Ulster Senior Football Club Championship 2012

[Milltown Row2]

Kilcoo got what they deserved.  I actually felt disgusted yesterday at the constant late hits and tackles Jamie Clarke was getting.  I hate the way that if someone is battered for an hour he is expected to simply take it, if he lashes out in the slightest he ends up being punished moreso that someone who was playing dirty for a whole game - disgrace. 

Kilcoo were well beat at the end of the day, losing by 6 points in a day like that is a big loss.  People seem to forget what a foul is, it seems to be the case now that a player has to intentionally commit a crime on the pitch to give the opposition a free/penalty.  Ther Crossmaglen penalty was a definite, the Crossmaglen man was through on goal and was tripped.  Whether it was an accident or intentional, he was still tripped and was fouled.

The only reason Dr Crokes or any team will beat Crossmaglen this year is due to the players that Crossmaglen are likely to be missing with Finnegan and Hanratty from last years panel missing as well as probably missing Kernan too.

I'm not saying it wasn't a penalty but the lad was off balance and was going down or losing possession before the clash of legs

[Tubberman]

So disheartening turning on the TV last night and radio this morning.

Not disheartening in that there's "racism" in our games, but that so much has been made out of so little.

Aaron Cunningham comes across as a bright and well-spoken lad, and I do not write this lightly, nor do I wish to undermine racism.

But the average Kilcoo inbred doesn't do racism, they just mouth off at everyone and anyone. They use whatever comes to mind to deliver insults and "get one over", rather than use their minds. It's horrible behaviour, but it's born from ignorance and not racism - and certainly not from some premeditated racist angle.

By the way, Kilcoo is one of a thousand GAA clubs with a handful or more of inbred supporters/players. You can pretty much guarantee that some of those involved are also some of the hardest working people in the club and nobody will want to see them go. It's a conundrum for our sport. But I'll reiterate, this isn't racism and "educating" people about racism isn't going to help one iota. Encouraging a GAA-wide policy as simple as "We are not soccer. We are much better people than that. We will not lower ourselves. Think before you speak" would be much more beneficial.


Well done to XMG, such a fantastic team. Words can't do them justice.

It seems to be exactly what you've done though.
Portraying it as ignorance doesn't wash any more. That's the easy way of explaining it. Ireland is a multi-cultural society, it's not like even 20 years ago when a black man was something you'd only see in Dublin, and even then it would be a rarity.

[thewobbler]

So disheartening turning on the TV last night and radio this morning.

Not disheartening in that there's "racism" in our games, but that so much has been made out of so little.

Aaron Cunningham comes across as a bright and well-spoken lad, and I do not write this lightly, nor do I wish to undermine racism.

But the average Kilcoo inbred doesn't do racism, they just mouth off at everyone and anyone. They use whatever comes to mind to deliver insults and "get one over", rather than use their minds. It's horrible behaviour, but it's born from ignorance and not racism - and certainly not from some premeditated racist angle.

By the way, Kilcoo is one of a thousand GAA clubs with a handful or more of inbred supporters/players. You can pretty much guarantee that some of those involved are also some of the hardest working people in the club and nobody will want to see them go. It's a conundrum for our sport. But I'll reiterate, this isn't racism and "educating" people about racism isn't going to help one iota. Encouraging a GAA-wide policy as simple as "We are not soccer. We are much better people than that. We will not lower ourselves. Think before you speak" would be much more beneficial.


Well done to XMG, such a fantastic team. Words can't do them justice.

It seems to be exactly what you've done though.
Portraying it as ignorance doesn't wash any more. That's the easy way of explaining it. Ireland is a multi-cultural society, it's not like even 20 years ago when a black man was something you'd only see in Dublin, and even then it would be a rarity.

This is classic McCarthyism. You can't solve a problem if you can't discuss it without being accused as the problem.

