http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0806/1224252080527.html
maybe it is on another thread somewhere, apologies if it ts.
Should be handy enough to get another made if he doesnt get it back
Hope he gets it back - whilst not religious myself the depth of this particular mans faith has always struck me as something......
I don't know, it's just always struck me
Got my picture taken with Frank and the iconic sign after last years final on the pitch, he was very obliging despite everyone wanting their picture taken. Bit of a low act stealing it to be honest, probably a few lads liquored up and done if for a laugh, should get it back ok or another one made.
Maybe he could get sponsorship labels on it?
'John 3:7 is brought to you in association with Rocwell - Holy Water from the mountains of Pomeroy'
I have an 'Oisin 2:7' one if he's stuck
Are those odds or scores bandit? Sorry couldn't resist
Quote from: Mayo4Sam on August 06, 2009, 03:58:46 PM
Are those odds or scores bandit? Sorry couldn't resist
Score v Down in the 1999 ulster final wiseguy ;)
A low act by whoever it was. Hopefully they'll find it upon themselves to return it to Frank.
yeah i missed him on Monday at the Dubs v Kerry game he's hardly a FANATIC he's doesn't no who playing half the time, much like that Mayo guy that dresses up like St patrick ;)
Surely if it was taken off the train in Kildare town then the CCTV at the station could confirm whether this was the case. If the culprits got into a car in the car park of the station then a camera could pick up the reg no.
According to the lads on AFR the man must have a supply of these signs because a bunch of Clare fans threw his sign out the window of a train once!
I appreciate the significance of it and I hope he gets it back, but really, have the guards nothing else to do but to be looking for someone's sign?
So when's a crime not a crime?
Quote from: ziggysego on August 06, 2009, 04:54:14 PM
So when's a crime not a crime?
Crime's need to be prioritised.
Quote from: pintsofguinness on August 06, 2009, 04:41:28 PM
I appreciate the significance of it and I hope he gets it back, but really, have the guards nothing else to do but to be looking for someone's sign?
It would be great for Gardai PR if they safely returned it to him.
John 3:7 banner allegedly stolen by Kildare supporters
« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryPublished Date:
05 August 2009
By RUTH O'BRIEN
THE John 3:7 banner, synonymous with GAA games, has been stolen. Owned by Tipperary native Frank Hogan, the banner was stolen last Sunday evening, allegedly by Kildare fans on the train on the way back from the All Ireland quarter final in Croke Park.
Mr Hogan contacted the Leinster Leader today (Wednesday) to appeal to the public to come forward if they have details on the whereabouts of the missing banner.
"It's only later that I was told Kildare fans were joking about taking the banner, whiADVERTISEMENT ch I put between carriages for the journey home," explained Mr Hogan.
Gardai in Kildare Town are appealing for witnesses to the theft after CCTV footage proved inconclusive.
"There has been no sign of the sign since," said a spokesperson for Kildare Town Garda Station.
This incident is not the first time the banner has been targeted. A number of years ago a group of supporters threw the banner from the window of a train
Mr Hogan, who lives in Limerick, first displayed the John 3:7 banner at a hurling game in Croke Park and he is frequently spotted cris-crossing the country on trains, buses and in cars with the sign in tow.
A man with great faith, Frank carries the sign as a result and he is deeply hurt that his famous banner has been stolen.
If you have any information about the whereabouts of the John 3:7 banner please contact Gardai in Kildare on 045-521222 or Ruth O'Brien in the Leinster Leader on 045-849200 or via email ruth.obrien@leinsterleader.ie.
Bookmarkers Paddy Power have offered to sponsor a new John 3:7 banner to Mr Hogan. Not only are they offering to sponsor a new sign but they are also offering betting on where Frank's banner turns up. It's 5/4 that it shows up at Croke Park on Sunday, 6/4 it arrives at Kildare Garda station and 20/1 it lands beside the holy tree stump in Rathkeale. The odds on the sign making a front row appearance at next years Oxegen music festival in Punchestown is 33/1 while it's an unlikely 250/1 that it travels all the way to The Vatican.
"A match in Croker just wouldn't be the same without the John 3:7 sign behind the goal on Hill 16 and we're more than happy to pitch in and help Frank produce a new sign in time for throw in on Sunday," said Paddy Power Spokesperson Sharon McHugh.
