly Squinter's more than a little concerned himself.

And so, next election day, Squinter thinks he'll stay in the house in solidarity with those who are staying in their homes simply because they're afraid to leave.


http://www.squinter.net/2008/03/20-years-on-gerry-must-face-truth.html


 

Who has been the best player in the English top division so far this season. I have to say the standard of the football has improved this year with many more exciting games. Is there anyone I have left out of the poll that you can make a case for including?

[url][http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7190661.stm/url]

A sad day for local business and a sad day for competition in the grocery trade.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7170099.stm

That's despite the huge increase in the number of cars on the road. Is it time for the RUC to get off the motorist backs and start tackling anti-social behaviour in working class areas?

As a motorist they'll set up speed checks in the most rediculous areas, dip you for desiel, stop you to check your tyres (despite the MOT in place) and stop you to check the tax disc - even though it's all on a data base.

With 700,000 cars flying along our roads at 60 miles per hour, with 2 feet of each other we should accept the some accidents will happen.

Seems to me they are taking the easy pickings and there is little justification for it now.

It's time to tackle the hard issue of youths out of control in the working class areas.

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10110979
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/nov07/wallonie-libre.htm

Is Belgium going to disappear? The country was build on consociation - a corner stone of the Good Friday Agreement. The funny thing is that most of the Norths politicians don't know that! Ask them what consociation is and they don't know.

Arend Lijphart was one of the main artichects of this system. It was designed for a problem in the Low Countries and it's been used where significant minorities cannot agree with the majority. Lebanon, Northen Ireland and Belgium are examples

How long will it last in the North? It's only a temporary soloution.

So Connor Murphy has decided to introduce Water Charges in the North. Supported by Wee Jeffery on BBC NI tonight. Pathetic. Have they no integrity? I attach a picture of them pulling down their "No Water Charges" Posters from Connolly House in Andersonstown. Bastards. They sold us all out. I'm sick of them. Cue Donagh telling us why it's ok.

I saw this on the Down thread and I thought it should be seen by a wider audience. I watched the second half of the Down final at the weekend and there was a bit of trouble behind the goals between opposing supporters.
It now appears it was all planned.

This way out of order. The club is bound to know who these guys are - Longstone can't be that big. Get a few stewards behind the goals with hurleys and any signs of trouble at the replay -  knock the shite out of them.

http://www.bebo.com/Ultra-GAC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MzEP-EoylQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1dSE05HhCg

Poor Catriona is completely out of her Depth. Does she not realise that as Minister she is in charge now and can sort this out if she wants?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7013416.stm

http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports2007/070925.htm#5

They're only back a couple of days and it's all kicked off again! God help the poor families living in the area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7013688.stm

Did anyone see the photograph of Armagh4SamAgain on the front page of the Irish News today? Can someone post it?

This is one Antrim have to win if they are to avoid a quick return to the Christy Ring Cup. Laois were poor against Offaly but much better against Galway. It's too close to call in my opinion but I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's obviously between us, Laios and Dublin for relegation and this game on Saturday will go a way towards deciding who drops down. There's no hope of either reaching the Q/Fs now.

[Club footballers deserve much better from the men in black]

This will do Bredagh a lot of good when it comes to the 50/50 decisions:

Club footballers deserve much better from the men in black  

Against The Breeze 
by Paddy Heaney  

A Westmeath footballer is currently facing a 48-week ban after he knocked a referee to the ground during a club game.

It's always shocking and disturbing to learn that a match official is assaulted – but when you consider the standard of refereeing at club level, it's equally surprising that such incidents aren't more widespread.

I should point out that I'm not condoning this type of behaviour but those readers who mainly follow the inter-county game may have little understanding of the ineptitude of some club referees.

The match official who took charge of Sunday's game between Derry and Monaghan is a useful example. Leitrim's Frank Flynn incurred the wrath of our football analyst, Kevin Madden, who accused the Connacht official of "doing his best to ruin what potentially should have been an open, free-flowing game of football''.

Madden's displeasure with Flynn's handling of the game was wholly understandable. Flynn rarely had the whistle from his lips. He made a series of needless interventions and single-handedly stopped the game from developing any type of ebb and flow.

Yet, despite Flynn's faults, most club footballers can only dream of getting a referee of this standard. I kid you not.

Let me explain. For starters Flynn turned up on time. He was actually on the pitch when the game was scheduled to start at 3.30pm. Anyone who has any experience of club football will appreciate just how rare an event it is when a referee appears at the allocated time.

There were other aspects of Flynn's display which the typical club footballer could never take for granted.

For instance, the Leitrim official actually knew the rules, it was just unfortunate that he made it his personal duty to impose every last one of them. More significantly again, he wasn't biased. For all his failings, he showed no favouritism to either side.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for countless referees who will officiate at club games throughout the country. Due to either weakness of character, sheer vindictiveness, or long-held prejudices, too many referees fail in their basic duty of applying the rules with impartiality.

Bad, biased referees can fall into one of four categories, which are:

a) The Hometown Whistler: This individual places his own safety above everyone else's and therefore gives the majority of decisions to the crowd that barracks him the loudest – the home team. These weak officials have done immeasurable damage to the culture of the GAA because they have proved that verbal abuse pays.

b) The Neighbourly Ref #1: Have you ever played a game where the players on one team are all on first name terms with the referee? "For God's sake Jimmy, give us something,'' they'll whine after Jimmy has awarded the only free of the game against them. Jimmy will bow his head in an apologetic manner and get on with the business of making sure that his good friends win the game.

c) The Neighbourly Ref #2: Refs being refs, they can be thran sorts, and having a neighbour in charge of your game doesn't guarantee anything. As we all know, some neighbours hate each other and the same applies to the referee who abuses his position to settle old scores against his parish rivals. These twisted match officials are probably more common than the friendly types previously mentioned.

d) The Most Important Man on the Pitch: You know the sort – obnoxious to the core – and not happy unless he's the centre of the attention. A dangerous and poisonous individual, these men take perverse pleasure from causing controversy. Sick, nasty and objectionable, the GAA provides a refuge for these sickos, who tend to be unloved by their family and friends. Truth to be told, they wouldn't have it any other way.

Anyone who regularly goes to club games will be able to spot a referee who fits into one of those four categories. And while it's not a very politically correct thing to write, a good deal of the havoc caused in club games stems from such referees.

I've no doubt that the single greatest source of trouble comes when referees fail to execute their primary duty, which is to protect players.

Gaelic football is a very hard game to referee and it's understandable when officials miss technical fouls or make the occasional dubious call. However, it's completely unforgivable when they decide to overlook dangerous challenges, punches, or kicks.

This may seem like stating the obvious. But if a referee matches any of the four descriptions

previously mentioned then there is a strong possibility that he'll allow serious infractions to go unpunished.

The consequences are predictable. Once players realise they can't depend on the referee to protect them, they take the law into their own hands. The result is mass brawls, carnage and – every now and again – a referee gets to experience what a punch on the jaw feels like.

It's an age-old problem, but the solution remains the same. Poor referees exist because few people are willing to do a job which engenders so much flak and bad manners.

It's a Catch-22 situation. The public get the politicians they deserve and players get the referees they deserve. Unless footballers, their managers and supporters start giving referees the respect they often don't deserve, the standard of refereeing at club level is set to remain at its current level.

And that's a worrying thought.

The scary thing is I now believe he is a genuine idiot from South Armagh. The fact that he's considering taking his driving test is very worrying.