[Mont]

never have i seen so much missd or a blindeye turned to. clarkes jersey was pulled every time he made a run and when he was on the ball yet the ref never 'saw' it and the linemen likewise. what r they there for?

the umpires also have difficulty seeing. clarke cud hav had a straight red for raising his hands, doesnt matter about the contact or the provocation he should have walked. Cross no 8 (Hanratty?) threw an elbow and connected right in front of the 2 umpires - nothing happend.
Cros sub (ocallaghan i think) threw a masive punch when there was a melee in front of us yet clarke was booked?

continual fouling from Kilcoo went unpunished with no ticks etc being dished out which may have made them think 2wice about it.
no 6 (brannigan?) in particulr was lucky to stay on field

ref, umpires and linesmen were fooking useless and shud be embarased with their performnce.

once kilcoo took it to cross they seemed to shite themselves ans were rattled all over the park

[supersub]

So disheartening turning on the TV last night and radio this morning.

Not disheartening in that there's "racism" in our games, but that so much has been made out of so little.

Aaron Cunningham comes across as a bright and well-spoken lad, and I do not write this lightly, nor do I wish to undermine racism.

But the average Kilcoo inbred doesn't do racism, they just mouth off at everyone and anyone. They use whatever comes to mind to deliver insults and "get one over", rather than use their minds. It's horrible behaviour, but it's born from ignorance and not racism - and certainly not from some premeditated racist angle.

By the way, Kilcoo is one of a thousand GAA clubs with a handful or more of inbred supporters/players. You can pretty much guarantee that some of those involved are also some of the hardest working people in the club and nobody will want to see them go. It's a conundrum for our sport. But I'll reiterate, this isn't racism and "educating" people about racism isn't going to help one iota. Encouraging a GAA-wide policy as simple as "We are not soccer. We are much better people than that. We will not lower ourselves. Think before you speak" would be much more beneficial.


Well done to XMG, such a fantastic team. Words can't do them justice.

Bit of a sweeping statement there. Even if you have something against 'soccer' it is ridiculous to suggest an organisations' motto or stance on a subject like this should be that we are better than others, especially something that has such a huge following around the world as soccer. Bigger organisation so obviously going to have bigger/more idiots, but in noway should you tarnish a whole sport and those who follow it by saying we are much better people than them.

[supersub]

Jez get over yourselves, a lot of shite talk goes on during any match not to mention an Ulster club final, im not condoning any racist remarks by anybody from Kilcoo but it goes on with both sides.
Crossmaglen players were racially abusing one of our defenders after we scored our goal but we didn't feel the need to run to the BBC to complain, its a big boys game.
We got off to the worst start you could imagine today but clawed our way back into it. When we scored our goal Cross got used all their exprerience to distrupt our game by lying down or starting wrestling moves all over the field and i felt today  Kilcoo held their own in this department.
I also felt the ref had a bad day at the office and gifted Cross the penalty at the start as well as some dubious free kicks.
When all is said and done over the 60 minutes Cross deserved the win and fair play to them. They're a fantastic team when they play football and it'd be hard to see anyone stop them.

An embarrassing post for both yourself, your club and the rest of us down folk. Glad to see kilcoo beaten due to their cynical nature and awful football. Horrible team to play and watch.

[PAULD123]

Kilcoo really blew it yesterday. let's be honest, only 3 points down with a two man advantage and around ten minutes of football to play, they should never have lost. It is blatantly obvious that if you get a two man advantage you immediately go wide. Stretch your players across the pitch leaving gaping holes to run through. Kilcoo would have been the ones to win at a canter. What you don't do is bunch everyone into the middle and cause a scrummage where a man advantage means nothing.

I can't believe the naivety in the Kilcoo players not to stretch the game. But even that is eclipsed by leaving an attacking player totally unmarked in your half all by himself and then attempting a pass across the face of several opposition players. That goal was breathtakingly suicidal.

Cross are better and on the balance of the game deserved to win, but Kilcoo SHOULD have won because of the position they found themselves in.

However the only reason Kilcoo ended up in that position was because of shocking refereeing. McQuillen is a disgrace. I am constantly astonished at his inclusion as a "top" referee. I have never been to a match where he referees that the boards aren't full of criticism afterwards. He just does what he wants with complete disregard to applying the actual rules, applies them when he wants and just ignores others that don't suit him. McQuillen never had control of this game and allowed it to disintegrate into a brawl. The Cross players deserved to be sent off, but so did a few more and a few also from Kilcoo. It is not wrong that two Cross players were lined, it is wrong that they were the only players lined. And it is wrong that McQuillen didn't act to control the game when players were getting away with some horrendous challenges FROM BOTH SIDES!

