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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0927/1224324472112.html

The Irish Times - Thursday, September 27, 2012
Star sponsors put tuxedos away after 54 years


The end of an era as Texaco pull out of sponsoring their feted sports awards, writes JOHNNY WATTERSON

IT WAS the black tie event, where athletes left at the end of the evening with their menus autographed and the feeling they had just attended the sports Oscars. From the first Caltex awards in 1958, later called the Texaco Awards, almost every name in Irish sport from George Best to Nicky English, from Angela Downey to Christy O'Connor senior were recognised and honoured at the Dublin gala dinner.

The format varied but largely 10 names were chosen each year by a panel of sports editors representing national print and broadcast media across Ireland, with one of the athletes earning the supreme award.

Yesterday Texaco announced they would be withdrawing from sponsoring the event, ending a 54-year run.

There was little detailed explanation for what Texaco called the "cessation" but it is believed to be a mix of the current economic environment, sports award fatigue and changing priorities for the company.

In a statement, the company said: "Following a comprehensive review of its two major sponsorship programmes, Valero Energy (Ireland) Limited, a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation who market fuel in Ireland under the Texaco brand, has announced changes to its current sponsorship portfolio that will result in the retention of the popular Texaco Children's Art Competition and the cessation of the Texaco Sportstars Awards".

It brings the curtain down on an annual sports event that had an honourable history which reached back into an innocent era of sporting history far removed from now.

The great Christy Ring won an award for hurling in 1959, while the prince of Old Trafford and The King's Road, Best, was honoured in 1967, with John Giles feted in 1968 and Liverpool's Steve Heighway in 1970.

The winners list was a who's who of Irish sport, with cyclist Seán Kelly winning a record 10 awards. World Champion athlete Eamonn Coghlan and horse trainer Vincent O'Brien weren't far behind with six each.

The nominations were catholic in their appetite and drew from all sports. Gary O'Toole won three awards when he was at the top of Irish swimming, with his win in 1989 coinciding with five times winner, snooker player Ken Doherty.

"I met Ken that night at the dinner and didn't see him again for about 20 years when we were both sitting in the baby pool with our kids in Lloyds Riverview," says O'Toole. "I said 'howya, Ken' and he said 'howya, Gary,' all from that one meeting at the awards years ago."

In recent times the cost factor and the difficulty in drawing the big name athletes would have dulled the once cutting edge event. One source in the industry put the cost of the annual bash for 300 in a Dublin hotel at €50,000 give or take.

If a major international player like Rory McIlroy won the prize, his golfing schedule combined with the additional cost factor of getting him to Dublin for the night would have been another prohibitive factor.

A first class ticket and accommodation would have been in excess of €10,000.

"A lot of other awards would have come in over the years," says Coghlan. "You have the GAA awards, the Golf Links awards, the Women in Sport awards, the RTÉ awards and the Manager of the Year awards but the Texaco were the first and they were around for a long, long time."

While former taoisigh were often the guests of honour and another big attraction for the sponsor, the reality is sports have introduced their own award schemes over the years and they also have the pulling power.

For the Irish Rugby Union Player Association (IRUPA), the main international players are guaranteed to be there, to promote their own ceremony.

Soccer, GAA, horse racing and most of the minority sports also have their award nights, usually organised for the end of the year.

"I suppose their relevance would come into question now," said an industry source.

"The Texaco Awards lost something and not only do most of the sports have their own awards now but they are more glamorous too."

Texaco's view is they are gracefully stepping off the stage and are leaving a legacy that will be difficult to follow, that is, if any other company steps into the breach.

"There was a legacy and heritage we had that other brands couldn't touch. Ours ran across a plethora of sports and we always felt we had a point of difference," said a spokeswoman.

And they did but perhaps in another time and another place.

TEXACO AWARDS: Looking back . . .

Eamonn Coghlan (Athletics)

"I always regarded the Texaco as the most coveted award. I remember one time I travelled from Auckland via London to attend the award ceremony in Dublin and the next day I flew to LA for a race and I just about beat John Walker on the line. John started complaining that he had to come from New Zealand and then I told him what I had to do to get there. I know there are a lot of different awards that have on stream in recent years but the Texaco was always the one to win."

Hugh Russell (Boxing)

"When I look back at the list of the people who have picked up the award it was the biggest accolade I picked up outside of boxing and I cherish it a lot. I still keep the award in my house and when you see all the names of the people who are on it you'd nearly feel embarrassed about it. The good thing was that you were given it from people from outside of your sport and it's a shame that the people who won medals this year at the Olympics won't be able to be on that list."

Jimmy Keaveney (GAA)

"Any player who was selected for a Texaco award would have been proud of himself. It was a great function they put on in Dublin every year and there'd be fellas you would get to know through going along to them.

It was a very, very enjoyable night where you would meet people from all the different sports and sit down and have a meal with them. I think all sports people will be disappointed because it was a great occasion for everyone."