The full article contains 429 words and appears in Leinster Leader newspaper.Page 1 of 1
Last Updated: 06 August 2009 2:59 PM
Source: Leinster Leader
Location: Kildare
http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/John-37-banner-allegedly-stolen.5525698.jp (http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/John-37-banner-allegedly-stolen.5525698.jp)
Paddy Power are quick off the mark as always!
how much effort/money would it take to make up a similar sign, head to the vatican with it in tow, and make a hefty bet on with Mr Power??
Kildare are now officially cursed. They will never win again until the sign is returned.
While I don't condone the theft of this mans sign I wish he'd keep it at home on a wall instead of ramming it down everyones throat by putting it behind the goals of every weekends biggest match. I don't lose any sleep over it but i'd prefer to see all religion left outside the door of a GAA venue (same goes for schools and politics). For me his sign is no different than the psycho bible bashers with their signage up in Ballymena telling everyone to repent or die.
Seems to be two signs at the match
One in the hill and one in the canal end
Maybe frank got one and kildare supporters have the other one
Frank might pay them a visit at half time or even a few guards
John 3:7 returned after tour of Kildare
« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryPublished Date: 12 August 2009
By Ruth O'Brien
THE famous John 3:7 banner, which went missing from a train in Kildare, has been reunited with its owner, Frank Hogan.
Last week Mr Hogan contacted the Leinster Leader in the hope of finding his biblical banner and on Friday last it was handed in to gardai in Kildare town. The following day Mr Hogan, a Limerick resident, travelled to Kildare to pick up his sign.
ADVERTISEMENT "I was in Dublin on the Marian Finucane Show and on the way back on the train I got off in Kildare. When I got off there was no one at the station but then two gardai appeared and they had the sign in the back of the squad car," explained Mr Hogan.
The banner, synonymous with intercounty GAA games, was stolen as Mr Hogan travelled home to Limerick from the All-Ireland quarter-final meeting of Kildare and Tyrone in Croke Park, as exclusively revealed on the Leinster Leader website last Wednesday.
Mr Hogan later learnt that a group of Kildare supporters on the train were overheard planning to take the sign and he appealed for witnesses to the theft. The amount of publicity garnered from Mr Hogan's appeal was remarkable with one publican even offering to fly Mr Hogan to his pub in the Algarve, Portugal, in order to present him with a new sign.
This is an offer the Tipperary native is still considering this week providing, that is, he can work the trip around this Sunday's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship semi-final involving Tipperary and Limerick.
The Leader offices received a remarkable amount of calls and emails expressing interest in the story and offering possible sightings.
However, one reader contacted the Leinster Leader this week to say the famous sign had made an appearance in Top Nolan's pub in Kildare town the evening it was stolen, which was confirmed by owner Peter Gibbons.
"It (the sign] was here on the Sunday evening of the Kildare game and it took pride of place in the pub for an hour and then it went off, heading south, in a minibus," said Mr Gibbons.
The biblical banner was also spotted in Kildangan before being handed over to the gardai on Friday last.
Mr Hogan, a man of great faith, admitted that he is delighted to be reunited with his sign, which was back in its usual spot in Croke Park last Sunday.
http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/John-37-returned-after-tour.5546028.jp (http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/John-37-returned-after-tour.5546028.jp)
All's well that ends well I suppose!
I think someone needs to, "TALK TO FRANK!" ;D
There was an ad on the Sindo for the man with the sign from a pub in portugal saying they had made him up another and would pay to bring him out to collect it
Was his the one in the Canal End on Sunday?
Good to see that we have no Garda resource issues in Leinster when two guards can be spared to deliver a fu*king sign to some lad, they even were able to meet him of the train. Some divil stole my flag in casement back in 99, I wonder will I get onto the radio about that? Maybe the gardai will re-open the case and hunt it down for me.
Quote from: Mayo4Sam on August 12, 2009, 10:33:01 PM
There was an ad on the Sindo for the man with the sign from a pub in portugal saying they had made him up another and would pay to bring him out to collect it
ye i saw that mayo4sam was thinking of ringing them up heading out for a week or 2 and collect me auld sign i really did miss it ;)
That figures, u get all sorts of loopers when u go west of ardagh, must be the fresh air, that or the fumes from bellacorrick have left lasting damage!