[Applesisapples]

So disheartening turning on the TV last night and radio this morning.

Not disheartening in that there's "racism" in our games, but that so much has been made out of so little.

Aaron Cunningham comes across as a bright and well-spoken lad, and I do not write this lightly, nor do I wish to undermine racism.

But the average Kilcoo inbred doesn't do racism, they just mouth off at everyone and anyone. They use whatever comes to mind to deliver insults and "get one over", rather than use their minds. It's horrible behaviour, but it's born from ignorance and not racism - and certainly not from some premeditated racist angle.

By the way, Kilcoo is one of a thousand GAA clubs with a handful or more of inbred supporters/players. You can pretty much guarantee that some of those involved are also some of the hardest working people in the club and nobody will want to see them go. It's a conundrum for our sport. But I'll reiterate, this isn't racism and "educating" people about racism isn't going to help one iota. Encouraging a GAA-wide policy as simple as "We are not soccer. We are much better people than that. We will not lower ourselves. Think before you speak" would be much more beneficial.


Well done to XMG, such a fantastic team. Words can't do them justice.

It seems to be exactly what you've done though.
Portraying it as ignorance doesn't wash any more. That's the easy way of explaining it. Ireland is a multi-cultural society, it's not like even 20 years ago when a black man was something you'd only see in Dublin, and even then it would be a rarity.

This is classic McCarthyism. You can't solve a problem if you can't discuss it without being accused as the problem.

To be fair, whether born from inbred culchieism or ignorance it makes no odds. There is no place in the game for insults of any nature and your post is perhaps unintentionally excusing such behaviour.

[Tubberman]

So disheartening turning on the TV last night and radio this morning.

Not disheartening in that there's "racism" in our games, but that so much has been made out of so little.

Aaron Cunningham comes across as a bright and well-spoken lad, and I do not write this lightly, nor do I wish to undermine racism.

But the average Kilcoo inbred doesn't do racism, they just mouth off at everyone and anyone. They use whatever comes to mind to deliver insults and "get one over", rather than use their minds. It's horrible behaviour, but it's born from ignorance and not racism - and certainly not from some premeditated racist angle.

By the way, Kilcoo is one of a thousand GAA clubs with a handful or more of inbred supporters/players. You can pretty much guarantee that some of those involved are also some of the hardest working people in the club and nobody will want to see them go. It's a conundrum for our sport. But I'll reiterate, this isn't racism and "educating" people about racism isn't going to help one iota. Encouraging a GAA-wide policy as simple as "We are not soccer. We are much better people than that. We will not lower ourselves. Think before you speak" would be much more beneficial.


Well done to XMG, such a fantastic team. Words can't do them justice.

It seems to be exactly what you've done though.
Portraying it as ignorance doesn't wash any more. That's the easy way of explaining it. Ireland is a multi-cultural society, it's not like even 20 years ago when a black man was something you'd only see in Dublin, and even then it would be a rarity.

This is classic McCarthyism. You can't solve a problem if you can't discuss it without being accused as the problem.

I didn't call you a racist. I said you did exactly what you said you wished not to do i.e. "undermine racism".

By the way, I hadn't seen your ridiculous idea that declaring ourselves as "not soccer" will solve things. FFS, if that's the best you can do...
And it doesn't stand up any more either - violence on the pitch and in the stands, racist abuse of players, incompetent officials, people refusing to acknowledge the serious problems in their sport. That's not soccer I'm talking about.

[thewobbler]

So disheartening turning on the TV last night and radio this morning.

Not disheartening in that there's "racism" in our games, but that so much has been made out of so little.

Aaron Cunningham comes across as a bright and well-spoken lad, and I do not write this lightly, nor do I wish to undermine racism.

But the average Kilcoo inbred doesn't do racism, they just mouth off at everyone and anyone. They use whatever comes to mind to deliver insults and "get one over", rather than use their minds. It's horrible behaviour, but it's born from ignorance and not racism - and certainly not from some premeditated racist angle.