"One of the years I won it I met Robbie O'Malley, the Meath footballer, and I followed his career from there on because I spoke to him. I wouldn't have compared myself to some of the winners but for one night we were all equals and held on the same levels of esteem. As an amateur sportsman it was recognition for one night you were competing with people from other sports for the Supreme Award."

Journalists from Scotland and Germany give Brian Carthy an impression of their first all Ireland final. 

http://www.rte.ie/sport/player/#!/clip/809/

I felt sorry for the Scot he interviewed. Such an inane set of leading questions.
It sounded like Brian Carthy never met a foreigner before.

Do you know in Scotland that we have the finest crisps in the world ?

I was looking at the corporate boxes during the Galway Cork match and a lot of them seem to be empty. Apart from the big sponsors like Centra and Etihad have a lot of companies cut the corporate entertaining as the recession has intensified ?

It's interesting to see how the Bank of Ireland has cut its football sponsorship and focused on Leinster rugby instead. 

Discuss

Discuss

Interesting article here by Sean Moran about Kilkenny

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0711/1224319790624.html

Maher's coaching genius made Kilkenny the pre-eminent modern hurling power. Since his first year in 1957 when, by his own account, he reluctantly agreed to take on the team, Kilkenny have won 20 All-Irelands, whereas Cork and Tipperary have managed 11 and 10 respectively.

Shalom everyone

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=19974

The Israeli authorities Tuesday forced four Palestinian families to demolish with their own hands their homes in Wadi al-Maleh area in the northern part of the occupied Jordan Valley as a prelude to evacuate the area from its Palestinian residents, according to a local activist.

Aref Daraghme, head of Wadi al-Maleh village council, said the Israeli authorities gave the families, which live in one area of the village, 24 hours to leave their homes and move somewhere else.

However, Israeli army units arrived at the area before the expiry of the warning period and forced the families to demolish their homes with their own hands.

He said the Israeli authorities had previously demolished a large number of Palestinian houses in the same area and prevented residents from working on their land. All of this is done for the benefit of illegal settlements in the Jordan valley, he said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military Tuesday ordered a large number of Palestinian families to leave their homes in the Jordan Valley for a couple of days as the army prepares to carry out military maneuvers in the area.

Sir, – The fact that the Commission for Communications Regulation has ruled out the source of the hum in Co Kerry as wireless (Home News, April 17th) is interesting given that all investigations into this type of activity are a process of elimination.
What brought the Commission for Communications Regulation to this decisive conclusion? Did it switch off all wireless transmissions in that area for a time? Or is it based on preconceived scientific fact that our technologies could not possibly be responsible for this? This whole technology race is becoming confusing to say the least!
The Commission for Communications Regulations has no choice but to investigate this hum in a professional and regulatory manner in order to put this matter to bed once and for all. – Yours, etc,
JAMES PEMBROKE,
Farranfore,
Co Kerry.


Sir, – The phenomenon of the untraceable "humming noise", pitched at E flat, heard recently over parts of Kerry (Home News, April 17th James Pembroke, April 19th), can be easily explained if one remembers that this note is known to players of the uilleann pipes as the "ghost D". Are we hearing the spirits of Gandsey, Micí Cumbá and Canon Goodman? Could the "days of the Kerry pipers" have returned? – Yours, etc,
TERRY MOYLAN,
Archivist,
Na Píobairí Uilleann,
Henrietta Street, Dublin 1.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/28/paul-conroy-syrian-activists-killed-rescue


Does journalism justify it? There was a huge controversy last year when a British soldier died rescuing a journalist. 


If you were trapped would you want 5 people to die rescuing you ?

Are the unemployed in Northern Ireland forced to work in Tesco or otherwise lose their benefits ? Or is this this just an over the water thing?


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/feb/18/tesco-jobless-scheme-work-experience

The Department for Work and Pensions has come under pressure from Britain's biggest private employer to fundamentally change the terms of one of its flagship unemployment schemes following complaints that jobseekers are being used as taxpayer-subsidised labour in high street chains up and down the country.

Supermarket group Tesco said it has asked DWP officials to make the work experience scheme voluntary after thousands of angry customers wrote in and posted messages on Twitter and the company's Facebook site accusing the multinational of profiting from hundreds of thousands of hours of forced unpaid work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0klvoiPnRw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbyfe6Qv4rw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROhPvSE3Tkc

An Béal Bocht

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/rte-stars-are-struggling-to-pay-their-mortgage-bills-2933380.html

And he revealed the financial pressures that some of Ireland's household names were now facing: "Some of the talent can't afford to pay their bills or bloody mortgages with what they earn and with work not being renewed.


http://www.independent.ie/national-news/pat-kenny-irsquom-working-a-lot-harder-for-a-lot-less-now-2933648.html

Mr Kenny's wife Kathy also spoke to defend her husband. "During the elections, everybody said to me: 'Is he (Mr Kenny) the only one working in RTE at all? You must never see him,'" she told the Irish Independent.


"This is the fifth exhibition Pat has opened for me," said the 55-year-old artist, who is battling multiple sclerosis."We met when he interviewed me on 'The Late Late Show' five years ago. He has been offering me his support ever since," Ms Graham said.

