Messages

[No sympathy for anyone involved.]

No sympathy for anyone involved.

What the hell ever happened to the ages old GAA tradition taking the cup round pubs, getting it filled & enjoying the craic with the people from your club & community?

Bit odd that you have no sympathy for a young fella involved in something fairly harmless but you seem to have some level of sympathy for Tom Humphries 

I have no time for what Tom Humphries did, he misused the power he had over a vulnerable youg girl in a truly terrible way but I have to say that I find the sanctimony on display here hard to stomach.

I seem to remember some beardy fella saying something along the lines of "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

Tom Humphries life is over, he is going to prison, he is estranged from his family & will never work again. Maybe we should look at this sad episode & wonder at all the other episodes of power being wielded over defenceless people in the world today & maybe even have a wee look at our own attitudes & actions before we stomp all over Tom Humphries.

If you read my post you will see that the first thing I say is "I have no time for what Tom Humphries did, he misused the power he had over a vulnerable youg girl in a truly terrible way"

If that isn't clear enough for you then I can't help you.

No sympathy for anyone involved.

What the hell ever happened to the ages old GAA tradition taking the cup round pubs, getting it filled & enjoying the craic with the people from your club & community?

Hopefully Dublin will win 5 of the next 7 All Irelands and then the 25 other football Counties might wake up and smell the coffee.

25???

It's supporting your county and club that engages all GAA fans I know. I think most would be left cold at the thought of supporting a regional team

Did Imokilly or South Kerry have no supporters last Sunday?

Zu will keep moving the goalposts to avoid addressing the envitability that Dublin will need to be split.

Fact is if we're gong to ask them to split and give a fair slice of their money to HQ the rest need to be willing to make radical change too. Divisional teams are proof it can and would work if done correctly.

There is nothing "inevitable" about Dublin being split & I for one would hate to see it.

Funding is a seperate issue altogether & one that needs addressing for sure. How Croke Park can justify the allocation of funding is beyond me.

But with regard to splitting splitting Dublin?  No.

As a matter if interest what would peoples opinions be on Cusack training a juvenile team in a club following this? Would you be happy for your child to be part of a team managed by him?

I wouldn't have a problem

He made an error of judgment in writing a letter to support his friend. It was a mistake but I don't think he needs to be excommunicated for it!

This is beginning to get ridiculous now. Donal Óg has made a judgement call in support of a friend. Are we now saying that our moral outrage extends to anyone who doesn't abandon a friend when that friend is in the wrong? Not much of a friend if so.

I have no time for what Tom Humphries did, he misused the power he had over a vulnerable youg girl in a truly terrible way but I have to say that I find the sanctimony on display here hard to stomach.

I seem to remember some beardy fella saying something along the lines of "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

Tom Humphries life is over, he is going to prison, he is estranged from his family & will never work again. Maybe we should look at this sad episode & wonder at all the other episodes of power being wielded over defenceless people in the world today & maybe even have a wee look at our own attitudes & actions before we stomp all over Tom Humphries.

Tom Humphries victim has had, and faces, far more than two and a half years of horror. Forgiveness for him can only come from her. And since it would be presumptuous of us to even talk about that, all we can do is analyse the sentence he has been given, as members of the society whose laws he has transgressed.

I think that it is too lenient, for the length of it, and the for the fact that the judge openly said she was taking into account his social position before his offence was uncovered, and the references he had received.

I think that this case will spur debate with regard to sentencing guidelines and their application, as well as the use of references. The Irish Times has a good article on that aspect of it today.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/with-someone-who-has-pleaded-guilty-to-abuse-you-can-t-stand-with-them-anymore-in-court-1.3267107

If deciding that the sentence doesn't fit the crime in this case, makes me sanctimonious and apparently puts me the wrong side of Jesus, then I would say "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars" - we live in a world of laws, made by men, and their fair application is more than worthy of comment. I'll leave forgiveness to the person who can grant that. And I speak as someone who once worked with Humphries and liked him as the man he presented to the world.

Fair points, well made. I don't say that everyone who think that the sentence is too short is sanctimonious, everyone is entitled to their opinion. It's the tone of some of the posts that leaves a bad taste.

The sentence is disgusting given what he did, nevermind his seeming willingness to hide behind illness and drag the ordeal out for as long as possible when it did come to light.

The post above mine appears to be from a WUM account.

Dangerous business voicing an opinion that differs from the mob nowadays.

Apart from the WUM comment, what was it exactly that I said that you disagree with or are you annoyed that not everyone is piling in to feed on the carcase.

I have no time for what Tom Humphries did, he misused the power he had over a vulnerable youg girl in a truly terrible way but I have to say that I find the sanctimony on display here hard to stomach.

I seem to remember some beardy fella saying something along the lines of "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

Tom Humphries life is over, he is going to prison, he is estranged from his family & will never work again. Maybe we should look at this sad episode & wonder at all the other episodes of power being wielded over defenceless people in the world today & maybe even have a wee look at our own attitudes & actions before we stomp all over Tom Humphries.

But it isn't just one game, that's the point. It might be a bit much to say the game is dying but it's also easy to justify horrible football on the basis of the result mattering. You can beat teams better than your own by means other than getting 15 behind the ball.

Fair enough Zulu but every team gets 14 or 15 men behind the ball nowadays, Dublin included, that's not the problem. The problem is where teams either can't or won't attack & have a go at winning the game when they have the ball.

My main issue here however is in putting up the headline "Football is dying on it's feet" when commentating on one game. There are countless thousands of games played every week at all levels & many of them are highly entertaining. A silly headline & article to go with it.

Silly article which takes no account of the great high scoring games we have enjoyed all year.

This was a one off & came about because Glenties were not going to alloew Kilcar to give them a trimming as they had done the previous year in the semi final 5-10 to 1-11. From the off Glenties set up with not alone a blanket defence but no interest in commiting any men forward when they had the ball in case they were caught on the break. Kilcar got sucked into this & as a result we got the game we did.

But to say that his one game means football is "dying on its feet" is nonsense. League games involving both teams this year have seen a scoring average of almost 30 points a game which is not too shabby.

Yes, it was a poor final but not indicative of things generally.