By the way, Kilcoo is one of a thousand GAA clubs with a handful or more of inbred supporters/players. You can pretty much guarantee that some of those involved are also some of the hardest working people in the club and nobody will want to see them go. It's a conundrum for our sport. But I'll reiterate, this isn't racism and "educating" people about racism isn't going to help one iota. Encouraging a GAA-wide policy as simple as "We are not soccer. We are much better people than that. We will not lower ourselves. Think before you speak" would be much more beneficial.


Well done to XMG, such a fantastic team. Words can't do them justice.

It seems to be exactly what you've done though.
Portraying it as ignorance doesn't wash any more. That's the easy way of explaining it. Ireland is a multi-cultural society, it's not like even 20 years ago when a black man was something you'd only see in Dublin, and even then it would be a rarity.

This is classic McCarthyism. You can't solve a problem if you can't discuss it without being accused as the problem.

I didn't call you a racist. I said you did exactly what you said you wished not to do i.e. "undermine racism".

By the way, I hadn't seen your ridiculous idea that declaring ourselves as "not soccer" will solve things. FFS, if that's the best you can do...
And it doesn't stand up any more either - violence on the pitch and in the stands, racist abuse of players, incompetent officials, people refusing to acknowledge the serious problems in their sport. That's not soccer I'm talking about.

What I'm pointing out Tubberman is that everyone going off on one about racism when it's such a trivial issue in our games, is insane.

There is some fundamentally mucked up thinking in GAA circles about what is acceptable both on and off the pitch. This racism incident is part of that bigger picture, and not a picture all by itself. Same as when clubs circle the wagons around obvious GBH offences by their players. Same as when referees are assaulted. Same as when clubs will pay £20k for a person to pick to their team. The "keep it under wraps" and "they're doing it too" mentality are scourges on the Games.

What I believe the GAA needs to do is not get embroiled in sorting out individual incidents, but look at the ethos behind the Games, why we play them, why we watch them, and what we aspire to get out of them.

I used soccer as my example of what we should not be simply, simply because once things become acceptable in soccer, they also creep into our games. We should be bigger and better than that. It's a philosophy thing, and ours has gotten lost.

[Applesisapples]

Mark Sidebottom has just confirmed that he and his kids witnessed and heard Aaron Cunningham being racially abused by individual(s) from Kilcoo.

[Walter Cronc]

Mark Sidebottom has just confirmed that he and his kids witnessed and heard Aaron Cunningham being racially abused by individual(s) from Kilcoo.

Link to this?? Or was it on twitter??

[NaomhBridAbú]

Mark Sidebottom has just confirmed that he and his kids witnessed and heard Aaron Cunningham being racially abused by individual(s) from Kilcoo.

Link to this?? Or was it on twitter??

i heard him say it yesterday evening after the game - got up and moved his kids to another part of the stand

[AQMP]

Edit: Sidearse was just on Talkback.

I heard a bit of this discussion on the radio.  Joey and Aaron Cunningham came across well.  I did have to smile when Wendy Austin said "Joey, you played both Gaelic and umm...ordinary football".  She also referred to "Justin Sherlock".

On the main issue, unfortunately every club probably has its meat head supporters and in this case players.  If I were in the Kilcoo club or were one of the players I would front up, admit what happened, say it was in the heat of battle in a tense fractious game etc, a one-off, I'm not a racist, I'm ashamed and I apologise to Aaron Cunningham, then take whatever punishment is meted out without appeal.  Letting it drift until offical investigations take place and hope it goes away can only make it worse in my opinion.

[Applesisapples]

Edit: Sidearse was just on Talkback.

I heard a bit of this discussion on the radio.  Joey and Aaron Cunningham came across well.  I did have to smile when Wendy Austin said "Joey, you played both Gaelic and umm...ordinary football".  She also referred to "Justin Sherlock".

On the main issue, unfortunately every club probably has its meat head supporters and in this case players.  If I were in the Kilcoo club or were one of the players I would front up, admit what happened, say it was in the heat of battle in a tense fractious game etc, a one-off, I'm not a racist, I'm ashamed and I apologise to Aaron Cunningham, then take whatever punishment is meted out without appeal.  Letting it drift until official investigations take place and hope it goes away can only make it worse in my opinion.

Mark Sidebottom made the point that he knew father and son individually, but hadn't made the connection so that any abuse by fans must have been premeditated as it would have needed some research.