•   A chara, – The president-elect has stated that he wants to be a president for all of the people, yet on his first public appearance he has engaged in tribal triumphalism as evidenced in Galway on Sunday evening. This tribal triumphalism has been the hallmark of Irish politics. Plus ça change . . . – Is mise,
RUAIDHRI de BARRA,
Hollymount,
Co Mayo.

"Centuries of British royal discrimination came to an end today after Commonwealth leaders agreed to drop rules that give sons precedence as heir to the throne and bar anyone in line for the crown from marrying a Roman Catholic."

I came across a Tyrone lineout where they gave the names of the players and the clubs in Irish and I was wondering if
other counties up north do the same . Some of the translations are very interesting - eg MacDhonaill is McConnell
not McDonnell . And Cookstown is An Chorra Chriochach. And Coill an Chlochair is Killyclogher etc

http://www.tyronegaa.ie/2011/03/tyrone-v-kildare-team-named/

1. Pascal Mac Dhónaill An Baile Nua

2 Mairtín Ó Fuada  Coill an Chlochair

3 Seosamh Mac Mathúna  An Omaigh     

4 Damán Mac Camhaoil Domhnach Mór

5 Daithí Ó hAirt Aireagal Chiaráin

6 Conchúr Ó Garmaile an Charraig Mhór

7 Riain Mac Meanmán  An Droim Mhór

8 Caoimhín Ó hAodha Cill Íseal

9 Aodhán Ó Casaide Eochar

10 Colm Caomhánach An Mhaigh

11 Brian Mag Uiginn Ard Bó

12 Seán Caomhánach An Mhaigh

13 Mairtín Penrose Achadh Uí Aráin

14 Stiofán Ó Néill Clann na nGael

15 Eoin Ó Maolagáin   Chorra Chriochach

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/clinton-defends-iraq-withdrawal-plan/?scp=2&sq=iraq&st=cse


What a bargain for $ 1 trillion . Shock and awe my ass. 

WTF is going on? 

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/1019/1224306075192.html

"Most young people died from natural causes". Like it's "natural" to die at age 18.

[Steve Jobs was a monumental resource for mankind]

"Steve Jobs was a monumental resource for mankind not seen since Thomas Edison and his untold visionary achievements will be greatly missed." http://blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2011/10/steve-jobs-1955-2011/#axzz1ZkLpwelM

Apple released a statement paying tribute: "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives ... The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

So what do you think? 

there is that song by Bell x3

You're not Maud gonne
But then again neither was she

[tabloid newspapers "whipping up the kind of public hysteria guaranteed to incite misguided people to take the law into their own hands".[31]]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/04/prisoner-attempted-murder-ian-huntley

Damien Fowkes, 35, pleaded guilty at Hull crown court to slashing Huntley's throat in Frankland prison, Durham, in March last year.  Fowkes, from Northampton, also admitted the manslaughter of the child killer Colin Hatch, who was strangled at Full Sutton prison near York in February this year. The court heard how Fowkes shows "strong psychopathic traits".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15163465
Mr Reeds said Fowkes barricaded himself and Hatch into a cell and told prison officers he would not kill him if they stayed outside.

The officers dealt with it as a hostage situation.But, with the officers outside, Fowkes killed Hatch using strips of bedding as ligatures.At one point, Fowkes told officers: "He's a nonce. He doesn't deserve to live."
He later claimed Hatch had contacted him by telepathy, asking him to kill him.


And then there are the tabloids

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_Carr_(criminal)

Maxine Carr was released from prison on 14 May 2004 and immediately received police protection. She won an injunction on 24 February 2005, granting her lifelong anonymity on the grounds that her life would otherwise be in danger from lynch mobs. The costs of this have been reported by different tabloid newspapers as being between £1 million and £50 million, costs that would possibly have been unnecessary were it not for what former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade described as tabloid newspapers "whipping up the kind of public hysteria guaranteed to incite misguided people to take the law into their own hands".[31]
Some tabloids have taken to writing inaccurate articles designed to smear her, possibly because of her unusual legal position. She has been variously accused of receiving thousands of pounds worth of dental treatment at the taxpayers' expense, applying for a childcare course, negotiating a £1 million book deal with a publisher and making a series of sensational demands in order to live abroad. All these stories were untrue, but Maxine Carr was unable to make any formal response to them without jeopardising her anonymity.[32]

At least a dozen women have been attacked and persecuted as a result of lynch mobs "enraged by fake stories about Carr published by red-top papers", as Greenslade said.[32][33][34][35][36] Channel 4 released a documentary describing this as a modern witchhunt against unknown women of similar appearance to Carr who have recently moved into an area.[37

Paleo is a festival in Switzerland and they have most of the acts on video
Here is Polly Jean :

http://yeah.paleo.ch/fr/video/12354?from=media-library

Here are the rest

http://yeah.paleo.ch/fr/media-library/1306.96.245