Quote from: mylestheslasher on August 13, 2009, 09:34:42 AM
Good to see that we have no Garda resource issues in Leinster when two guards can be spared to deliver a f**king sign to some lad, they even were able to meet him of the train. Some divil stole my flag in casement back in 99, I wonder will I get onto the radio about that? Maybe the gardai will re-open the case and hunt it down for me.
:D
That's very true!
Quote from: Mayo4Sam on August 13, 2009, 12:37:26 PM
That figures, u get all sorts of loopers when u go west of ardagh, must be the fresh air, that or the fumes from bellacorrick have left lasting damage!
:D :D i'd say more east of ardagh myself M4sam ;)
He was at the republic's game in Thomond Park, sign and all. Probably the most exciting thing about the game.
Quote from: the Deel Rover on August 13, 2009, 01:44:53 PM
Quote from: Mayo4Sam on August 13, 2009, 12:37:26 PM
That figures, u get all sorts of loopers when u go west of ardagh, must be the fresh air, that or the fumes from bellacorrick have left lasting damage!
:D :D i'd say more east of ardagh myself M4sam ;)
Aye those hoors from Ballina are mad alright ;)
Mr. Horgan and his sign called into a city center pub that my mate works in the morning of the KK WD match. He asked to put the sign in behind the bar and then proceeded to chat with all and sundry about the offer from O'Neills and the robbery of the sign, etc. Then in arrives two of our finest boys in blue asking to speak to the manager, saying they've got a report of the John 3.7 sign sitting behind the bar. "That's right lads, there it is over there." Garda PJ comes back with "Well you know that was reported stolen after the Kildare game?" Well lads if ye bothered to check Pulse at all ye'd have found out that it was recovered days ago!!!" The two boys weren't impressed... :D
Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on August 17, 2009, 12:34:14 PM
Mr. Horgan and his sign called into a city center pub that my mate works in the morning of the KK WD match. He asked to put the sign in behind the bar and then proceeded to chat with all and sundry about the offer from O'Neills and the robbery of the sign, etc. Then in arrives two of our finest boys in blue asking to speak to the manager, saying they've got a report of the John 3.7 sign sitting behind the bar. "That's right lads, there it is over there." Garda PJ comes back with "Well you know that was reported stolen after the Kildare game?" Well lads if ye bothered to check Pulse at all ye'd have found out that it was recovered days ago!!!" The two boys weren't impressed... :D
Maybe it's time to consider some redundancies amongst the Garda Síochána as they've clearly nothing to do.
Quote from: the Deel Rover on August 13, 2009, 09:38:12 AM
Quote from: Mayo4Sam on August 12, 2009, 10:33:01 PM
There was an ad on the Sindo for the man with the sign from a pub in portugal saying they had made him up another and would pay to bring him out to collect it
ye i saw that mayo4sam was thinking of ringing them up heading out for a week or 2 and collect me auld sign i really did miss it ;)
Saw it as well. Was it for Frank or for the people who stole the sign?
Frank has been unable to get a ticket for Sundays semi final. If anyone can help http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057028024
The Dubs will be happy, remember all the stories about him swinging his sign up when the ball is played in an whacking Dubs with it?
Dunno what to think about John 3:7, part of the furniture at this stage but should he get a ticket before even a casual county supporter or a neutral attending because they just love football?
Quote from: pintsofguinness on August 17, 2009, 02:57:29 PM
Quote from: Croí na hÉireann on August 17, 2009, 12:34:14 PM
Mr. Horgan and his sign called into a city center pub that my mate works in the morning of the KK WD match. He asked to put the sign in behind the bar and then proceeded to chat with all and sundry about the offer from O'Neills and the robbery of the sign, etc. Then in arrives two of our finest boys in blue asking to speak to the manager, saying they've got a report of the John 3.7 sign sitting behind the bar. "That's right lads, there it is over there." Garda PJ comes back with "Well you know that was reported stolen after the Kildare game?" Well lads if ye bothered to check Pulse at all ye'd have found out that it was recovered days ago!!!" The two boys weren't impressed... :D
Maybe it's time to consider some redundancies amongst the Garda Síochána as they've clearly nothing to do.
What is the IP address of the Pulse server? Anyone? IP Address? Anyone?